putting up trusses?

[Innovate1]

Needing to put 30 foot 6:12 trusses on 14' walls. Just have a small framing crew doing the job. Most of the truss suppliers just drop the trusses at the job site (so they don't have to coordinate when they show up with the framing I guess). How do I find a small crane service for cheap? (might as well just say it). Peak is about 24' and considered building a long boom pole out of 16' lumber for the tractor front end loader since the trusses are fairly light. Could be done but likely not worth it.

Have also seen where the trusses are set upside down and tipped up. Seems doable but the height is stretching that scheme.

And how does roof sheeting get lifted up? Thinking it could be lifted by crane too.

 

[red61cj5]

Unless they are attic trusses you can do without a crane. Lift one tail onto a wall (truss inverted) guy on wall stabilizes that side. You carry other tail up ladder to opposite wall another guy holds that side. Truss is now resting upside down between walls. Guy on ground uses a long 2x4 with a crotch on it (think lowercase y) to push the peak upright. Guys on walls help stabilize and hook truss irons on to previous truss then nail braces. For the first one (gable) you can just nail uprights on the outside of the end wall as a stop. Done this numerous times and its a little slow, but cranes here cost 200$/hr. Also, after the first few are up and braced, a guy can "ride the peak" sitting on the braces, and use a line to help pull the peaks upright. Best if that guy has done it before

 

[Justind97]

Start by looking for a local boom truck to do the lifting.

Or if the framing crew has done it before, a zoom boom could be rented to haul up the trusses. Different ways of doing it. Personally, I would go with the boom truck method.

 

[CraigStu]

One job that I helped w/ this we had 4 people. We made up three poles like red says. One guy up top and the other three on the floor. Two guys on a pole pushing the truss up and the third guy ready w/ the next longer pole. As the truss approaches horizontal it's weight increases significantly so that's why two guys on one pole. Once it gets to about 45 degrees, the effort needed drops pretty quickly which is good cause that is when we used the longest pole. We made each pole a bit on the long side especially the mid length one. We realized it was real nice to be able to push that pole along so it's bottom end was close to or actually sliding along the floor. That way, when things got screwy, we could just stop pushing and all we needed for strength was enough to keep it from sliding backward on the floor. I had never done this before and was really surprised how well it went. Two of the guys had done this several times and the other two hadn't raised trusses but had done plenty of diy building so the overall skill level helped I am sure. I don't remember the height exactly but it was 10 ft walls w/ scissor trusses so probably close to the same as yours.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Here's an idea if you know somebody with a mini-excavator. I had a buddy who owned one and we welded up a jig that held my trusses as we lifted them onto the top plates. With a crew of 3 we had 19 of them up in a day. These were 25' attic trusses with a 12/12 pitch on a 14' wall.

 

[ddurrett896]

Call around and rent a crane.

Did trusses for the first time on my garage and we knocked out like 22 trusses in 1.5 hours. 2 guys on each side, 1 guy hooking and walking. Cost $400 and we had the roof braced and sheathed that day.

 

[Innovate1]

What about getting sheeting up to the roof level? With 14' eves the sheets can't just be passed up. Seems like that might be done with the crane and slings after the trusses are up and not sure how else that could be done reasonably. I know the shingle delivery can be done with a conveyor but don't think the osb delivery will have anything to lift it that high.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Stand the sheathing vertically on a shingle lift and let the motor lift them to the roof level.

 

[VT JD]

Another option is to rent a rough terrain scissor lift.
We did the roof trusses on a 30X48 ft shop with a 16 ft sidewall in less than one day.
We had the lift for a week and used it to raise all the lumber to complete the roof system as well as complete all the truss bracing.
It was very reasonable and a real time saver.
Our trusses were 34 ft long (with a 2 ft overhang on each side)and the lift made short work of it by having one guy on each wall to fasten the trusses and one guy on the lift to raise the truss and then plumb and tie into the purlins along each side of the ridge.

 

[joe_padavano]

Unless they are attic trusses you can do without a crane. Lift one tail onto a wall (truss inverted) guy on wall stabilizes that side. You carry other tail up ladder to opposite wall another guy holds that side. Truss is now resting upside down between walls. Guy on ground uses a long 2x4 with a crotch on it (think lowercase y) to push the peak upright. Guys on walls help stabilize and hook truss irons on to previous truss then nail braces. For the first one (gable) you can just nail uprights on the outside of the end wall as a stop. Done this numerous times and its a little slow, but cranes here cost 200$/hr. Also, after the first few are up and braced, a guy can "ride the peak" sitting on the braces, and use a line to help pull the peaks upright. Best if that guy has done it before

^^^This, though as the trusses get wider, they get more flexible and this becomes more of a problem. I've put up 20 ft to 26 ft trusses with three people with exactly this process. When I put up my 36ft wide building, the trusses were a little too flexible to use this method and I resorted to using an off road forklift.

