Gable End Timber Brackets and Larsen Trusses

[timberframe]

I really like the look of gable end timber bracketry supporting extra large overhangs but I'm hoping to use Larsen trusses as well and attaching brackets that have a structural role to what are typically non-structural exterior "walls" of course would be a no-no.  I can think of perhaps a few ways to get around this, but I'm wondering if anyone here has done this before or has ideas for how you might?  One could attach right to timber posts and run them through the Larsens, but it's a tough thing to seal up, and any wind driven rain would love to run down the angled brace and into the insulation cavity.  

Any thoughts would be fantastic, thank you,

B

[Don P]

You just defined the downside of that bracketing, it tends to be a rot magnet.

That said, make them non structural. In the roof go inboard twice as far as the overhang is outboard. Those are the last common rafters. Size appropriately for the load. Turn the lookouts 90 degrees and frame the overhang as an overhanging "cantilever" off the gable structure. 

At your leisure, hang the bracketing from the roof and wall.

[timberframe]

Yes, that is a bummer about the brackets, but on top of the fact they'll be under very large overhangs (and unlikely to be rained on more than a couple of events a year though blowing snow may be an issue), I do have a couple of strategies I'd like to try for dealing with the water issue and the potential for rot.    So I feel ok about the brackets themselves and their longevity, but I really don't want to have them penetrate through the Larsen.  However, with around 5' of overhang on the gables,  they'll be loaded enough they can't really be attached to the outside of the larsens.  I'm thinking about essentially beefing up the Larsen under/below and behind the bracket (it will no longer really be a Larsen, just a box column really that has the same dimensions as a Larsen for a uniform look) to take the vertical load, and some tension hardware up top to address rotational forces.  This will leave it outside of everything important and still replaceable in the future (one at a time with care and not with 5' of wet snow on top!) if needed.  I'd like to try something, and since this will be my own building, it's a better place to experiment! I do have an engineer who is keen to help out too.

Thx Don, appreciate your thoughts.  

B

[timberframe]

You just defined the downside of that bracketing, it tends to be a rot magnet.

That said, make them non structural. In the roof go inboard twice as far as the overhang is outboard. Those are the last common rafters. Size appropriately for the load. Turn the lookouts 90 degrees and frame the overhang as an overhanging "cantilever" off the gable structure.

At your leisure, hang the bracketing from the roof and wall.

Hey Don, I thought that you might like to know I've been working on a solution to this with my engineer and I think we've got something that will do the trick.  A bit fussy but I'm keen to share it when we nail it all down so stay tuned!  5 foot + overhangs with 5 brackets per gable.  I'm making them now in the small heatable shop.

B