Scissor Truss: Wednesday’s Word Of The Week
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| Scissor truss at our plant |
One of many truss profiles possible with glulam is a scissor truss. A scissor truss has straight, sloped top chords with a fairly steep pitch, and straight bottom chords that are also pitched, but at a lower slope. This configuration is not as efficient as a flat bottom chord, but it creates greater head height and an attractive profile.
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| The same scissor truss in place |
Visually, the bottom chords cross each other and extend to the opposite top chord. Scissor trusses work best for roof slopes of 6/12 or higher, and the bottom chord slope between a third and a half of the top chord (between 2/12 and 3/12 for a 6/12 roof.)
*Each Wednesday our structural engineer, Rik Vandermeulen, discusses a new term associated with glulam manufacturing. He will do this until we run out of words. If there is a timber or glulam term that you have heard of and want to know more about, let us know in the comments.