What Types of Timber Trusses are Available from Vermont Timber Works?

We make all of our trusses to order depending on the structural requirements at each building location and the aesthetic and financial needs of our clients. We make timber king post, queen post, hammer beam, scissor, girder, gambrel, church and gothic trusses as well as variations of all of those. We use traditional joinery, steel gusset plate joinery, hidden steel joinery and combinations of joinery types in out timber trusses.

What are the Most Popular Heavy Timber Trusses?

The most popular heavy timber truss is the King Post Truss by far. It is structurally efficient and able to easily cover forty foot long spans. Because it is efficient, it is also economical, so it is a favorite choice when the budget counts. Queen Post Trusses are also efficient structurally and economical, for some reason they aren’t as popular. Queen post trusses have an advantage though – the centers between the queen posts can be open, leaving space for an upper window, a walkway or a loft or attic space.

A favorite by looks is the Hammer Beam Truss. It is amazingly beautiful, but only works with buttressing or a steel tie rod. A Modified Hammer Beam Truss is one of our favorites and is a truss that, depending on the span and the loads, does not need a visible tie rod. Hidden steel rods often do the trick.

Scissor Trusses come in next in popularity. They use a raised bottom chord which gives an interior room extra loft. Because they are more expensive, they are not as popular as King Post Trusses.

Next are custom truss designs. A working truss is basically a structural triangle or groups of triangles joined together with arches. There are so many ways to make a timber truss – bring Vermont Timber Works your ideas, and we will design a truss for you.

 

What Style of Heavy Timber Truss Should I Choose for My Project?

The simple answer is: “The one you like the most!”. The beauty of timber construction is in the eye of the beholder. In over forty years of designing and fabrication beautiful timber frames we have discovered that everyone likes their own design and all truss designs look great in wood. We are here to help foster our client’s creative process, offer suggestions on the aesthetics and put a few guardrails around the structural requirements for each truss that we build. Some people like rough sawn rustic wood beams, others like wood that is planed smooth and slender with graceful arches.  Its all good. Give Vermont Timber Works a call and we will bring your design to life.

 

What is the Maximum Span of a Heavy Timber Truss?

We have designed, fabricated and installed timber trusses that have spanned over 60′-0″ and octagon trusses that spanned 80′-0″. The longer the span, the more the truss costs per board foot however. Longer trusses will often require exposed steel joinery or hidden steel to support the roof loads. A nice, relatively economical span, is between 24′-0″ and 40′-0″.

 

What is the Strongest Wood to use in A Heavy Timber Truss?

Each species of wood has different strength characteristics outlined in the American Wood Council’s National Design Standards for Wood Construction.  Douglas Fir is usually the species of choice for timber trusses based on it’s outstanding strength characteristics and it’s availability in long lengths. Douglas Fir can also be glue-laminated into longer, deeper, stronger members, which is ideal for longs spans and tributaries between trusses. Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) is a strong timber choice and can also be used as glulams. SYP timber is not as stable against twisting and shrinking as Douglas Fir when is used as natural timber, but it does make excellent glulaminated timbers.

Oak is probably next on the list for strength. Oak timber is beautiful, but it is unlike  highly finished kiln dried oak lumber that is used in furniture, floor and cabinets. Oak timber tends to twist and check (show cracks), which is beautiful for a hand hewn rustic timber frame, but many projects call for a more finished look and a more stable wood.

Eastern hemlock is an excellent choice for a rough sawn timber truss with spans of 36′-0″ and less. Hemlock is a renewable resource and strong, but due to shake in its grain, and limited availability in lengths over twenty feet, its applications are limited to smaller trusses and spans.

Eastern White Pine is the least strong material for a timber truss. Pine is beautiful when it is hand hewn or planed smooth, and makes a great wood for interior applications, but isn’t very strong structurally so it is used for shorter spans.

 

Why Do Some Heavy Timber Trusses Have Steel Tie Rods?

Generally, the top chords of all trusses are in structural compression and the bottom chords are structurally in tension. This can be demonstrated by taking a business card and folding it in half so it is in the shape of an “A”. Put the business card on a smooth flat surface, like a table or desk, and press down on the peak. The bottom edges will spread out. That is where the tie rod comes in. Now tape the bottom of the “A”  shape so the tape makes the bottom chord (the tie rod) of the truss and press down on the peak again. Feel how strong it is with the edges tied together with tape. The tie rod holds the truss together.

The tie can be a wooden beam or a steel rod, either will work depending on the magnitude of the forces. Trusses that span greater distances in geographic areas that get a lot of snow will need bigger top chords and bigger ties or tie rods.

Sometimes a steel tie rod won’t work and a wooden tie beam is required. That happens on the seacoast in hurricane prone areas or areas where the wind is strong and the weight of the truss and roof is light. The roof acts like an airplane wing. Wind blowing over it creates “lift” and the roof literally wants to take off like an airplane.  When that happens the truss “reverses”. Instead of gravity holding the roof down, the wind picks it up and the truss collapses inward.  Steel tie rods will only work in tension, they fold up in compression, so a truss that reverses will fail without a stiff wooden bottom chord holding the shape of the truss. In geographic areas without hurricane winds, gravity holds the shape of the truss.

