How To Remove Existing Wooden Roof Rafters From A Garage

The first step when removing a wood roof truss is to disassemble the existing roof that is causing a load upon the truss.

How to remove existing wooden roof rafters from a garage.

Roof trusses are a common means of support and load bearing. Discard the wood in a garbage bin as you work to make the cleanup easier. Remove the existing roof. Remember any alterations to a roof should be undertaken only with an engineer.

Attic trusses have a rectangular shape inside each truss. The rotten wood will come away easily. If the roof slope is steeper than 9 inches in 12 inches of run it doesn t take much width to end up with a nice room 12 feet wide with an 8 foot. The sad fact is your builder could have installed attic trusses over this garage for just slightly more than what the existing trusses cost.

However if you want to better utilize the space in your loft you may consider changing roof trusses and going for stick framing or rafters instead. Remove the rotted wood with a chisel and pry bar. This can seem like a huge job but in fact it s not too difficult. Use your tape measure to record the distance of both rafter legs.

Use a circular saw to cut two sets of new rafters from the same size wood by the same dimensions. Repeat the process for the joist beneath your old roof rafter. When you have a problem with a roof rafter in the garage it s important that you immediately take care of it to keep the roof secure. In face you won t be replacing the rafter but adding a support on the side along its length a process known as sistering.