I've been in my townhouse for a little over a year. I was in my basement tonight and noticed that the floor truss that runs along the back wall of my unit seems to be damaged to some extent. The truss has a few vertical members that are slightly displaced with detached truss plates. I wasn't too concerned until I googled the issue. Is this something that I should be worried about? Too see a picture, go here: Picture

Thanks for any insight you have. I've just e-mailed my builder and our codes officer. I'm technically out of warranty with the builder (though I have a 12 year structural warranty through a 3rd party), but I'm hoping they'll address it since they're still wrapping up some of my 1 year warranty issues.

Thanks,
Jamie

It's hard to get oriented from the picture. What I see appears to be short studs resting on a foundation wall. I see no evidence of any "floor trusses" at all. I do not understand the purpose of the nailing plates.

Perhaps a picture which is less of a close-up, and which shows more of the floor framing system would help.

Thanks Richard. Perhaps this isn't truly considered a truss...I don't know. There aren't any diagnol pieces, and yes, the "truss" in question does sit on the sill plate on top of the foundation. Here are some more pics to give perspective...
Pic 1[br]Pic 2[br]Pic 3[br]

Thank again for any input,
Jamie

Aha! You do indeed have floor trusses, but the thing that is directly over the foundation wall is, in effect, a short stud wall, put there to support the end of your subfloor. It is structurally non-critical, and there is little to worry about.

What I would do, if I were you, is peel back the insulation adjacent to these two displaced members, and see if there is any reason for their displacement. If not, I would hammer them back into place, and maybe hammer the truss plates back into place as well.

When I look at pics 1, 2 and 3 in your second post, I see a bottom plate running along the top of the foundation wall. I do not see it in the pic in your first post. I wonder why. I also wonder where in your basement this condition exists, because I see nothing like it in pics 1, 2 or 3. It appears as though these two little stud´s were added for some reason, using scrap material. Why else would one have nailing plates, and not the other, and why else would one piece hace a nailing plate at the concrete foundation, where it is useless? These two little studa bear directly on your foundation, not on a continuous wood plate as I see in pics 1, 2 and 3.

My GUESS is they were put there to support something which occurs on the floor above, such as a post at the end of a relatively long header...but it's only a guess. In any case, they are probably OK as they are, in every way except cosmetically.

Thanks Richard! You have no idea how much better I feel now. My natural tendency is to panic until I have a reason not to.

The first picture doesn't show the bottom plate because it's a bad angle, but it's there along the entire wall. The condition occurs in three places along that back wall. I think that pics 1,2,and 3 are too far away for you to tell. Onc occurs in the center of the wall (this one is detached from the top and bottom plate), while the other two are on the left side of the back wall and are only detached at the top plate. The picture in my first post is of the stud in the center of the wall. As you pointed out, there is an piece of scrap wood that was added next to it after the fact and nailed in without a truss plate...not sure why.

I heard back from my builder who said that they'll get correction plans from the truss manufacturer's engineer and repair the plates. He said they typically use plywood on either side of the truss. He didn't think it was of a structual nature and pointed out that there is a high level of safety built into load calculations.

I feel better now, so thank you. I see how much you help others and am glad you responded to my post.

Jamie

have you removed the insulation to see if there is indeed something behing the 2x that would give it a reason to be out that far? my guess is that when the house was sheathed a nail through the plywood hit a knot maybe and kicked that 2x out a little bit, ive seen similar things happen before. if there is nothing on the other side of the 2x i would just tap it back in place where it should be.

Haven't gotten on a ladder to look myself. I think I'll wait to see what the builder does when he comes to repair the studs. Thanks again for the feedback.

Jamie

It sounds like Richard is right on. No major concern on the truss. That type of truss in our area is typically called a "ladder truss". The other 2X in the ladder truss is typical of carrying a load down to the foundation. - Bret

Jamie; It looks like, to me, that is a load bearing wall and you are right to get the builder involved. The way these floor trusses are enginered is critical. That one carries the weight of the wall above and as such, as an outside wall, the house. It also looks like the damage was done when the exterior sheething was applied. If you just hammer it back in, it will push those nails out into the siding, bricks, etc. Let the builders handle this since it is structural!

Thanks again to everyone. The builder came out last week and secured the small studs with plywood which they glued and nailed in after tapping the studs back into place. Everyone has agreed that the studs were most likely displaced when the exterior sheathing was attached. My initial panic was that the displacement was a result of the truss being overloaded. Sometimes I wish I finished the basement so I didn't have to see things like this and worry. I guess it's better to know now and have the builder make the appropriate corrections. Thanks again.

Well, to put your fears completely to rest, that member along the top of the wall is not really a truss at all, since it spans nothing. It is analogous to a "rim joist" in conventional framing...all it does is transfer the load of the wall above and a tiny bit of the floor above down to the top of the foundation. It is more like a little tiny stud wall than it is a truss, and it is almost completely non-critical, structurally speaking.
Sleep well!