Fusses with Trusses

    With all the materials bought for the weekend's project on Friday evening it seemed that putting in the retrofit trusses would move quite quickly.  This was not the case, for a large part because the 328 individual pieces had not been cut.  Needless to say measuring and cutting all the various shapes required took up the majority of Saturday. By the end of the day (and in time to catch the Kentucky Derby) we had one of them half way up with two of the sixteen gusset plates liquid nailed and regular nailed with #8 common box.
     By ten in the morning with Shawn cutting the remainder of the nailing plates, Doug and I finished nailing the gussets on the first installed truss and decided that instead of fully modular trusses (assembled piece by piece in place), that it would save time to put some of the plates on the under beams and then slide them into place.  As it turns out this was not a time saving idea and the majority of the afternoon was spent pushing ornery shapes into place, trying not to fall through the rafters, and boiling in the muggy 95+ degree heat caught up in the attic space.  So with a lot of sweat we finally pushed the second truss into place with only one or two "oh shit" moment of lost balance.  With the second truss in place and secured we decided to call it quits for the day.  In the end two out of the eleven ended up getting partially completed, but all the pieces are made and are waiting in the wings to go. Plus everyone involved now has a better understanding of the order which they need to be built in.  Even if it goes slow there are only nine left to deal with.