{"id":591,"date":"2026-09-10T05:47:41","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T05:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubcbim.com\/blog\/?p=591"},"modified":"2026-09-10T06:03:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T06:03:35","slug":"truss-design-cold-formed-steel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubcbim.com\/blog\/truss-design-cold-formed-steel\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold-Formed Steel Roof Truss Engineering: How We Solved a 34′-7″ Clear-Span Challenge Without a Single Internal Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Problem Every Builder Dreads: A Long Clear Span with No Room for Compromise<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every structural engineer has faced this moment on a project: the architect wants an open, column-free interior. The client wants a tray ceiling with clean sightlines. And the roof span is over 34 feet \u2014 far beyond what a standard truss configuration can carry without dropping a support column right where nobody wants one.<\/p>\n

This is exactly the challenge we tackled on a recent residential build: a 4,110 square foot single-storey home with a hip roof, requiring a clear-span truss design<\/a> of 34 feet 7 inches with zero internal supports and a tray ceiling detail that left no margin for structural shortcuts.<\/p>\n

For contractors and developers working on custom residential or light commercial projects across the US, this scenario is more common than it should be \u2014 and it’s exactly where cold-formed steel (CFS) truss engineering<\/strong><\/a> proves its value over traditional framing methods.<\/p>\n

Why Cold-Formed Steel Was the Right Call for This Span<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wood trusses start to struggle structurally and economically once spans push past the 30-foot mark without intermediate bearing points. Deeper wood members add weight, cost, and lead time \u2014 and they still can’t always deliver the same strength-to-weight ratio as cold-formed steel<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

For this project, our engineering team designed a single-span truss system using 3-inch hat channel, engineered specifically to carry the full 34′-7″ clear span without a single internal support column. That’s a critical detail for any general contractor or homeowner who wants open living space without visible structural interruptions \u2014 and it’s a textbook example of why light gauge steel framing (LGSF)<\/strong><\/a> continues to gain ground on wood-framed construction for custom residential builds in the US.<\/p>\n

The result: a fully open interior, a tray ceiling that reads as clean and uninterrupted, and a roof structure engineered to hold up under real-world wind and seismic loading \u2014 not just look good on paper.<\/p>\n

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Full Scope: From Structural Engineering to CNC-Ready Production Files<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the most common questions we get from GCs and developers is: what does “cold-formed steel truss engineering<\/a>” actually include? For this project, our scope covered the entire pipeline from concept to fabrication-ready output:<\/p>\n