Ridge Beam Construction Roofs

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.

Ridge beam construction roofs.

Come to think of it the only style shed i can see that would be easy to use a ridge beam is the gable style shed. Here we have a wood framed gable roof. In traditional house framing also called stick framing a basic roof frame consists of opposing pairs of sloping rafters that meet at their top ends at a ridge board or ridge beam. The ridge beam is typically a larger member like a 4 x 12 and carries the gravity load of the roof joists just as the bearing wall or header does at the envelope.

Floor beam span tables of residential structural design we will now look at roof rafter and beam design. 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. Timber steel framing manual single span ridge beam. 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.

Leave ridge beam for shed construction page. Ridge boards can only be used in roofs with slopes from 3 in 12 up to 12 in 12. The image below shows a cross section of our simple 12 x 13 house from the joist span tables section of this tutorial. Continuing on from part 3.

I can t ever recall seeing a saltbox shed built with a ridge beam or even a gambrel roof shed for that matter. Ridge beam sizing is based on the span of the beam between supports and the amount of roof load supported by the beam. Let s consider a basic gable wood roof framing design. A ridge board is a non structural member that serves as a prop for opposing rafters to rest against and connect to.

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. A simple rafter roof consists of rafters that the rafter foot rest on horizontal wall plates on top of each wall. Construction of a rafter roof. The top end of each rafter is cut at an angle so that it meets flush with one broadside of the ridge board and the ridge is sandwiched between the rafters.

A classic example of the exposed ridge beam structure can be seen on our magnolia residence which is currently in construction. Ridge boards and beams.