Ridge Board Roof Framing

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.

Ridge board roof framing.

The engineering principles are pretty straight forward for a ridge beam. Ridge beams are required by code if the roof slope is less than 3 in 12 irc section r802 3. A ridge beam is a structural member used to support the ends of the rafters at the ridge transferring it s loads to posts or gable end walls. We will go over raft.

Measure form the top of this line down the board to determine the line length or length of the rafter less the ridge board. Wondering how to build the structure of your roof. Choose a ridge board that is one size larger than your common rafters. 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.

The ridge board forms the peak and ties the rafters together side to side and end to end. Rafters and a ridge board are the key components of a roof framing system. One at the envelope of the structure on top of a framed wall or a header the other at the peak of the structure on top of the ridge beam. Framing a roof is the last step in framing new construction.

Mark along the backside of the tongue. The sloped roof joists span between two pinned points. Ridge beam sizing is based on the span of the beam between supports and the amount of roof load supported by the beam. The rafters support the sides or slope of the roof.

Determining the ridge beam height 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 2 x 4 rafters use a 2 x 6 ridge board. Other elements like gable studs and cross ties supply additional bracing. This is the plumb cut for the roof ridge.

For 2 x 6 rafters use a 2 x 8 ridge board and so on. Definition of structural ridge or ridge beam used in roof framing a structural ridge beam is a horizontal beam placed at the peak or ridge of a roof and is designed to carry much of the live and dead loads or weight of the roof structure by itself. This video covers one of the most exciting parts of roof framing installing rafters. 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.