Vermont Timber Works uses sophisticated 3d engineering software to model all of the trusses we build during the design phase. The software (with the right input from our engineers) considers all of the forces that act on a timber frame – wind, snow, shingles, plywood, people, furniture, mechanical equipment and even earthquakes during the design phase of the project. we consider all of the forces, then design a truss that beautifully resolves all of them.

 

What is the Difference Between a Timber Truss and a Steel Truss?

Heavy Timber Trusses use wooden beams and glulam beams as the components of the truss. Wood beams make the top chords, bottom chords, ties, king posts and webs. A steel truss will use cold formed steel members, steel I beams (or W members) and hollow steel shapes (HSS) welded and bolted together to form the truss. Both systems work structurally. Cold form steel trusses look a lot like conventional 2x wood trusses and will be spaced roughly 2′-0″ apart. Steel trusses made with HSS and W members (wide flange beams) can be spaced 20′-0″ or more apart and span great distances. Steel trusses often bolted together with angular gusset plates and can be painted any color if they are exposed, but they are often painted black or are made from galvanized steel.

Steel trusses don’t have the natural beauty that timber trusses have. Although, timber trusses don’t span as far as steel – spanning 40′-0″ is the farthest that is most economical, but we have built more expensive trusses that span 50′-0″ to 60′-0″. Timber trusses, made from natural wood, have an elegance and character that is wonderful to look at. When the trusses are exposed to the room below, timber is the way to go.

 

Which is a better for a heavy timber truss – traditional joinery wood joinery or steel gusset plates?

Both are excellent ways to join individual timbers into a heavy timber truss. Most of the time it comes down to the architect’s and owners’ personal aesthetics. Some people like the look of steel joinery while others prefer the look of wooden peg joinery. At Vermont Timber Works, we like both.  Occasionally, for trusses that are over forty feet long, exposed steel gusset plates are required. Often we can hide structural steel in the wooden truss members, like for this truss at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont. So the choice is really yours.

 

What is the Difference Between a Timber Truss and a Conventional Wood Truss?

Conventional wood trusses are made from dimensional lumber, 2×4’s, 2×6’s and 2×8’s that are pressed together with galvanized steel side plates that bite into the wood. Conventional wood trusses are great when they are used in attics and areas that are not open to the areas below them. Conventional wood trusses are functional, not decorative. Timber trusses are both decorative and functional, but the beauty comes with a cost – timber trusses are more expensive than conventional wood trusses. Timber trusses are made from 6×8’s, 8×8’s, 8×10’s, 8×12’s and even bigger beams. Timber trusses raised and cathedral ceilings and have a mass that is impressive and are beautiful to look at.

 

Am I able to only purchase Timber trusses instead of a whole timber frame structure?

Yes! Clients will often have us fabricate custom trusses to enrich a space or to give a certain aesthetic to a structure.  We can fabricate trusses whether they are intended for structural support or will be purely decorative. We can also provide decorative ceiling beams, rafters, joists or wall posts to give a room the feel of timber.

 

Can I order decorative trusses that are non-structural?

Yes! We are happy to design and fabricate trusses to your specifications even if the trusses will be decorative only. In fact, this is oftentimes a more economical way to get the look of a timber frame in a conventionally framed structure. Sometimes buildings have a structural steel overbuild and timber trusses are literally hung off of that structure from above, like Saint Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Ridgefield, CT. The truss is beautiful, but the steel framing above does all of the work.

 

Will you ship Timber trusses to me?

We will ship trusses anywhere in the country as well as internationally. Trusses under 8′-0″ tall can be shipped assembled over the road. Trusses up to 12′-0″ tall can also be shipped over the road but require special oversized load permits for every state they travel through and the truck must follow certain restrictions, like the route they can travel on and travel only during clear weather and daylight hours.

For trusses that are too big to economically ship assembled over the road, we will ship them broken down and packaged in their individual parts. After the parts for the trusses are fabricated, we assemble the trusses on the shop floor, test for fit and label the parts for truss location and position. The truss is then disassembled and packaged for shipment to the site where it can be reassembled and raised by a local construction crew. With complex trusses, our clients often select the “on-site consultant” option on our quote to have one of our timber frame experts travel to the site to help with the reassembly and erection of the trusses. Some client prefer for us to do the reassembly and erection, which we are happy to do provided that we have the time and staff available at the time of the installation.

 

How long will it take to fabricate and ship trusses?

After we’ve submitted our quote to you, you have approved it, and approved our shop drawings, it can take anywhere from 10-16 weeks for us to receive materials, fabricate the trusses, and ship them out to you.

After the order is received, design and shop drawings take a couple of weeks to complete for an average sized job. The client and the client’s architects and engineers usually take a couple of weeks to approve shop drawings for material order. The Douglas Fir we use comes from Oregon. It normally takes 4-6 weeks from the time of order to the time to the time the mill cuts the timber, then about a week for it to be shipped from Oregon to Vermont. If we are using local hemlock for the frame we can save a week on the shipping time.  During that time, our designers and engineers work on joinery design, steel design and stamped production drawings. The client’s team also reviews and approves the final drawings before we start cutting the parts for the trusses.

