How To Stick Frame Roof Rafters

Let s consider a basic gable wood roof framing design.

How to stick frame roof rafters. With premanufactured trusses or with rafters and ceiling joists commonly called stick framing. While truss roofs are the most popular construction style today by some estimates truss roofs outnumber stick frame roofs two to one there are regions of the country where builders still prefer stick frame roofing. The rafters are usually positioned directly above the wall studs. Like wall studs and floor joists rafters and trusses are spaced every 16 or 24 inches from center to center.

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. Most roofs utilize 16 inch spacings for strength and rigidity. Rafter layout with a framing square. A stick framed roof is made up of individual rafters and that are connected to a top beam.

This will the first point of the rafter measurement line using the results of your rafter length calculation measure from this point along the rafter measurement. Stick framing combines roof rafters with ceiling joists. The beam or the ridge is the central part of the structure as all the framing must be connected to it. This example is for a roof with an 8 12 pitch.

They ll both result in the same quality when the build is finished each supporting the roof with the same strength. Keep it simple and remember. While most home builders will outsource the construction of roofing trusses the rafter supports of the roof itself learning to frame a roof yourself is one of the true arts of carpentry and a basic primer is covered below. The roof rafters provide integral structural support to the roof.

Position the square with both the 8 inch on the outside edge of the tongue and the 12 inch on the blade on the upper edge of the board. There are two common ways of framing the roof of a house. Stick to the basics of simplified design and use dimensions that don t generate waste. Before you cut your boards you ll need to measure the width of your building and calculate the exact length of each rafter.

Floor beam span tables of residential structural design we will now look at roof rafter and beam design. Framing a shed roof is similar to framing a wall. Rafters are a good option when building something on a smaller scale such as a shed or a garage. The image below shows a cross section of our simple 12 x 13 house from the joist span tables section of this tutorial.

Position the square at the end of the rafter board with the tongue on your left and facing away from you. The fascia board is the bottom plate and the ridge board the top plate. Additional boards are placed horizontally on the frames to create a complete cover for the structure. Shed roof framing process explained step by step instructions.

Framing a roof is the last step in framing new construction. Roof framing rafter layout. They can be handmade and installed as needed one piece at a time on site. There aren t many differences between rafters and trusses.