Carpentery Question

[CobraCarrera]

Can the lower cord of a truss be cut into or notched out?

I have 9 foot 5 inch ceiling in my garage with a bedroom above.... I would like to install a 4 post car lift and I could use a few extra inches (4 or more) to have the cars fit. I am pretty tight with the clearance now....

Can the ceiling be raised only in the area where the car would be close to the ceiling? Or can some sort of tray ceiling be created to get me that extra space?


Any help would be appreciated...

 

[tistan]

You cant start cutting the truss. They are engineered for their span and load calcuations. If you have a 16" tall truss then cut it down to 12" it will sag. The only thing you could do, and I don't recommend it unless you have a lot of experience, is cut the truss and header them off with a micorlam or parallam. Then box the trey in with microlams or parallams to carry the weight load. Then you can run smaller joist between the microlam. Your local lumber yard should be able to calculate the span and load and size the microlam for you. This is a major job for someone who isn't an experienced builder.

 

[thomas91169]

My experience from watching Holmes on Homes is this is a no-no.

 

[JBird_Cobra]

Hire a local engineer to come take a look... he/she would be able to get you a plan on how to do it safely.

 

[CobraCarrera]

Looks like a no go. I don't have experience to do something like that. Shame I really want t a lift in the garage

 

[HEMIHUNTER]

^ smart move^

 

[hoamskilet]

My experience from watching Holmes on Homes is this is a no-no.

:lol:

 

[leo2hot4tv]

Hire a local engineer to come take a look... he/she would be able to get you a plan on how to do it safely.

This, plus it would also depend on your local building codes.

 

[YJSONLY]

Looks like a no go. I don't have experience to do something like that. Shame I really want t a lift in the garage

Time for a shop out back!!!! Unless you you live on one of them .25 acre lots...

 

[CobraCarrera]

Time for a shop out back!!!! Unless you you live on one of them .25 acre lots...

I got the property. 1.3 acre to be exact and the shop out back but it is not enough now.

 

[03 KB Sonic Blue]

Hard to say if this will work without seeing house. What if you laid a sub floor on room above garage? This would become new floor for room or at least take some load off the current joist supporting it. Would require you to pull up flooring currently in room tho and might be more headaches than its worth.

I will ask my dad when I see him later since he is a contractor if he has any ideas, but like I said hard to say without seeing it.

 

[Slider]

Hard to say if this will work without seeing house. What if you laid a sub floor on room above garage? This would become new floor for room or at least take some load off the current joist supporting it.

Please dont take this advice. I design houses. The best advice that was given was "Hire an engineer to come out an take a look." All other advice is just stupid.:beer:

 

[CobraCarrera]

I may just leave it alone......or buy the lift (Bendpak) (as I can get a nice price for it through my company) and use it to do small repairs and then relocate it whenever I get the space for it.....

I am having an engineer come over though anyway to give me guidance...


Thanks everyone for the help....

 

[thomas91169]

id buy it too still, even if you can only lift vehicles 2-3' off the ground its still a shitton easier to do it with a lift.

 

[canibus]

Good call, don't cut or notch into it.

 

[James Snover]

Never cut or notch a truss. Even if Joe down the road says he's done it and everything is fine, good for Joe. Don't do it. Get an engineer to come and give it a look, if you have to do it.

 

[jewc75]

MaxJax Portable Two Post Lifting System by Dannmar

This is another option for you.