Of all the wood trusses that are constructed for use in a cabin, as an engineer my favorite is the wood truss that is shown in the sketch.As noted in the sketch, the span of the truss is 24'-0". Of course, this truss would work between 20'-0" to 28'-0" of span. The spacing of the truss is 12'-0" on center.
With the roof slope of 12 on 12 and the heights involved, a cabin using this truss could lend itself to a story and one-half with the first story composed of the living room, kitchen, bathroom and lower main bedroom or bedrooms. The upper half story could house at least two bedrooms with a bathroom.
The truss shown has two large 10" x 14" horizontal timbers that carry the roof loads. The lower timber is placed at 7'-0" above the finished floor. This would match the height of the exterior doors and windows. The space between the lower timber and upper horizontal timber could house a strip of 2'-6" windows giving significant day light to a living room space. That 2'-6" space between the horizontal timbers could also be filled with a decorative wall surface.
The lower horizontal timber can be a member that raps around the entire structure adding a decorative feature to the exterior. Of course, the upper timber also raps around the entire structure and carries the roof rafters.
In order to provide day light to the upper one-half story, dormers with windows could be used and windows could be placed on the gable ends.
Both the interior and exterior can have more architectural interest by the use of this arrangement of the horizontal members matching the horizontal members of the truss. Other wood exterior surfaces and logs can be worked together to create horizontal, diagonal and vertical shadow lines on the exterior walls.
A massive stone fireplace could fit into an exterior or interior wall of the living room space.
