Open Beam Roof Construction

Here we have a wood framed gable roof.

Open beam roof construction.

The tables below give maximum spans for rafters and beams. Construction of a rafter roof. 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. Let s consider a basic gable wood roof framing design.

The so called hammer beams are short horizontal and vertical beams which are bracketed to the walls in order to support the roof. A simple rafter roof consists of rafters that the rafter foot rest on horizontal wall plates on top of each wall. In pitched roof systems such as hip roofs and gable end roofs collar ties and ceiling joists span across the ceiling space and obstruct the view. Floor beam span tables of residential structural design we will now look at roof rafter and beam design.

With this one simple change you can add class comfort and a wow factor to any room or addition in your home. They are also typically quite expensive. Hammer beam ceiling hammer beams allow for a lot of open vertical space inside a building. In the case of a gable roof over an enclosed building the lower ends of the rafters rest on the exterior walls of the building.

Keeping the beams close the walls allows for the highest possible uninterrupted views of a room or building s interior. You can also use the wood beam calculator from the american wood council website to determine maximum rafter and joist lengths. For heavy roofs or in areas with substantial snowfall or winds call your local building department for code requirements. A hammerbeam is a form of timber roof truss allowing a hammerbeam roof to span greater than the length of any individual piece of timber in place of a normal tie beam spanning the entire width of the roof short beams the hammer beams are supported by curved braces from the wall and hammer posts or arch braces are built on top to support the rafters and typically a collar beam.

Long spans in post and beam construction utilize engineered lumber to reach higher strength values than you would get with solid sawn lumber of the same dimensions. In an open porch however the rafters rest on horizontal beams. Take a look at our work open beam roofing projects and call our team for a consultation today. I would not attempt to saw lumber of the same dimension and use it as depicted.

In areas with mild climates patio roofs are generally designed for loads of 30 psf pounds per square foot. The image below shows a cross section of our simple 12 x 13 house from the joist span tables section of this tutorial. It would likely fail under the load. The ceiling with exposed beams is among the most beautiful ceiling roof treatments ever devised.

The figures are based on quality materials.