9. Framing - Roof, Stick -vs- Truss

There are a couple types of roofs, Trusses and Stick Frame. Truss roofs are easy to install and were almost exclusively used in apartments, town homes and condominiums. In the last decade or so they have made inroads into single family construction. They function well and do save money on the construction of production homes. When you have repeat floor plans and elevations once the roof is engineered, that cost is split by the number of times the home is built. What are the negatives of trusses? Generally it renders your attic unusable. Most truss designs utilizes a design where the bottom cord is also your ceiling joist. Being that most joist are made of 2x4 construction they can not carry a lot of weight if any. The web construction also can limit head space in the attic if you could put weight on the bottom cord. Stick framed roofs offer you more flexibility. Ceiling joist can be sized for storage space. Stick framing also lends itself to remodeling. With a stick framed roof you can convert your attic to storage space by doubling your joist adding sub floor or sheathing, also depending on your pitch a lot of attics have been converted to living space. Now, if you plan for it, trusses can be designed to meet those requirements. You can remodel attics that are trussed. Anything can be changed/remodeled, it just depends on how much you are willing to do, and pay. If you are building your home for life, and know this is where you want to be, I would say stick build the roof. Most of your custom builders stick build their roofs anyway so this might not even be a conversation for you. As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider when you are building the 'American Dream', your new home. Remember, there are no dumb questions. This is possibly the largest investment of your life. Next we need to talk about 'Cornice'. This is where we install windows, doors, soffit and fascia.