Not quite an Acme Hole Kit

I grew up in an era where we (as children) could watch cartoons such as Road Runner and not immediately go out and try antics as pictured on our screens. Somehow our generation understood this and used common sense.

One of my favorites is Acme’s “Hole Kit” where a floppy black disk is thrown down to dive into or to have Wile E. Coyote fall into.

Now Acme, as a company, is never clearly defined in Road Runner cartoons, but appears to be a conglomerate producing every product type imaginable, no matter how elaborate or extravagant – most never working as desired or expected (some working very well, but backfire against our friend Mr. Coyote).

Acme did have a second to none delivery service. Wile E. can merely drop an order into a mailbox and have product delivered within seconds!

It is this quick delivery where Hansen Pole Buildings’ newest offering comes into play, “Rafter-span Structural Roof System”.


Having spent a fair portion of my adult working career in management or ownership of prefabricated metal plate connected wood truss manufacturing facilities, I can vouch for how little of a profit we ever could make on orders of very few small span roof trusses. When someone wanted four or six trusses 24 foot span or less, no matter what we were to charge them, our profits would rarely cover paperwork needed to process.

Truss trucks are also not cheap to operate. Get a key even close to their ignition switches and dollar signs start to spin like watching slot machines in a casino – except in this game there are no winners.

Our “Rafter-span Structural Roof System” began way before today’s current shortages of things like metal connector plates for trusses. Our (America’s) International Residential Code (IRC) devotes an entire section of Chapter 8 to rafter span tables, providing tables for various spacing of rafters (12 to 24 inches), four choices of lumber species (with four grades in each), as well as options for roof live and dead load combinations. Pretty much a recipe book for residential stick framed roofs!

I often wondered why a similar system could not be developed for post frame buildings, especially where our current design solution was a pair of prefabricated trusses spaced every 10 to 14 feet. We started in on this process a year ago, using structural computer models to test out our theories. Sure enough, this system worked as we had anticipated!

Now, instead of waiting three, four or even six months (or maybe told to try another manufacturer) for prefabricated trusses – most clearspans of up to and including 24 feet can have their components delivered as a portion of a building’s lumber framing package. And – be built onsite from as little as seven pieces of dimensional lumber (Heavier roof loads may require nine pieces)!

As an added bonus – rather than having a roof truss horizontal bottom chord hanging usually six inches below eave height (reducing head room), this system allows for a ‘rafter tie’ to be placed horizontally at a height equal to rise of frame divided by 7.5 ABOVE eave height!

Need to get a taller overhead door centered in an endwall? This may very well be your solution.

P.S. I may have failed in not emphasizing how this system not only gets on jobsites quicker, it is also LESS EXPENSIVE!

CAUTION  – DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS  without all member sizes, grades and connections having been determined by a Registered Professional Engineer. ALL Hansen Pole Buildings are 100% engineered including our “Rafter-span Structural Roof System”.