How To Tie Roof Rafters Together

Rafter ties or ceiling joists acting as rafter ties are required by code unless the house is designed so that the walls or a structural ridge beam carries the full load of the roof.

How to tie roof rafters together.

After the ridge is cut to the correct angle and length it s nailed into place. A gang nail is basically a thin piece of metal stamped out so that many metal tangs stick out into the wood about a 1 2 or so. The truss companies use a gang nail to splice wood together pictured at left. Collar ties also take the stress off of your wall plate and rafter joint.

To scribe the roof angle on the ridge a length of stock is leveled over from the common rafters and a 2 by scrap is set against the sleepers. Remove two shingles to each side of the new valleys until you reach the bottom. It is stamped into the wood at the factory with a hydrolic press. How to tie a additions roof to existing roof roof additions to existing roofs how to construct a roof from an exsisting shead how to change a roof line how to attach a deck roof to existing roof how to add a roof over porch attache porch roof on house attach shed roof to house adding a roof to screened in porch adding a roof to existing.

To do this you will use gusset plates on either side of the rafters. Two types of rafter ties wood and metal are common to residential and light commercial construction. Wooden rafter ties cross the span between two opposing rafters mechanically tying the rafters together. Connect a flat roof to a sloped or pitched roof with a ledger board.

Using 16 penny nails secure the gusset plates to either side of the rafter beams. For additional support you can use ceiling joists which are lengths of lumber that run from the end of one rafter to another. Starting two courses higher than where the new ridge meets the old roof unseal the shingle tabs a thin flat bar or a joint taping knife works well and pop the nails of the overlying course. Rafter ties keep opposing rafters tied together to increase the strength of roof trusses.

A collar tie is a length of lumber that attaches to each opposing rafter near the peak preventing your rafters from spreading apart. Drive 1 2 inch lag. T w 2 x h h x run rise where w equals rafter load h equals height of ridge and h equals distance from ridge to center of tie illustration below. Here s a formula i use to determine tie force.

Bore holes with a power drill and 1 2 inch bit through the ledger into the rafters or other sturdy frame elements.