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Floor truss in crawlspace, holding up first floor. 14” depth. About 20 ft span is my estimate, with about half of it sitting on concrete block, acting as rim joist.

On the spanned portion, there’s a mending plate that has completely separated from the bottom chord. Are there any fixes for this? enter image description here enter image description here enter image description here

achao
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  • Are these pictures all of the same side? What does the other side look like - has the mending plate separated there, too? – FreeMan Feb 16 '21 at 12:07
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    looks like both sides, see the dent in the wood? – Jasen Feb 16 '21 at 12:09
  • @FreeMan both sides. Top photo is left side, bottom photo is right side, from the same perspective – achao Feb 16 '21 at 14:08
  • Are other plates on other trusses coming loose also or am I just seeing things on first picture. Most plates should be tight to the wood. – crip659 Feb 16 '21 at 21:06
  • There is another plate further down that isn’t in this picture that is like half out; i can update with a photo later – achao Feb 16 '21 at 21:08
  • Would check all plates, the ones I am seeing seem to have space between the plate and wood. It is like they were not put on right or are loosing from the wood. – crip659 Feb 16 '21 at 21:24
  • Think you should have an inspector/engineer come and check. Fix would be easy, but those plates are very hard to remove on purpose. – crip659 Feb 16 '21 at 21:44
  • Sigh, maybe I should’ve taken down all the insulation before the engineer came by... – achao Feb 17 '21 at 03:09

2 Answers2

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Gently remove the old plates and jack or screw the bottom chord tight, then install steel plates with screws. Don't trust the original gussets to hold if you pound them back into place. The new plates should be at least as large and thick as the originals.

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1" truss-head screws would be appropriate. Put screws in every hole with good wood behind it.

enter image description here

isherwood
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Jack the bottom chord back up into position and then hammer the nail plate back into the wood, then reinforce that join by nailing metal strap over it.

Just the straight strap from a coil, run some down each side of the diagonal and across the bottom of the truss, put clouts in all the accessable holes.

Jasen
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    You may also want to investigate WHY this happened. It took a considerable amount of force to not only separate the plate from the truss but to bend it as well. This shows signs of being overloaded. – jwh20 Feb 16 '21 at 12:54
  • @jwh20 true...directly above it is the middle of a den/dining room space that measures maybe 11x11ft – achao Feb 16 '21 at 16:24
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    These plates are not designed to be hammered on, and one that's already pulled off won't hold well at all. – isherwood Feb 16 '21 at 20:52