Attic Trusses Gusset Plate Pulled Back

Ever try pulling a truss plate off.

Attic trusses gusset plate pulled back.

The normal repair is to install a plywood or osb gusset plate nailed in place. First remove the gusset plate that has partially or fully pulled away from the two pieces of wood. I wasnt sure if the cracks in the garage walls were related to he gusset plates. I saw three seperate trusses where the gusset plates were pulling out of the wood.

It s a sob and the plate gets mangled in the process. However this is often not a simple process. The size and nailing pattern will be specified by the engineer. That many damaged trusses is unusual.

Sometimes an engineer will specify a metal replacement plate with nails. But what really got me was when i got into the attic above the garage. Use a pneumatic nail gun and nails to attach your gusset on both sides of the wood pieces. These are usually much larger than the metal plate being replaced.

I would try to pull down on the top chord to see if the nails lineup with its current position which would indicate the damage was done before the roof sheathing was applied. Because it s nearly impossible to reinstall the plate replace it with a 1 2 plywood gusset.