Exterior pony walls and para-cord trusses...

[Canuck]

Ok guys, running into a situation where I'm about to start building the second floor and I've run into a wall sort of speak. The second floor on this is only 20' wide and in order to get any width and height in the two bedrooms on this one and a half story design I need to add some pony walls to elevate the Para-cord trusses up far enough. Anyone know how I do this? I though about using a standard one and a half story build but i'm lost. Anyone care to take a shot at this. I have cadded this out in AutoCAD and know what I need for wall heights on the exterior pony wall but how do I do it in CA?

BTW - I tried talking the client into using attic trusses but he wants nothing to do with them and wants a normal 2nd floor platform using 2x10 joists and for me to use Para-cord trusses with a 14" depth. Thus the pony walls...

[Gene Davis]

First, to get help, post your plan. Close Chief, zip the file, post the zipped file here as an attachment.

Second, explain why you cadded it out in ACAD? What's up with that?

[Canuck]

Gene, I'd love to but the drawing I'm working on belongs to 3rd party firm that has strict rules on posting anything on line. Since redrawing and doing changes to their plan inventory brings me in huge dollars, I'm not going to risk going against their policy. Besides, they are on paper (old school hand drawn). There isn't much to see at this point.

[perryh]

ok , do you have a picture of something similar, terminology is different in different areas of the planet

[Canuck]

So I tried to upload a pdf but the system really doesn't like my file sizes. So I went hunting and found this:http://www.carpentry-pro-framer.com/roof-trusses.html They consider it a vaulted parallel Chord truss. Go down to mid page and it's on the second down on the graphic under "Other trusses". The para-chord trusses sit on the outside wall. These walls can be any size but in this situation they are only 24" high. The vault is a 10/12, which gives you enough room for an attic room.

[Gene Davis]

Do you know how to set ceiling planes under roofs so as to create the truss cavity for those to build?

Result of a very quick scratch-up shown below.

[Canuck]

I'll assume it's a simple vaulted ceiling condition using ceiling planes and a vaulted ceiling?
How about the pony wall condition?

[Joe Carrick]

Rich,

When you say "pony wall" do you mean just a short wall? If that's the case you can just specify the room height as whatever height you want those walls to be. Set the ceiling as "Soffit Provides Ceiling".

[Canuck]

Pony walls....Knee walls...shorties...stubbies...All the same thing around here. In this case they are exterior walls that are designed to give the Para chord trusses some additional height to make the 8ft ceiling requirement to be bedrooms on a one and a half storie house. In this case it also gives me an 11 ft width in the room I'm looking for.

I'll give this a shot tomorrow. I think I understand what needs to be done to make this work.

Thanks for your help guys!