The Versatility And Design Of Wood Trusses

Since World War II the design of wood trusses has improved dramatically, driving down costs and increasing versatility. Open web wood trusses as used in wood roof trusses and wood floor trusses demonstrate an incredible variety of designs and applications, fulfilling almost any architectural need in modern building construction. The chord and strut design distributes compressive and tensile loads throughout the assembly, allowing the use of small dimension lumber and lightweight metal connectors in an extremely versatile, cost effective manner. Spans as long as 70 feet, bearing loads exceeding 60psf are now commonplace construction practice.