Breaking into the bank

[Obed]

Obed -

Great idea, I had completely forgotten about the pull down steps. The last 2 houses I've owned, I've built steps into a "bonus room" above the garage, and a "catwalk storage" in my last garage. The ceiling height was 13', so I built a second level with 6' of clearance above.
For this garage, I think the pull down stairs would be the best. It will also seal the space for winter heating. What I've seen before is actually framing a box between the trusses to accommodate the stairs, do you think that would weaken the integrity of the trusses?
For the staggered truss spacing, that didn't introduce any other problems?

We had to get the truss designer from the building supply company to verify that we could spread two trusses far enough apart, 24" between the trusses, not 24" O.C., in order to fit the the 24" wide steps between them. We added some extra blocking between the two trusses where there is subfloor (not steps) for support because the subfloor was sitting on trusses more than 24" O.C. apart. I'm not concerned that we materially weakened the structural integrety.

Obed

 

[Obed]

If you do this, make sure that the gutter drains are tied in downstream of the footer drains - otherwise you will potentially be injecting large amounts of surface water into the subsurface soils around your foundation.

Ideally, downspouts would run in their own "tightline" to daylight, so that there is no possibility of the above.

Scoutcub,
I concur with rswyan. For our house, the footer drain pipes and gutter drain pipes are completely separate. I had thought about tying the drain pipes together but then considered what would happen if gutter debris clogged the common drain pipe. The next hard rain could very easily flood the basement. So we kept them separated. We are running the gutter drain pipes and footer drain pipes in the same trench with different pipes so there's not that much extra work and the pipes don't cost that much. The big effort is in digging the trench.

Obed

 

[scoutcub]

If you do this, make sure that the gutter drains are tied in downstream of the footer drains - otherwise you will potentially be injecting large amounts of surface water into the subsurface soils around your foundation.

Ideally, downspouts would run in their own "tightline" to daylight, so that there is no possibility of the above.

Great point. Fortunately the garage is sited on a decent slope, so even if I do tie in the gutter drains to the footer drains, it will be in the front of the garage, and we'll use either a 4" or 6" solid drain pipe heading downhill. I'll be trenching soon, and may just go with separate lines.

 

[scoutcub]

Trusses have arrived! Interesting how they were stacked upside down on a custom lumber trailer, and my steep driveway must've been fun for the driver!

 

[Obed]

Trusses have arrived! Interesting how they were stacked upside down on a custom lumber trailer, and my steep driveway must've been fun for the driver!

For us, getting the roof rafters, sheathing, and foofing felt on the house was a big milestone that came with some emotional relief. Looks like you're getting close to that point. Huray!

Obed

 

[scoutcub]

Trusses going up! Very glad I didn't transport my excavator back to the property, we used it to set trusses and I saved a $700.00 crane fee. Plus, some fun seat time.....

 

[scoutcub]

More trusses.....I kept waiting for the chain to slip.....fortunately it never did!

 

[scoutcub]

Trusses complete! No mishaps or incidents...

At first I was a bit uncomfortable with the slope, and getting the machine too close to the "hole" ....my sub at one point suggested perhaps we should get the crane.... so I kept at it till we could get the chain/truss in the center of the garage, and I quickly became comfortable with the slope and the operation.

 

[scoutcub]

Oops, forgot pics last post....

 

[Obed]

Frank,
That looks like a great use for the excavator. How is it that you own an excavator?
Obed