God Bless Building Contractors

Man, this is irritating.

Before putting the weight of my new compressor on a roof truss, I figured I should check to make sure the truss will take it. And the news is not encouraging.

The trusses in the garage are made of sturdy two-by-sixes. However, on the side of the garage where the compressor is located, each truss has a mending plate in it, about eight feet from the wall. I'm talking about a mesh galvanized plate about six inches high and maybe nine inches wide. These things have spikes built into them, which you hammer into the wood.

Everywhere I look on the web, I see "do not use in roof trusses." I don't know if that means these things always suck; maybe mine are one kind and the ones you don't use for structural stuff are another kind. But I tend to doubt it.

Now I wonder: what should be up there, instead of these plates?