Roofing work - rafters not reaching ridge plate

Karine_2

Hi guys

Having my entire roof replaced, seemed a reputable company as registered with national federation of roofing contractors

they are just about to start putting the tiles on but I have noticed that on one side of the roof the rafters aren't quite touching the ridge plate

I raised this with them and they assured me that a smaller rafter size piece of wood braced across the top of both sets of rafters would suffice

Is it me or is the rafter supposed to touch the top as this is what takes the weight ??

Help !!

27col

What they are suggesting might well be the solution, but it seems a pretty poor piece of carpentry for the cut rafter not to reach the ridge board. A roof that uses trusses rather than cut rafters, does not have a ridge board, so what they are suggesting is, in effect, turning cut rafters into trusses. Albeit, not very good ones. So long as they definitely do secure the tops of the rafters with bracing pieces then I suppose it will work ok

leveller2911

In the old days they never used ridge boards each pair of rafters rested on each other and were nailed together.The ridge board is purely they for ease of construction.When "Pitching" the roof the chippy would put up a pair of rafters each end of the roof(resting against each other and not nailed) and then slide the ridge up between each pair , then nail the rafters together.The chippy then has somewhere to rest a number of rafters as he works his way along the roof.

The braces you mention are probably the "Collars" these generally now are bolted to each pair of rafters, in the old days they were just nailed on.Thier job is to help stop the roof "spreading" (rafters pushing off the plates).....As 27Col has mentioned the rafters not meeting the ridge is not a big problem its just poor workmanship.....

27col

Cheers leveller, that's the word I was looking for, 'collar'.