Roof Ridge Board Design

Choose a ridge board that is one size larger than your common rafters.

Roof ridge board design.

The ridge board s length will be the outside measurement of the building plus the length of the overhang at both ends. Let s consider a basic gable wood roof framing design. For 2 x 6 rafters use a 2 x 8 ridge board and so on. Ridge beam sizing is based on the span of the beam between supports and the amount of roof load supported by the beam.

Ridge boards can only be used in roofs with slopes from 3 in 12 up to 12 in 12. Is 22 ridge board too long of a span worried about roof sag. Here we have a wood framed gable roof. This type of framing is a specially designed rafter layout and requires precise and experienced erection.

Floor beam span tables of residential structural design we will now look at roof rafter and beam design. A classic example is the los altos hills remodel below by klopf architecture which uses a double 2x tension tie to sandwich each roof joist. The loads on the ridge beam are carried by vertical posts at the beam ends down through the building structural walls to the building foundation. The image below shows a cross section of our simple 12 x 13 house from the joist span tables section of this tutorial.

Traditional examples of the ridge board system utilize wood tension ties a k a. A ridge board is a non structural member that serves as a prop for opposing rafters to rest against and connect to. Collar ties of a similar dimension and look as the roof joists. The rafters terminate against the ridge board unless the framing is designed to bear rafter against rafter with no ridge board.

Definition of ridge board in construction the top board at the peak of a roof. Rafter to ridge beam connection framing roof ceiling construction structural ridge beam absolute deflection in a ridge beam structural ridge beam tricks of the trade. Continuing on from part 3.