Don't Cut Your Wood Roof Trusses - Home Remodeling
As the popularity of wood trusses is increasing, so are
the problems with them from remodeling contractors that don't have
enough experience and seemed to be the biggest culprits for damaging
them. Damaged wood trusses can create problems for your home and should
be repaired as soon as possible, if they are cut.
Here is where the problem starts, you hire a contractor to install a
skylight or repair some existing damage to your roof and by the time the
repairs have been completed, your roof truss is damaged beyond repair,
but you don't realize this, because you hired someone you thought was
going to fix it properly.
I can't tell you how many times I run into problems like this, while
remodeling older houses or even while visiting a friend of mine. Someone
shows me a new skylight that they have installed that's 24 inches wide
and I notice that their roof trusses are spaced 16 inches on center.
Here's where the problem starts, the homeowners are irritated at me
because they've already paid once and now they're going to have to pay
someone again.
Again, I'm usually the person that these people call when their roof or
ceiling starts to sag. I'm the one who has to break the bad news to them
and explain that there roof trusses aren't supposed to be cut at all.
Each individual roof truss plays an important role and if damaged, can
transfer the additional roof load to the other trusses, creating a
potential problem with the structure of the roof framing system.
If you're going to hire contractors are home repair man that doesn't
have enough experience, remember this, you cannot cut a wood roof truss
at all, unless you have contacted a structural engineer that will
provide you with a good solution to your problem.