 

[TractorJeff]

Tele-Handler for Trusses and Sheeting

 

[Keithinsc]

What about getting sheeting up to the roof level? With 14' eves the sheets can't just be passed up. Seems like that might be done with the crane and slings after the trusses are up and not sure how else that could be done reasonably. I know the shingle delivery can be done with a conveyor but don't think the osb delivery will have anything to lift it that high.

Wife and I built a garage with a bonus room above. 12' eaves, 12-12 pitch.
I laid my extension ladder against the rim, she was at the peak. Tossed down a rope tied to a pair of vise-grips. Clamped those to the plywood. Wife pulled and I pushed the sheet up the ladder, slid it into place and nailed it down. Once we had the first row done, roof jacks helped out when I was standing to nail it down. But mostly teamwork.

 

[napaul]

depends how much do you value your time and safety? the fact you are inquiring what's best way to do 30' trusses 24' tall with small crew leads me to believe you haven't had to do this often and would suggest getting the boom truck to lift the trusses for you and crew to be safe. walking a wall and trying to rotate a truss like that takes some coordination and is physically harder.
In past I have had to build roofs on the ground with sheeting already cause it wasn't feasible to do on the walls and craned it up.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

Sounds like something to ask the crew... no? When I was planning my garage build, one of the many decisions in whether I was going to frame myself or not, was lifting/securing the trusses.

I had gambrel trusses with a vaulted interior (pitched interior near side wall, flat in center) that spanned 30' and where 11' tall. They were to be placed on a 10' wall. Called up a local crane outfit, $700 for 4 hrs minimum. Another option was a telehandler/boom lift which was similar $ once you factored delivery. The framer I decided to go with had a telehandler (gradall delivered on low-boy) and placed all 16 trusses and fully sheathed gables from one side of the foundation.

When I helped my father on his barn build, the gambrel trusses only spanned 22' and were on 12' walls... we left one of the gable ends unframed and used a towable man lift to place the trusses (strapped to basket with tiedowns).

 

[wrenchguy]

Contact local antique tractor/construction club. I set trusses with my d4 swing crane for customers making donations to the club + my expenses which were minimal.

Pic of crane loading logs on clubs sawmill at annual show.

 

[brownsmustang]

Years ago I built pole barns, 30 footers weren't bad, but I was younger and nearly broke. Now I'd rent a tele handler

 

[rtz]

I used this to hang the metal trusses on a 40'x40' metal building.


https://www.compactpowerrents.com/rental-equipment/material-handling/telehandler-2-500-lb/

 

[rust in the eye]

Hire a crane. Stand them all at one end and walk them down as needed. If you have hips you can maybe build them on the ground first.
$$$ crane will be in and out quickly

 

[Lynden]

There are a lot of ways to lift trusses without a crane...

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lifting+trusses+without+crane

 

[bigdav160]

50 years ago I had a (sub) framing crew and we built many apartment buildings in the area. Some were 3 stories high

On lower sections we might build a quick A frame to stack the trusses on and pull them up, dragging and pulling them to the other side of the building. Taller buildings we'd use the forklift in the same fashion. All while walking on the outside top plate. The first truss gets supported on three sides of the building while the other stack partially on the one before. Once they were all on there we'd start tilting them up.

I am glad I wasn't afraid of heights back then

 

[matt_i]

I'd inquire about renting the Roust-A-Bout lifter from a construction rental yard.

They claim it goes to 25'. Obviously have to be careful about swinging loads.

http://www.sumner.com/sumner/sub/productb/main.21.7.8.21.0.0.html

Some thought has to be put into how to handle this unit, it needs a concrete slab...if you don't have that I'd just go with the shooting boom forklift. But back to the hoist, you need a fair sized diagonal opening to lift a truss up and then swing it around to perpendicular with the walls in its final orientation. Don't get boxed in at the end. After about half the trusses are set and well braced with diagonal timbers or some sheets, you would have to raise up and gang up the rest. Then start setting them from the opposite end working back towards the center.

Edit: Sunbelt has them in my area, $120 per day, should be able to haul with a pickup or trailer. A shooting boom forklift is $500 per day and should probably budget $200 each way for pickup and delivery....

https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1224/0440090/roustabout-150/

https://www.sunbeltrentals.com/equipment/detail/1049/0560320/6k-36ft-shooting-boom-forklift/

 

[nadogail]

Norwegian Steam can move almost anything.