Roof Ridge Beams

You don t need a ridge beam but you do need a way to keep the walls from spreading.

Roof ridge beams. I always always build trusses. It s often just a nice way to bring the rafters together. Glulam ridge beam span table elcho beams tables golagoon. Ridge boards and beams 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.

Now if you have done any looking around this site you ll quickly see that i am not a fan of using a ridge beam in shed construction. A ridge beam is a structural member used to support the ends of the rafters at the ridge transferring it s loads to posts or gable end walls. Here s a picture of a gable style shed using a ridge beam. Ridge beams are required by code if the roof slope is less than 3 in 12 irc section r802 3.

Timber steel framing manual single span ridge beam. The inherent strength and integrity of the triangular form makes the roof a sound structure. A proper beam would have a supporting post at each end. Framing in a ridge beam in shed roof construction is not hard.

Collar tie also collar beam in profile the framing of a conventional pitched roof forms a triangle. A classic example of the exposed ridge beam structure can be seen on our magnolia residence which is currently in construction. 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. 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.

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 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. Mirrored pairs of rafters meet at a ridge and are connected across the base by a ceiling joist.