Ridge Board Roof Framing

Wondering how to build the structure of your roof.

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. 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. Ridge beams are required by code if the roof slope is less than 3 in 12 irc section r802 3. The ridge beam could also be flush with the joists.

For 2 x 4 rafters use a 2 x 6 ridge board. 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. The sloped roof joists span between two pinned points. 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.

Other elements like gable studs and cross ties supply additional bracing. The rafters support the sides or slope of the roof. Mark along the backside of the tongue. 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.

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. For 2 x 6 rafters use a 2 x 8 ridge board and so on. Measure form the top of this line down the board to determine the line length or length of the rafter less the ridge board. The ridge board forms the peak and ties the rafters together side to side and end to end.

Framing a roof is the last step in framing new construction. For example if the slope is 4 in 12 and the run is 12 feet the ridge beam height m will be 4 feet. Rafters and a ridge board are the key components of a roof framing system. 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.

Choose a ridge board that is one size larger than your common rafters. This is the plumb cut for the roof ridge. We will go over raft. The engineering principles are pretty straight forward for a ridge beam.