How to Monitor a Roof Truss

Roof trusses form the style and structure of the roof, replacing heavy rafter framing with lighter weight pre-engineered members, delivered ready-to-install from the truss manufacturer. Many contractors like installing roof trusses, because it greatly reduces the labor needed to figure, cut and fit complicated rafter angles. A roof truss resembles a cross section of roof framing, with a bottom chord, two top chords and triangulated members connecting the chords. The bottom truss moves freely with temperature and humidity fluctuations, which can result in cracked interior drywall.

Instructions

- 1
  Examine the seam between the top of an interior wall and the ceiling for cracks. The first sign of truss movement typically appears as loose drywall tape along this seam.
- 2
  Monitor cracks in the seams along interior walls for at least two years after the house is finished. New or “green” wood, when used in truss construction, can take up to two years to dry completely, and in that time, the truss can alternately lift and descend. Movement should gradually subside.
- 3
  Look at the trusses from the attic access hole. Since you have trusses, you can’t walk through the attic space, but you can look along the tops of the bottom truss chords that span the exterior walls to see if one or more trusses are lifting.

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