Why a 4' Mistake Can Ruin Your Truss Fit: Use This Checklist Before You Build

When you're gearing up to build, there's a lot to track. The easiest way to keep the whole project moving smoothly is to get ahead of problems before they start. That’s where the job site checklist comes in. At Truss Components of Washington, we’ve seen what happens when the details get overlooked, and we’ve built this checklist to help prevent that.

Plans That Actually Match

Before your designer can start drafting roof, floor, or wall trusses, it’s critical to make sure your plans are internally consistent. We see it all the time: plans where the framing page doesn’t match the foundation plan. If the trusses are designed based on one set of dimensions but the foundation was poured using another, the result is trusses that won’t fit. That’s a costly mistake, and it can be easily avoided by comparing your plans page by page before design begins.

Roof layouts are another common source of confusion. Your overhead view might show a hip roof, but the elevation view might have gable ends. It’s not uncommon. Before your designer can move forward, they need to know which roof profile you’re going with.

Inconsistent Overhang and Heel Details

Sometimes plans show multiple types of overhangs on different pages (or even on the same page). You might see a cantilevered overhang in one spot, a standard rafter overhang somewhere else, and a raised heel in yet another section. These are all completely different structures. The job site checklist helps make sure you decide which detail you’re using before we start building anything.

The same goes for blocking. You might see a tipped-out bird block on one plan and a bevel-top, full-depth solid block on another. Which one are we building? We just need a clear answer upfront.

Pitch, Vaults, and Volume

Another place plans often differ is in roof pitch. One view might call out a 3:12 pitch, and another might show 4:12. Either is fine, but your designer needs to know which one is right.

Vaulted ceilings are another area that can be missed if it’s not clearly marked. It’s pretty standard to draw ceilings flat. But if you want a vaulted ceiling to open up a living room or give a sense of more space, that needs to be noted before the design begins. It’s possible to make that change later, but it’ll cost more, and it might put you over budget. Planning ahead makes everything easier and cheaper.

Where We Can and Can’t Bear Load

Bearing walls are essential for truss design, especially in areas like garages. Let’s say you’ve got a girder truss at the front of a house, with trusses running front to back. The back wall of the garage can usually take some of that load and help reduce the weight on the girder, but sometimes framing includes a jog in the wall to leave room for a water heater or HVAC unit. If that jog removes the line of bearing, we need to know: is there going to be a header across that opening so we can still use the back wall for support? We don’t want to load a section that’s just sitting on floor joists. Planning for this detail upfront prevents a big mistake in manufacturing.

Wall Panel Specifics

Wall panels need accurate information too. We need the sizes of rough openings, not finish openings, for doors and windows. Without that, your frames won’t fit right. Shear wall locations and their hold-downs also need to be defined so that the sheathing can be nailed correctly and structural loads can be carried down to the foundation properly. We also need to coordinate girder and beam loads to ensure that weight is properly transferred through the walls and down to the foundation.

Thinking Through the Site Setup

Once the designs are right, we still need to get the product to the site efficiently. That means coordinating delivery. We’ll be sending out a big truck, and we’ll need to know the layout of the job site. Is there space to unload? Will the driveway fit our boom truck? Is the area clear of debris and other materials?

We also need to plan the order in which products are unloaded. That directly affects the order we load them on the truck. If you’ve made changes on site, like extending the garage or adding a bay window, we need to know about it before anything is manufactured. We can accommodate changes, but only if we hear about them in time.

Answering Outstanding Questions

Sometimes designers have questions based on the plans. These are called RFIs, or requests for information. Any open RFIs need to be resolved before we start production. If we don’t get answers, we can’t finalize the design.

Get the Checklist

Everything I just mentioned is in our job site checklist. It’s a free PDF you can download and use to make sure nothing slips through the cracks. Going through it before requesting your component designs makes everything smoother, from pricing and design to delivery and installation.