Standing up the A's

Exciting and exhausting can sum up the process of standing up the main floor framework. We decided on using 2x12-26' Hem fir at 24" spacing for our main A-frames trusses. We could have gone down to 2x10 or even 2x8 but wanted the extra depth for additional air space and insulation. Personally, I'm not a fan of hot roofs or spray foam in roof trusses so the extra thickness allowed us to leave a 2" open airspace and still have an R36 wall/roof. I'm sure many will argue this but it's what's worked for me and what I prefer. In my experience you'll always have some moisture infiltration due to condensation. Even if the area is constructed and sealed perfectly you won't have a way to mitigate moisture if the area is filled with spray foam when a problem does occur. The continuous air space from soffit to peak allows the roof to breathe and reduces the roof temperature while extending the life of the shingles.   

Like the floor trusses we had to put the 26' boards on a trailer and haul each down the driveway due to the width. Our design uses 60-degree walls so we cut and preassembled the trusses using plywood gussets at the top. The first ones go up easy with 2 people but we used the help of some family members to get the main trusses up in a long day. If you're planning your own build, message me directly and I can provide details. The last trusses are a bit tricky, but we ended up using a winch on the tractor. We bounced around ideas on using a ridge beam, but DYI factor and equipment made us use this method. 

I'm actually a little surprised on how easy standing up the trusses was. Without using a ridge beam my fear was keeping a clean straight peek but it turned out spot on. We used a large bucket lift rental for 2 days to finish out the 24" overhangs and sheathing. I also used 2-2x10-26' trusses at the ends to allow for 2x roof sheathing at the overhangs. This created a studier/straighter overhang that shouldn't sag over time. I don't expect an overhang of under 2' to require the extra framing but it's just extra insurance.