How To Build A Cut Roof

The rafter is cut so it sits down onto the wall plate which is in turn fixed down onto the inside skin of a cavity wall.

How to build a cut roof.

The diagram above shows the components that go into making up a small gable roof. There are two basic methods of pitched roof construction. Robin is working on an extension so we thought we d shadow him for the day and see how he creates a pitched roof or semi pitched roof leading up to a flat. A cut roof this is the traditional method of cutting the timber on site and building up the roof using rafters ridge boards joists and purlins etc the exact details being determined by the size of roof size of timbers etc.

If you re framing a gable roof on a new house or building a shed or even a doghouse with a gable roof you ll need to cut a number of roof rafters. And the line length measurement from the roof peak to the building wall is the hypotenuse. The seat rests on top of the wall that you re attaching the particular rafter to while the shoulder cut parallels the wall and allows several inches of each rafter to overhang the roof. The rise or height of the roof at its peak is the altitude of the triangle.

A birdsmouth cut has 2 parts. A horizontal cut called the seat cut and a vertical cut called a shoulder cut. Before you cut your boards you ll need to measure the width of your building and calculate the exact length of each rafter. The roof rafters provide integral structural support to the roof.

The ridge is a long board at the top that the rafters are nailed to. The framing of a basic gable roof is based on a right angle triangle and the various roof framing components fit the triangle.