All Truss Design in Alberta for farm buildings must meet the requirements of the National Farm Building Code 1995. Trusses are a more complicated issue than one might imagine. That’s because the 1995 National Farm Building Code of Canada has a loophole in its wording that allows for a significant reduction in snow load (to less than 60%!) under certain vague conditions. It’s a loophole that can lead to many potentially under-designed structures that may not be able to handle normal climactic loads, but allow any builder to say they’ve met minimum requirements for the roof system.

To that end, UFA Buildings has four hard and fast rules for the trusses we use in our projects.

1. Build for actual weather

UFA requires all farm trusses be designed to meet the current climatic data set out by the building codes of each province, not 1995 climatic loads allowed by National Farm Building Code . So whether you’re building in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan – or wherever you are – we will ensure that the truss design is built to current loadings.

2. Build for safety

We require that all trusses 4/12 slope and less, whether for farm, residential or commercial purposes, are designed for non-slippery finish. Allowing the truss designer to use slippery roof material reduction (Metal Cladding) means that snow must slide from your roof and if for any reason it does not then you must physically see that it is removed and not allow any buildup to occur.

Also requires that the roof have no obstructions such as chimneys, valleys, intersecting ridge lines, different roof slopes, snow stops or other such obstructions that will in any impede the slide of snow. This rule eliminates the need for someone to physically clear snow from any roof we build unless we are subjected to an extreme snow event.