How much will rafters hold

[ROM]

I need your help folks. I am going to hang game from my garage rafters. I need the following:

1) your best guess for a min and max amount of weight on one rafter
2) what you think could be done to increase the strength. ie. using 2 rafters with a pipe, 2x4 etc
3) keep in mind I am not a carpenter

Thanks alot.

R

[bushlover]

Rom;
I regularly hang game in my garage from the rafters. I put a 8' length of 4"x4" post up in the rafters, covering 3 rafters. From this, I have hung a 5 pt. elk and numerous deer. I have not done a moose this way, so can't say how that would do. My rafters are 30' wide, so I try to keep it within 10' of the wall.

[Grizzly Adams]

Being in the Construction business, I avoid hanging anything from rafters, or what usually are engineered trusses. These things are designed to hold the roof up and that is all. The only variable factor is the amount of snow load they are designed to carry.
Grizz

[Bobby B.]

My garage has engineered trusses. I have hung field dressed moose from a single truss many, many times and never had even the slightest hint of a problem. I simply predrilled some holes and screwed in some beefy hooks.

Bobby B.

[Dick284]

I duuno what all the hellabaloo is about;



That's 9 critters!
1 calf moose, and the rest are deer, granted I only hang approximatly one critter to each half of center on each truss.

[bruceba]

.

[TBark]

And later from Dicks garage. LOL, kidding.




I hang a few in my garage too, no biggie.

TBArk

[Dick284]

Originally Posted by bruceba

I have framed many houses over the years and I've seen some perfectly good lumber fail under stress load that it should have stood up to. You may have found an exceptianal truss but I would strongly advise anyone hanging from enginered trusses to straddle ay least 4 with a solid cross bar. They call dead falls - dead falls for a reason. Gravity usually doesn't allow you time to get out of the way, a least not from what I learned in school.

So how much "stuff" does the average pack rat type of person stow away in their truss attics?
And it sits up there for how long?

[bruceba]

.

[ctd]

For me in a newer built garage/house I wouldn't hang game off the trusses with out adding a 2x12 maybe two nailed together and resting on the header (where the trusses are resting).

Your engineered trusses are not designed for a bottom load, but instead for a top load.

Be safe and add a 2x12 that spans the entire garage. If this isnt going to happen then span a 2x12 or even a 4x4 across a minimuim of 4 trusses to distribute the weight.

Cheers.

[graham1]

If your hanging a deer you shouldn't have any problem. If your hanging elk or moose you should glue and screw plywood on the side of two trusses and put a 4X4 or some other beam between the two and hang from the center of that. Also the closer to the roof the better. You'll have to build a bit of a framework to hold the cross beam up high. Trusses are designed to support load from the top not the bottom.
I'm a second generation journeyman carpenter and we have always hung everything from badgers to bull moose from the rafters. Never had a problem but they sure creak when you lift a moose!

[Bobby B.]

Hey Dick,

One picture is worth a thousand words.

BTW, when erecting trusses on a building, part of the process is to nail 'spacers' between each truss. The only way I've seen these spacers nailed in was with the worker standing on the horizontal member of the truss. And I've seen some real 'fatties' doing the work, some definitely over the 250 lb mark. Never saw any corpses dead under the trusses, no blood or bones either. A lot of lucky framers on a lot of exceptional trusses? In fact, more than once, I've seen two workers both standing on the same truss. I guess these professionals just know which are exceptional trusses and which aren't. Go figure. Since my garage has a finished ceiling, I'll just hang'em the same way I've always done.

Bobby B.

[BIG AL]

We hang game in the garage all the time but we do reinforce the truss with a steel tube pole with an adjustable treaded end. The type you see in some split style homes or basements.

Interesting. I see a few people here who take gun safety very seriously, which they should. Why would you ignore the building codes put into pace for the very same reason, safety. So unless you know the snow loads for your area and the calculations for acceptable rafter deflections as well as you know the area you hunt, I would never hang nor drill any rafter. But heck, what does a construction engineer know anyways

[ROM]

Thank you!

R

[bowchaser]

I would add the 4 x 4 across a few trusses and use a 2 x 4 temporary column when hanging. When you're done just pop the column out.

[gunned]

I'd say they can hold a few little deer with some common sense.

[rugatika]

Dick, did they film Rocky in your garage??

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by gunned

I'd say they can hold a few little deer with some common sense.

You're willing to argue with an engineer and maybe your insurance co. ?
Grizz

[Islander]

Originally Posted by rugatika

Dick, did they film Rocky in your garage??

HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!