Depending on the sized of the job, shop fabrication  takes between two to eight weeks, with the norm being about three to four weeks. After fabrication, the parts are preassembled and packaged for shipment, which takes one to two weeks. Then it is ready to go to you!

 

Can I put up trusses myself or do I need to hire a contractor?

If you feel confident enough to put up the trusses yourself, you can most definitely do so. It is not necessary to hire a contractor if you don’t want to, however, you should have carpentry experience or friends who are carpenters to give you a hand. Raising the trusses with usually require a crane. Sometimes small pavilion trusses can be raised with a telehandler (a four wheel drive forklift with a telescoping boom). Our team at Vermont Timber Works is always a phone call away if you have questions about assembly and raising timber trusses.

Anther alternative is to select the “on-site consultant” option on our quote. One of our professional timber framers will travel to your site to show you how to assemble and raise the trusses. You will still need a crew of people to do the work and you will need to supply the tools, but many of our clients find that the job goes much faster with a timber framing consultant.

 

Do you sell faux Timber beams or Faux Wood trusses?

When people ask for “Faux” beams and trusses, usually what they are envisioning is hollow pieces of wood or foam that have been made to look like beams and trusses. They are generally lightweight and inexpensive. While an interesting solution for some, we prefer the look and quality of heavy timber trusses and beams. Now, if by saying Faux wood beams you mean real timber beams that are just meant to be decorative, we want to be your source for those.

 

What Truss Styles does Vermont Timber Works Make?

Vermont Timber Works can accommodate any Truss style you may have in mind. This might include the king truss, queen truss, girder truss, scissor truss, hammer beam truss, or any modified versions of those. You can read more about truss styles on our Timber Trusses Page.

 

Will you design the trusses and truss system for my project?

Due to our workload, we are unable to take on any design/engineering work unless we will also be fabricating the trusses. So as long as you want us to fabricate the trusses for your project, we will be happy to make sure they are designed to fit the specifications of your project and your structure.

 

Can you custom design trusses for my home?

Yes! If you have plans for your home or building or can give us some basic dimensions and other information, we can design trusses that will look great in the space.

 

Can I request a specific style of Truss like the scissor truss?

Definitely. All our work is completely custom, so any truss can be fabricated to your exact requirements. You can choose any style of truss you’d like and we’ll be happy to accommodate.

 

How much do Trusses cost?

This can vary based on truss style and size, as well as species of wood used and whether the trusses will be structural or decorative. If you choose a more complicated truss design like the hammer beam truss or the scissor truss as opposed to a simpler design like the king truss, your overall costs will be higher due to design, labor, and materials.

 

What wood species can trusses be made with?

Sometimes this will depend on the structural requirements of the trusses, but often you can choose between douglas fir, hemlock, oak, or pine. You can read more about wood species on our wood species page.

 

What finishes or wood textures do you offer for your trusses?

We offer a variety of finishes and texture options for our trusses. You can choose from Planed and Chamfered, Rough Sawn, Semi Sanded, Hand Hewn, or Weathered. You can learn more about wood finished on our wood textures page.

 

Can I request steel plates in my truss design?

Absolutely. We can incorporate steel plate onto our trusses whether they’re structurally necessary or purely decorative.

 

Can I only buy the steel plates, brackets, or tie rods I see on your trusses?

We don’t keep any steel plates/brackets/tie rods on hand or “in stock.” And unfortunately, due to our workload, we don’t have the capacity to provide any custom steel fabrication unless we will also be fabricating your Trusses as well. If you’re only looking for steel work, contacting a local steel fabricator near you would be a good place to start.

 

Can I order 2×4 Trusses?

We specialize in Heavy Timber Construction and 2×4 construction is not within our scope of work.

 

If I don’t want my house to be timber framed, can I purchase trusses to give the home the appearance of being timber framed?

Yes. People often use what we call a “hybrid frame” design that incorporates trusses, or timber framing in specific areas while the majority of the structure is conventionally framed. You can also conventionally frame a house and incorporate timber trusses in a great room that can be structural or decorative.

 

In what kind of structures can you incorporate Timber Trusses?

Timber trusses can be used in any number of structures and building plans. This includes houses, barns, churches, pavilions, pool houses, ski lodges, hotels, and restaurants.

 

What kind of information do I need to provide to get a quote for trusses for my project?

The more information about your project you can give the more accurate of a quote we can give you. Looking over the plans for the building would be ideal, but if you don’t have plans giving us the size of the trusses, the desired span, the style of truss, the wood species you’d like and how the wood will be finished, will also give us a better idea of what exactly your trusses entail. This will allow you to give us the most accurate estimate possible.

 

Will you work with my architect or builder to design and fabricate my trusses?

Yes. We have a good working relationship with many architects and building partners and will be happy to work closely with any other company or building professional you chose to be apart of your project.