5.1 Creating Gable Truss Envelopes

Estimated Completion Time: 9 minutes

Description

This module walks through inputting gable end trusses in Layout.

Objectives

• Create gable truss envelopes for a variety of conditions.

• Demonstrate how to modify the left or right end of a truss envelope.

• Explain why it is a best practice to input one-off and boundary-defining trusses and Work Lines prior to inputting truss runs.

Additional Resources

• Training Plan 3 accessible from Choose/Create Project > OPEN SAMPLE

Learning Activity

Watch video and follow along within the Paragon Design App.

Video Transcript:

In this video, we’ll demonstrate how to input roof trusses, with a focus on gable trusses. A best practice, is to start by defining your one-off trusses, like girders and gables, before moving on to place the rest of your trusses.

We’ll use existing bearing envelopes as our boundary guides for more accurate truss placement.

We’ll begin by right clicking, and then selecting Truss Envelope from the options. From the Snap Against menu, we will use the Closest Base option to assist in the input of the truss. This option will automatically snap us to the ends of the walls. Let's jump into placing the gable ends. We will start by panning over and zooming in on the right side of the structure, so we can get a better view of where we’re working. Let’s place the first gable. We are going to select the far right outside wall to place the gable truss. And then click Insert and Repeat to continue placing the other gable ends while we’re working on this side. Move over to the fireplace. To place gable trusses in a continuous fashion, press and hold the alt key while clicking to place the gable truss. Here we will alt click to place the upper gable, then alt click to place the gable on the other side.

Moving to the front porch area, we will follow the same steps—alt click to select the front edge of the porch to place this gable. Next we need to pan and zoom over to the middle area of the house. Here we will alt click and place the gable to the left side of the wall for this area. We have one additional gable to drop in here at the left end of the house. This is a good example of a case where the gable will not automatically recognize where the truss should stop, since there is no end or divider. As you can see moving the mouse around to locate the gable, you’ll notice the gable extends past the wall towards the garage. This is because the system hasn’t detected the wall boundary. We will go ahead and place the gable along the left side wall. Click to place the gable, and then click insert to finish out.

Next we will adjust the right end of the gable to be at the proper location. To do so, we will right click on the truss, then select trim extend from the options. We will select the outside edge of the wall that separates the house and the garage. Click and the truss will now be trimmed to the correct wall.

And with that adjustment made, we’ve got all of our gables in place and looking good.

That wraps up the gable truss section. We hope this video helped you better understand how to input gable trusses and align them accurately with other structural elements in your design.

Thanks for watching!