How To Set Out Roof Rafters

How to measure or figure rafter length and mark and cut them accurately.

How to set out roof rafters.

From cutting the rafter parts out to building a jig and assembling the rafters. When you re toenailing a screw it s important to pre drill the holes before you begin setting the screws. These are used in almost every roof including a gable end roof lean to roof and hipped roof as well. You are ready to set out and cut the common rafter lengths as soon as the wall plates have been squared levelled and fixed strapped down onto the brickwork.

Laying out hip valley and jack rafters takes experience and skill but if you re building a simple gable or shed roof all you need is the common rafter the basic building block of roof framing. Set the rafter in place carefully allowing for the overhang. Depending on the size of the roof most hip roofs will have 4 6 short jack rafters that are spaced out every 20 inches 51 cm between the hip rafters and the king common rafters. If you re framing a gable roof on a new house or building a shed or even a doghouse with a gable roof you ll need to cut a number of roof rafters.

A rafter is one side of the rafter assembly. To lay out a common rafter you need the pitch of the roof expressed in units of rise per foot of run in the gable roof example shown here a rafter with 6 in 12 pitch rises 6 in. Use 8 penny nails to tack it together but do not drive the nails all the way in because you may need to make adjustments. For an 8 10 shed one sheet of plywood should be fine.

For every foot. The fourth step in the how to build a shed series this tutorial teaches you the necessary steps to building roof rafters. In this video you will learn all about common rafters. Move about halfway down the roof and repeat with a third set of rafters to provide support for the middle of the ridge board.

Gusset to attach two rafters together. Step 5 raise the ridge board and nail to the rafters on the marked lines. If you aren t using a ridge beam then you ll want to use plywood gussets to reinforce the connection at the apex of each set of rafters. The rafter assembly is made by using an o s b.

Measure the distance between the angled hip rafter and the top of the wall at 20 in 51 cm increments and cut jack rafters to fit. Toenail 3 galvanized wood screws into the lentil. Once the system is. You are going to cut out triangles that will cover the apex of each set of rafters.

Mark and cut the first rafter image 1.