Specialty Floor & Roof Trusses
These engineered products are uniquely useful in “Bonus Room” home addition projects where extra living space is needed above a front-drive garage.
The traditional method of insulating a floor above an unheated garage involves packing a 12 – 14” deep floor joist area with 12” of batt insulation. Despite an R-40 insulation factor, these floors were almost always uncomfortably cold to walk on during winter months, due to the eventual transfer of low temperatures from the unheated garage.
“OPEN-WEB” FLOOR TRUSS – This less conventional style of floor truss typically provides about 18” in depth that will accommodate 12” of batt insulation in the lower truss area, as well as allowing for 6” of open space in the upper truss area where forced-air heat can be introduced. This airflow in the floor below the living space ensures that floors are warm to walk on and more likely to be useful throughout the winter!
“SCISSOR” ROOF TRUSS – It’s always nice to have a vault ceiling, right? Most people assume that cost would be prohibitive, but not so with scissor trusses! Instead of the standard horizontal-bottom-cord truss (flat ceiling), the scissor truss is designed to elevate the center of the ceiling as much as 3’ in a 24’ wide space, with a 4” in 12’’ exterior roof pitch. These trusses are about the same price as standard trusses, but the batt insulation instead of the “blow-in” and drywall installation/finishing are a little more money, although not by much.
Scissor trusses being installed at a custom home renovation project in North Glenmore Park, Calgary