franklin2
Well-Known Member
I wonder if I could modify the ceiling joist in the rafter and raise it up to gain some ceiling height?
That's what I did in my garage after I moved in. It had trusses made out of 2x4's. They had glued plywood on the bottom of the trusses for the ceiling. So I had to take a sawzall and cut the plywood out in between each truss, I could not get the ceiling pulled off the trusses. I did leave two original trusses on one end, and 1 original truss on the other.
I then bought some 2x8 lumber and long screws. I took some cardboard and cut a short piece 7 1/2 inches wide, and kept sticking it in the eave and kept trimming it with scissors till it fit snug against the roof and sat on the outside wall. That was going to be my pattern on how to cut the tails of the 2x8"s.
Figured the angle for the center, found the length I needed and cut the 2x8's. I took a extension ladder and sat it in between the trusses, and lifted the 2x8's up, sat the one end on top of the wall and pushed it up in the middle and drove a screw into the side of the original truss to hold it. Did the other side and then I cut another short 2x8 with angles on it for a cross tie up high in the middle.
I had a bunch of oddball pieces of 1/2 plywood that came from cutting out the ceiling, so I cut those to make plates to screw the cross tie in place.
Once the new 2x8 system was up there, I added a bunch of screws from the 2x8 system to the old truss, and then cut the bottom of the old truss out.