Framola Extra Strong British Made Timber Rafter U Shape Bracket - One Piece Solid Steel Indoor Outdoors Rafter Brackets - Durable and Rustproof - Black (4" x 2")

Product Information

Given that this section of the bottom chord is likely where one of the connector plates that hold the truss together is located, you may need to nail through a metal plate on one side of the truss. It’s okay to do this. Just make sure not to damage the plate when you do so. Also known as a “king common”, the king rafter is the center rafter between two hip rafters. It extends from the edge of the ridge beam down to the center of the wall, making it perpendicular to the common rafters. A king rafter has hip rafters jutting from either side of where they meet the ridge beam. As an example, we’ll use a 10×8 foot shed, with the span being 8 feet. The process will generally be the same for a shed of any moderate size, but be sure to use the rafter sizing calculator above to find the correct rafter length and size for your shed rafter project. As you can see, the size of wood depends on the span of your shed. Now, your rafter is going to a little longer than half the span of your shed since it is at an angle. The pitch and span of your roof will dictate how long of a rafter you’ll need – use maximum span calculator to help you find your rafter size. Requiring only a single screw per rafter, this presents one of the fastest ways to join your top plate and rafter. A TimberLOK screw doesn’t even need a pilot hole. How to Attach Roof Trusses to Top Plate

These rafters require extra measurement to mesh the hip gable to the ridge beam properly. They also make sheathing and adding roofing material a bit more difficult due to the added angles on your roof. King Rafter It’s essential to have a solid connection between a rafter and a top plate to ensure that your roof is stable. The gravitational forces on a roof cause the rafters to want to push outward. As such, it’s important to have rafters properly secured, so these forces don’t win out. Do not install the ridge board to rafter connectors on the ends of the ridge beam yet – you will do this at the end. Make a Ridge Beam BraceInstall these connectors where you’ve made your marks – this will save you tons of hassle later when you’ve got the whole assembly up. At the top, where the rafters meet, they are either angled to meet at a point or attached to a horizontal ridge beam. A ridge beam runs the length of the shed roof, connecting every pair of rafters. 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. For an 8×10 shed, one sheet of ⅝” plywood should be fine. Remember that for rafters, you’ll always use a ridge beam one size larger. So in our case, 2×6. If you use 2×6 lumber for rafters, your ridge beam will be 2×8. Determine the Pitch of the Rafters

Then use a measuring tape and measure from the furthest, top point of your first cut. Make a mark and use your speed square just as you did the first time. Cut the Birdsmouth JointTo start, I already know that my rafter length is going to be 5’ 3 ½”. I’ll use my speed square to measure my first cut on one end of my 2×4 rafter. I’ll use the corner of the speed square on one edge of the 2×4, where it says “pivot”. I’ll then rotate the square on the pivot until the 4 is lined up with the outside edge of the rafter. Once your truss is in place, apply angle connectors to both sides of the bottom cord and install using Simpson’s 1/4” x1.5” strong-drive screws. Conclusion Once your rafter is in place, slide the plate into place and attach with Simpson Strong-Tie structural screws or galvanized 8d nails. Lastly, if you live in a place with heavy, wet and regular snow, then consider your load. Consult the heavy load table, which has different values for lumber sizes, spans, and rafter spacing. How to Install Rafters on a Shed

As the name implies, these ties are designed to keep your roof firmly in place in high winds or even an earthquake. Although you’ll pay a little more for these, it’s worth the convenience and added strength you get. If you look at our rafter spacing chart, you’ll notice that 2x4s can span an 8’ gap on a 4:12 roof. However, you’ll also notice that that is only for #1 kiln-dried wood, which might not be available to most of us. In fact, #2 grade 2x4s seem to be more common. Hip rafters, when used, are beams that sit on two or all four corners of a shed wall and extend upward to meet the ridge beam. They extend diagonally so that one end, or both, of a rectangular shed roof, is slanted perpendicularly to the gable roof in the midsection of the shed. When to use common rafters? You can use common rafters on any shed roof, but they make the most sense when constructing a gable roof or lean to-type shed roof where they can sit on or attach to top plates of a wall. Lean-to rafters then connect to a ledger board against a wall of another shed or house. Hip RafterAs with the rafter, make sure you drive the screw in at the point where the top plate and wall stud meet. To ensure a secure connection, make sure that the screw does penetrate all three pieces: top plate, bottom chord, and top chord. 4. Hurricane Tie

Toenailing is typically used when it’s impossible to nail through the top plate into the rafter. Well, TimberLOK has another option. You may not be able to nail through the top plate into the rafter. But you can drive a screw through it. TimberLOK 6-inch long screws secure your rafter to the top plate by driving a screw at an angle from the joint between the wall stud and top plate, through the top plate and into the rafter. Is this strong enough? Rest assured it is. TimberLOK’s screws meet the IRC 2012 national code requirements for rafter or truss to top plate connections. This notch allows the beam to rest flush onto the top plate. Is it necessary? While you may be tempted to avoid the admittedly tedious process of making birdsmouth cuts in each rafter, don’t do it.As the name suggests, these handy connectors are typically used to attach rafters to the ridge beam at the peak of your roof. They work just as well to connect rafters to top plates. They work especially well with a lean-to shed. Before we get started, it’s important to consider why attaching your roof, be it a truss-style or rafter-style roof, to your structure is such a critical step in the construction process. It’s important to understand that not all the methods we will discuss in this article are equal. That new vertical and the horizontal line you drew extending toward the inside of your shed are the cuts you’ll make – a triangle. Rafters typically use larger wood beams and do not have any sort of framework other than the beams themselves. A rafter beam is usually larger than a 2×4 – large homes may have rafters that are 2×12 or more!