Roof Framing Ridge Board

This article describes and illustrates the different types of support that prevents roof sagging and wall bulging at buildings including definitions of collar ties rafter ties and structural ridge beams.

Roof framing ridge board.

If you re framing a gable roof on a new house or building a shed or even a doghouse with a gable roof you ll need to cut a number of roof rafters. Traditional examples of the ridge board system utilize wood tension ties a k a. In part 3 of our roof framing series we cover how to select a ridge board how to layout a ridge board how to mark it so you know where to fasten the raft. Wondering how to build the structure of your roof.

The rise or height of the roof at its peak is the altitude of the triangle. A ridge board is a non structural member that serves as a prop for opposing rafters to rest against and connect to. For 2 x 4 rafters use a 2 x 6 ridge board. The ridge board s length will be the outside measurement of the building plus the length of the overhang at both ends.

And the line length measurement from the roof peak to the building wall is the hypotenuse. Collar ties rafter ties tension beams structural ridge beams. Some of these can support the roof and prevent ridge sagging and wall spreading. If you know the slope x in 12 you want to use for your roof framing design you can use it along with the run r to determine the height of the ridge beam for example if the slope is 4 in 12 and the run is 12 feet the ridge beam height m will be 4 feet.

Determining the ridge beam height. Ridge boards can only be used in roofs with slopes from 3 in 12 up to 12 in 12. The run or half the building span is the base of the triangle. This video covers one of the most exciting parts of roof framing installing rafters.

The finished ridge beam height z above the top of the wall will be m plus the y height. Ridge beam sizing is based on the span of the beam between supports and the amount of roof load supported by the beam. You may splice two boards together to achieve this length if necessary using a 14 and 1 2 inch block of the same material. Collar ties of a similar dimension and look as the roof joists.

We will go over raft. A classic example is the los altos hills remodel below by klopf architecture which uses a double 2x tension tie to sandwich each roof joist. The framing of a basic gable roof is based on a right angle triangle and the various roof framing components fit the triangle. Part of a roof s frame a ridge board runs horizontally along the peak of a sloped roof.

For 2 x 6 rafters use a 2 x 8 ridge board and so on. The ridge is the peak where two sloped roof sections meet.