General truss and construction questions

I've built a handful of garages and one story houses, but am now venturing into the two story category. I'm using a plan from Behm Design, roughly 24 x 24 garage, with a playroom/office on top.

Plans call for 16" LPI 32 I Joist, and I know it is rated for the 24 ft. span, but for some reason I am nervous about the weight allowance.

For example, if I decide to put a pool table upstairs, obviously it will be sitting dead in the middle of the 24' span. When do you start to get nervous about a 2nd floor and put a beam down the middle? I'd hate to be playing pool and fall through the floor onto our cars..

2nd. I think I want to use scissor trusses to get a more open feel. When I eventually drywall, do I just put a nailer on the end trusses to give the drywall a screwbed? Probably obvious, but hey.. what the heck, I'll ask.

 

When you buy on price you a get a quote on the minimum materials required for code, which is usually the most attractive for a price shopper.

A code is only a MINIMUM and not how it should be done.

If you feel you have special requirements, ask for a product to meet your requirements.

You may be better off spending a few bucks having a professional describing what you really need. It may not cost anything in the end.

Dick

 

kemperflow: In my opinion Behm Design offers great plans that; a) meet and exceed code (VERY strict here) and b) allow for painless approvals from planning boards and building departments. Your comment that you've built a 'handful of garages and one story houses' strongly suggests that you've had hands-on experience with that above process, so IMHO the Behm plans will eliminate those headaches that can arise from dealing with government officials. As to your worries about collapse, remember that it is the redundancy of the framing members that give structures of this type their strength.

 

Remember-

Meeting code is only the least you can do and usually not what is desired for specific conditions and applications.

All too often people are misled to thinking code is the best(?) way to build, but is the minimum standard.

Packages and standard designs usually are the minimum.

Dock

 

.... Kemperflow, rest easy.

Should you file the plans you have from Behm Designs with your local building department and receive approvals - which you should - you can rest easy and not worry about that pool table. Whenever a set of plans meet code - and I have no intention of being or becoming combative - that code is anything but a minimum, and very few codes are.

After serving 5 years as an appointed member of a municipal planning board, followed by 11 years as a licensed subcode official I can assure you that the process used to create and/or ammend building codes results in a standard that will always exceed minimum requirements. Codes, pursuant to federal and state law and also by municipal ordinance, are continually audited to make sure they are up to date, in step with the times and technologies, and that they have not deviated from the commitment to the public for life safety and health. Before any code becomes law - and codes are indeed laws - a process is undertaken that includes engineering firms, professional consultants for second opinions, consultations for exploration into opposite opinions, inclusions of representation from the building product manufacturers, insurance industry, fire safety experts, and several panels - mostly all volunteer - of builders, architects, contractors and sometimes the affected unions. There are also studies conducted to determine the cost factors for builders in ammending or creating code; and for enforcement, afterall new code means new training for subcode officials. There are also numerous conventions, symposiums and conferences where proposed codes are discussed, dissected, exchanged and written and rewritten. No stone is left unturned; and the result is a standard - not a minimum, but a standard that is a minimum plus, repeat plus, other factors usually related to increasing safety and for adding longevity to the structure.

That process to establish those standards is what makes code slow to catch up to technology and to the rapid changes in building products, practices and procedures.

It is unfortunate that the methodology used in writing code uses the term minimum. The word minimum frequently appears in code, but that's just the language of the business, those minimums are actually standards - standards that exceed any minimum.

Codes are laws, and these laws are not swords that cut, but rather shields that protect. It will never be the intention or purpose of those who create and ammend code to shield and protect you with just a minimum.

Rest easy and good luck,
OVD

 

Thanks for the responses.. I remember being nervous building my first house, and after the fact I remember how solid everything was.. I usually over-engineer out of paranoia. Now building a second story gave me the willies, but after more research and a walk around of some new construction, and after your comments, I am feeling pretty good.

My builder buddy also reminded me that I could always put a beam down the center if I decided to assemble a truck on the second floor, but he told me that I was fine as well.. He looked over the plans and actually said that it was a very solid and simple design.

Thanks again..