Mazdeuce fixes the grosh

Flip it upside down, use ratchet straps to hold the high and up. Move the other end up, tie in place. Repeat until it was on the walls. Then use a series of really long boards to rotate it into place. I also had alignment boards at the ends and strapped the truss tight to them as I rotated it. It was not fun. At least twice I thought I was stuck, but I figured it out. The next one will be a bit easier I think, and after I get three up then I'll have a place to stand to pull the truss around the last little bit. I'll take some pictures when I put the next one up. I'm not sure how many I'll get up by myself. I need 3-6 of them to get a structure that is sturdy enough that I can start working the other way. My father in law is coming down this spring so I might just build the extras and set them aside until he gets here.
It was really hard.

I am not hugely motivated today. It's 41 and damp out. I want to snuggle on the couch and watch Initial D. Let's see if I can get another truss together instead.

mazdeuce wrote: I am not hugely motivated today. It's 41 and damp out. I want to snuggle on the couch and watch Initial D. Let's see if I can get another truss together instead.

Slacker, I can't even remember the last time we saw the heady hights of 41deg!!!

mazdeuce wrote: and watch Initial D.

HAHAHA it has been a long time since Initial D came out. Good show.

I applaud your efforts to build your own trusses however have you priced them through a truss company? I can get a 28' code stamped truss for $57. I'm not sure what you have into yours for materials but considering you could probably have all of them set in 1 day vs 3/week I would go premade.

My 28' 7/12 Room in attic custom trusses where only $150/per.

Advan046 wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: and watch Initial D.

HAHAHA it has been a long time since Initial D came out. Good show.

According to Wiki, episodes are still being made. Not sure when the next batch will make it to Netflix, tho.

Another truss framed up and all of the plates on one side. I think I can get a couple more on this evening. I'm considering buying the last 10 or so. It costs me within a couple of bucks to make them vs buy them. I really have enjoyed figuring them out and setting one up and feeling how strong it is in comparison to the floppy 14 foot 2x4's it's made from is cool. Once I get 3-5 of them up I can take a break from them and work toward the back of the garage. It's just the front 18 feet that are trussed, the back part is supported by a central load bearing wall. The time frame is still sealed weather tight building by June. If I have the time I'll build all of the trusses. If things get tight, I can buy them. We'll see how it goes.

If there is not much savings over building them i say buy them. you are saving so much by using your labor that i would not use up my time, and possibly cause stress on your timeline.

YMMV

After struggling a bit with the first truss, this second one was cake.
Step 1. Invert the truss and set one end on the wall. Attach with tie down strap. I only have to lift the end about four feet to get it high enough.
Step 2. Move the scaffolding into place and set the truss on top of it. Secure with another tie down loosely so it can still move, but won't fall if something stupid happens. Step 3. Move terrifying scaffolding over and hop the truss up on the wall. Easy peasy. Once it's on the walls it slides into place easily.
Step 4. Attach leg and swing the truss part way up.
Step 5. Attach second longer leg and push it 3/4 of the way up.
Step 6. Tighten straps to the temporary supports on the ends and then pop the truss upright. Brace in place and you're done!
I had four plates to nail on this truss this morning. I did that, put it in place and am four plates away from being done with the third one. I'll get that up tomorrow and then square and plumb the three of them together and brace the E36 M3 out of them.

I can't believe you are doing all this yourself. Good work man.

So it's 32 and snowing this morning. About as depressing as weather can get when you're in south east Texas. I decided to pick up some 8 foot 2x6's and a some more 2x4's to start moving toward the back of the garage. I went to the crappy Home Depot because, really, I'm just looking for simple wood here. They didn't have an acceptable 8 foot 2x6 in the store. Not one. Off to the good Home Depot. When I got there I cruised the lumber and found that they had a FRESH pallet of 14 foot 2x4's maybe 30 or so piled on top, but none of the new stuff had even been looked through. I only had to go through about 100 sticks to find 24 that were acceptable which wasn't too bad. I have enough wood to make 12 out of the 15 trusses now. Of course I also need to start finding 14 foot 2x6's for the rest of the garage, but that's for another day.

Heh...this is like deja-vu. Ratchet straps were quite helpful in building my garage, too. Great minds think similarly, I guess.

