The Roof Ridge Beam

A timber frame roof has rafters and a ridge beam as with stick framing but the ridge is a large structural beam that the rafters sit on top of or sometimes fit into notches cut into the beam.

The roof ridge beam.

With this design the ridge beam bears much more load weight than the ridge board on a standard stick framed roof. Here s a picture of a gable style shed using a ridge beam. 2 except as provided in sentence 3 the ridge beam referred to in sentence 1 shall conform to the sizes and spans shown in table a 12 provided a the supported rafter or joist length does not exceed 4 9 m and b the roof does not support any concentrated loads. A ridge board is a non structural member that serves as a prop for opposing rafters to rest against and connect to.

Framing in a ridge beam in shed roof construction is not hard. Ridge beam sizing is based on the span of the beam between supports and the amount of roof load supported by the beam. A ridge board or beam runs through the tops of rafters or trusses from end to end along a gable roof tying those framing members together. Timber steel framing manual single span ridge beam.

The rafters bear most of the weight of the roof. Yes either a ridge board or a ridge beam is necessary and required by the building code where roof rafters meet at the the center of their span. 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. Ridge beams are required by code if the roof slope is less than 3 in 12 irc section r802 3.

I always always build trusses. The top ends of the rafters often meet at a ridge beam but may butt directly to another rafter to form a pair of rafters called a couple. B a ridge beam supported by not less than 89 mm length of bearing. The difference between them is that a ridge beam is a structural member that bears half of the live and dead loads of the rafters on either side of it but a ridge board is not structural.

A structural ridge beam is a horizontal beam placed at the peak or ridge of a roof and is designed to carry much of the live and dead loads or weight of the roof structure by itself. A simple rafter roof consists of rafters that the rafter foot rest on horizontal wall plates on top of each wall. 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.