How To Tie Roof Rafters Together

The truss companies use a gang nail to splice wood together pictured at left.

How to tie roof rafters together.

It is stamped into the wood at the factory with a hydrolic press. 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. How to tie a additions roof to existing roof roof designs to attach to existing home how to construct a roof from an exsisting shead how to attach a deck roof to existing roof how to add a roof over porch cost to tie into existing roof attache porch roof on house attach shed roof to house adding a roof to screened in porch adding a roof to existing. 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.

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. 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. For additional support you can use ceiling joists which are lengths of lumber that run from the end of one rafter to another.

Remove siding from the house where the new roof will attach to expose. Here s a formula i use to determine tie force. A collar tie is a length of lumber that attaches to each opposing rafter near the peak preventing your rafters from spreading apart. Connect a flat roof to a sloped or pitched roof with a ledger board.

Use pieces of lumber that are the same width as the rafter beams themselves and align them on either side of the rafter beams. Bore holes with a power drill and 1 2 inch bit through the ledger into the rafters or other sturdy frame elements. Collar ties also take the stress off of your wall plate and rafter joint. If you are framing a cathedral ceiling there are a couple ways to deal with the need for rafter ties.

Using 16 penny nails secure the gusset plates to either side of the rafter beams. Drive 1 2 inch lag.