Raising Shop Ceiling

[George Bregar]

Back in the 70s I worked for a home builder that built his own trusses. He had them certified and we would build king truss to carry the load of other trusses. So yest there is a way to do it. Why not just position it between the trusses.

The trusses are 2' on center. The bandsaw was 30". I would not be able to open the door,

[Thomas Bank]

Well, not quite 7' is a lot better than over 8' ! I hope someone still chimes in on how to deal with rehabbing the trusses. It does raise an interesting question on how to make the change without bringing down the house. We have all seen trusses for tray ceilings, but they are generally installed at construction time. You are correct, there must be a way.

There are ways to modify trusses. Unfortunately, the main issue is that you have to know how that particular truss was designed in the first place - primarily what loads it was designed for and how they are distributed.

[Phil Thien]

Ha! Well, you will if we can work out a price. In the meantime, look at my Oliver No. 260

Attachment 268148

That is AWESOME! I look forward to seeing more pictures!

[George Bregar]

Well, not quite 7' is a lot better than over 8' ! I hope someone still chimes in on how to deal with rehabbing the trusses. It does raise an interesting question on how to make the change without bringing down the house. We have all seen trusses for tray ceilings, but they are generally installed at construction time. You are correct, there must be a way.

Right. I mean sure, the 30" F&E is okay, but I really want their 36" saw. That I know is obver 8' tall. It can't be that hard.

[George Bregar]

That is AWESOME! I look forward to seeing more pictures!

Well here is one during tyhe move. The saw weighs 2400 pounds!

IMG_1873.jpg

If you aren't familiar, the Oliver 260 had a dual arbor, each being able to handle a 16" blade, and having it's own 5HP direct drive motor, as well as a riving knife. Also has a sliding table. While no euroslider, it comes with a "quadrant" that pins to the slider table at specific desired common angles (43, 22.5, 30,...), providing high precision. This isn't my saw but shows what I'm talking about. See the holes. The correspond to angles. And whats really cool is that a big protractor is etched into the table.
2065-B.jpg


It really is an amazing saw. You're in Milwaukee, right? If you ever get "up Nort'" come on by and see my shop.

[John Huds0n]

Here is another way to deal with ceiling issues

I have a three stall garage - with the 2nd floor of the house over the double stall while the third stall has it's own roof and attic space, which is about 4' tall.

I didn't have any issues with the height - but I wanted more light.

This is a 5' x 5' area directly over my main work area. I cut out the existing drywall, added some framing for the sky lights, and boxed in the trusses. (I still have to make the door for the opening). I definitely like the change, but since I used the inexpensive plastic type skylights, it does make it hotter during the summer (which can be good during the winter)

skylights.jpg

[Albert Lee]

Glad you had it sorted

however, if you had to remove one truss completely, you can do it, the safest way is to get a local structural engineer to review the building and the calculations.

without looking at the loadings on the building, here are my thoughts:

1. reinforce the two truss either side of the truss that you are going to remove
2. increase the capacity of the ceiling "joist" as you have doubled the spacing of the truss
3. you may need to increase ceiling bracing if there is any.
4. remove the truss

the building terms maybe different in the US.

I am a structural engineer, graduated a few years ago and practiced as a design engineer for about 2-3 years.