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I agree with the other posters--the truss company trusses are usually a better buy than building your own trusses. I built my own trusses for one of my buildings when I was really poor. It took a long time, I had to overbuild them and they were a hassle to get in place on top of the walls. I would say that they were durable, as that building had a tree top fall on it and all the trusses survived with little damage. At least around here, the commercial trusses are put together with nailer plates that are pressed onto the wood with a roller or press. I have tried to remove a few of those nailer plates and found it to be just about impossible. That makes me think that the pressed on nailer plates are probably stronger and more efficient than the plywood gussets and nails I have used. I have tried using similar nailer plates, but don't have the tool to press them on. The truss companies are set up to put together trusses that have been precision engineered to do a given job and their trusses are extremely accurate duplicates of eachother. And if your time is worth anything, the commercial trusses probably come out cheaper than building your own. You might want to talk to your local truss companies to see what kind of deal you could get on trusses of various sizes and then design your building around the size you select as being right for you and within your budget. 24'wide trusses are very common and the truss company probably would have them in stock, already built. They can probably build almost any size, but as they get wider, they naturally get more expensive. A friend of mine got a real deal on a bunch of trusses that someone ordered and partially paid for, but never picked up. Someone he knows worked at the truss plant and told him about these trusses, which had been built and were being stored for more than a year. They wanted them out of there and gave him an almost give-away deal on these very wide, oddball sized trusses. My buddy then designed his new shop around the cheap trusses. His new shop is way wider than he would have built, but I am sure he will use the extra room. And most truss companies will deliver the trusses to your building site and place them bundled together on the walls for free or next to nothing. Except for really small buildings, I will always buy the trusses from now on. Life is too short.....
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