How To Tie Roof Rafters Together

Use pieces of lumber that are the same width as the rafter beams themselves and align them on either side of the rafter beams.

How to tie roof rafters together.

Drive 1 2 inch lag. 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 siding from the house where the new roof will attach to expose.

Rafter ties keep opposing rafters tied together to increase the strength of roof trusses. Bore holes with a power drill and 1 2 inch bit through the ledger into the rafters or other sturdy frame elements. 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. 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.

Two types of rafter ties wood and metal are common to residential and light commercial construction. Remove two shingles to each side of the new valleys until you reach the bottom. 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. Using 16 penny nails secure the gusset plates to either side of the rafter beams.

Wooden rafter ties cross the span between two opposing rafters mechanically tying the rafters together. After the ridge is cut to the correct angle and length it s nailed into place. A collar tie is a length of lumber that attaches to each opposing rafter near the peak preventing your rafters from spreading apart. The truss companies use a gang nail to splice wood together pictured at left.

Here s a formula i use to determine tie force. If you are framing a cathedral ceiling there are a couple ways to deal with the need for rafter ties. 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. To do this you will use gusset plates on either side of the rafters.

It is stamped into the wood at the factory with a hydrolic press.