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Post Truss - Vermont Teddy Bear Company - 40' Roof Truss on a 20' Grid. |
Vermont Timber Works custom designs, engineers and builds heavy timber and post & beam roof trusses to add beauty to the interiors of all kinds of projects. We are manufacturers of beautiful timber frames.
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Our longest truss span to date was 60 feet on a 20 foot grid for an executive center in New York. Typical trusses range from 24 to 40 feet on 12 to 16 foot grids. While all our trussed look decorative, most are structural and are designed to carry heavy roof loads.
Heavy timber frame commercial work typically falls under division 06130, division 6130, division 06170 or division 06180. For a more expansive list of the architects and clients we've worked with, go to our Cool Links page. If you would like more information, please call (802) 886-1917 or E-Mail us .
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All of our frames are handcrafted to meet exact project requirements, and we enjoy working with our clients to make sure the details - from design to finish - are just right. Let our in house design and engineering team design the perfect heavy timber truss for your project!
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click on the thumbnails below to view details on different types
of Timber Roof Trusses. There is a lot of information on this page, so make sure to scroll all the way down: |
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Timber Roof Truss Information for Residential and Commercial Work: |
Post and beam trusses really dress up living rooms, great rooms, lobbies and foyers. There are several popular styles of decorative trusses that look great.
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King Post Roof Trusses are the most cost effective, and they look great when curved braces and webs are used. A king post truss solves many structural problems as well. Its bottom chord acts as a ‘tie’ for the room, holding the walls from spreading. The bottom chord runs from wall to wall at the top plate elevation, so it looks best when it is used in a room with that has at least 10 foot tall walls. King post timber roof trusses can easily span 30 feet or more when they are spaced around 12 feet apart, or so. Exact span and spacing depends on the snow loads in the building’s region. Down south a king post roof truss may be able span 36 feet with 16 foot spacing, where the same truss in a snow belt up north may only be able to span 24 feet with the same spacing. We size all of our truss members for the exact region where they are being installed and we provide detailed shop drawings with a structural engineer’s stamp.
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| Classic King Post Truss with Curved Webs |
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Modified King Post Trusses can be used when more visual height is desired. We used this style truss in the Hawthorn Suites Lobby in Burlington, VT |
| Modified King Post Truss |
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Queen Post Roof Trusses are very similar in design to king post trusses except that the interior of the truss has two vertical ‘queen posts’ instead of one central ‘king post’. They look great and offer an open area in the middle of the truss. Queen post timber trusses can easily span 30 feet or more when they are spaced around 12 feet apart. |
| Queen Post Truss |
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Scissor Trusses are a bit more expensive, but give some height in the middle of the room. A common pitch for the top chord is 10 or 12/12, and a bottom chord pitch is often 6/12, so a cathedral ceiling is achieved. Scissor trusses to spread a little when they are loaded. They act like the leaf springs on a truck. As snow piles up on the roof, the truss will squat down and spread out from wall to wall. We try to keep truss deflections to less than half an inch, so they really don’t matter much for the interior finishes. When the span of a truss increases however, the timber sizes must also increase to keep deflections down. The increases in timber size naturally increase the cost; making scissor roof trusses more expensive than king or queen post trusses. Scissor trusses showcased on our site include Saint Catherine’s Church, and the First Presbyterian Church in Navasota Texas. |
| Classic Scissor Truss |
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This is a great looking modified scissor truss that we used in Wakenah Indoor Swimming Pool . It is both decorative and structural with traditional and steel joinery. |
| 48' Truss with Steel Tie |
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A favorite truss is a Traditional Hammer Beam Roof Truss. Its design comes from the old style cathedrals in Europe and the United States. It is beautiful with its graceful center arch, but like the cathedrals, it needs to be buttressed on the outside or by other parts of the building. The arch works in compression, sending the roof loads down the posts through the lower braces. When the top of the posts are ‘fixed’ from spreading the arch carries the roof loads. If the top of the posts aren’t fixed, the outside walls spread and the truss fails. Grove City College is a great example of a hammer beam truss held in compression. The timbers are small and elegant for the span of the truss. They are kept in compression and the loads transfer down the surrounding structural steel frame and concrete floor. The Breed Residence also uses a classic hammer beam truss in the living room. Its loads are transferred to surrounding walls and roofs. The Breed Pool House uses a modified hammer beam design (discussed below) and carries all of its loads internally. |
| True Hammer Beam Truss |
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Modified Hammer Beam Trusses have a great look with their open design and arched webs and braces. No buttressing is required. A center king post is used in the truss’s interior and a collar tie is placed about half way down the truss giving a great open cathedral look. Graceful arched braces run from the collar tie down to hammer posts, and lower braces run from the hammer tie down to an outside post. The upper tie, webs and hammer ties are all in tension. The lower brace goes into compression and a ‘kick’ of outward thrust is transferred through the brace to the center of the outside post. Fixing the bottom of the posts finishes resolving the loads and a two vector reaction is transferred into the foundation. Modified trusses shown on this site were used at Trapp Family Lodge and The Breed Pool House. |
| Modified Hammer Beam Truss |
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| Trusses with steel tie rods, like the one shown below, are used when an open feel is desired, but the loads are too great to economically use a cathedral truss like a hammer beam or scissor truss. Immaculate Conception Church is one example and Wakenah Pool House is another where steel tie rods were used in the roof trusses. In both cases the roof truss spanned over 40 feet in cold, snowy regions. Spreading is resolved through a relatively thin steel tie rod used in the center of the truss at plate level. A tie rod is also a great thing to use when trying to make residential trusses more economical. Hammer beam roof trusses are expensive and won’t work with out a buttress but a steel tie rod makes those problems go away. |
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| Modified Scissor Truss with Steel Tie Rod |
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| 38' Timber Truss with Galvanized Steel Gusset Plates |
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If you would like to find out how Vermont Timber Works can Help with your project, please E-Mail Us.
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We are proud to offer old growth timber recovered from the Ottawa River in Canada.
We will be happy to discuss your plans and work with you to design a frame that meets your needs and your budget. |
Visit the Make a Wish Foundation |
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Vermont Timber Works - Full Service Timber Frame Company and Post & Beam Supplier for Homes, Houses, Churches, Barns and Commercial Projects 06130 - Delivery Nationwide.
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