To square your building, measure the diagonals, then install a huge long ratchet strap (or several) across the longer of the two diagonals. Crank on it until the diagonals are equal.

Question: when you get to the end of the building, and there's no room to flip the trusses around, how are you going to get them up?

mazdeuce is one bad em effer!

Third truss up. When I get to the end and space gets tight I'll just put the last 4-5 trusses up and stack them against the standing ones. Then, maybe, I can just slide them into place. Maybe. I need just over 5 feet to swing them up, so it should work. Tomorrow my wife has the day off work and instead of going and seeing a movie like we usually do on her day off, she wants to help with the garage. Should be interesting.

It was 35 pretty much all day today so instead of doing much work on the garage my wife and I went into school and had lunch with my two youngest and then went to a used book store and generally hung out. It was nice. I was able to shake off picking up everyone from school and put up one more section of wall. Next I need to build the center wall. I measured and I'm going to have to pick up some 10 footers for that. That's the plan for tomorrow morning.

Today I went out and bought some more wood and then put up the first part of the central wall. For the first time I really NEEDED help. Since my wife was home I figured that I could put the beam on top of the wall before I put it up. Worst case scenario she could come help me. Even with her help I damn near dropped the thing. I also spent a bunch of time plumbing and blocking things and put together the framing for the next truss. I need to cut out truss plates in the morning, nail that one together, and than use that as a template to make the rafters match the trusses.

Had a helper today. It was nice.

I helped my folks build a nice house. I was the only 'strong' able body on site for a long time. I had to put up the trusses myself, as well as the main beam. It was hard. I appreciate this work. Keep it up.

my wife only helps when theres no other choice. she hates it.

i must admit, though, i love having her help.

keep up the good work. i miss doing framing.

I hung three sheets of plywood today. It's raining. berkeley the rain. Not only does it make me worry about the wood getting ruined, it makes me drop my hammer and become generally frustrated. I need to get a roof on this thing.

I'm telling you man - day labor. $200 worth of day labor (2 guys plus yourself, 10 hours) and you would have that thing dried in.

I wanted to chime in again, I did the main beam for the hip roof myself on that house I mentioned. It was three 2x12 hickory boards nailed together, I think 25 feet long. I didn't have ratchet straps, so I used ropes. I used the posts as pullies. It was two stories up, so I had to use my one ladder to get up to the second story, and then pull it up to the second story and sue it to get to the beam, pull the rope and get it up another foot or two, and then down, down and off to the other side. It's fun hearing about all of that stuff again. Keep it up!

(and don't do the day labor stuff)

I've already had the conversation with my wife. It's not so much that I want to have a garage (I do) but I want to BUILD a garage. I'm 38 and I live in an area where I can do whatever the hell I want with this building and it's legal. It's extremely unlikely that I'll find myself both young enough and living in an area this free anytime in the future.
There's also the issue of me not working and needing to fill my time without going nuts. I might bitch about some of this, but it's the most satisfying work I've done in years. I like this.

Two more trusses are built. The one that I made with my wife on Sunday and this one that I made yesterday that's hanging upside down because I didn't feel like flipping it.
I'm working on getting the rafters up on the other end. The side that goes over the upstairs room will be open with dormers and what not, but the side that covers the garage has these little guys that will provide a shelf about 7 feet deep, a couple of feet high and running the whole length of the upstairs accessible through doors. Our house doesn't have much storage space (we have one closet in the whole house) so building in any and all storage space at this point is a good idea. There's a significant point to getting some rafters up before finishing the trusses, but I'll explain that in pictures at the end of tomorrow hopefully.

Finished up with the rafters yesterday and today decided to take it easy. I have a rallycross practice day that popped up for tomorrow so I spent the morning mucking about with the car getting it ready. All I did with the garage was put up the two trusses that I had built already. I put them up on the door end which was a little tricky. They're pretty secure now and the next couple will attach to them making it even better. I pretty much just have to make, hang, and secure nine more. Four pieces of sheeting and a few odds and ends, but those 9 trusses are the thing. Two weeks? Three? If I got done in two weeks it would have taken me two months to get the front part ready for a roof. I would be very happy with that.