Roof Ridge Beam Thickness

The loads on the ridge beam are carried by vertical posts at the beam ends down through the building structural walls to the building foundation.

Roof ridge beam thickness.

Chapter 8 of the international residential code irc prescribes the elements for a type of roof frame known as a compression roof. The ridge board is installed to provide a bearing point where the rafters meet and it also helps with alignment along the ridge. Enter the span the difference in wall heights the pitch and the thickness of the ridge. As a reminder please don t forget to add height of rafter thickness of roofing material and ridge vent to the number that you ll get using our calculator.

The ridge board is usually just a nominal one inch or two inches wide 1x or 2x lumber and must be tall enough so that the ends of the joists make full contact with it along their face. Ridge boards shall be at least 1 inch nominal thickness and not less in depth than the cut end of the rafter irc section r802 3. Ridge boards can only be used in roofs with slopes from 3 in 12 up to 12 in 12. If your goal is to only calculate the roof height do not enter any numbers in wall height field and only use building width and roof pitch fields.

Once the ridge beam has been positioned in place and supported by roof framing members you can determine the placement of a rafter by measuring down from the top of the beam y height and making a mark on the beam. Ridge beam height above top of slab height of wall z.