Steel Ridge Beam Roof Construction

A ridge board is a non structural member that serves as a prop for opposing rafters to rest against and connect to.

Steel ridge beam roof construction.

A roof beam is generally a length of wood steel or aluminum that holds up a roof meant to keep rain snow and other elements out of the house. By supporting the rafters they allow longer spans than the rafters alone. 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. Ridge beams are required by code if the roof slope is less than 3 in 12 irc section r802 3.

Purlin plates are beams which support the mid span of rafters and are supported by posts. However a beam built up assembled from sawn lumber can also be designed. Timber steel framing manual single span ridge beam. Here s a picture of a gable style shed using a ridge beam.

Ridge beam sizing is based on the span of the beam between supports and the amount of roof load supported by the beam. A purlin plate in wood construction is also called an arcade plate in european english under purlin and principal purlin. 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. 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.

Purlin plates in wooden construction. Framing in a ridge beam in shed roof construction is not hard. Distance from roof beam to next roof support i e the span of the rafter or roof truss from the roof beam to the next adjacent beam or wall. For most residential construction today lvl laminated veneer lumber type beams are used for a structural ridge beam.

A classic example of the exposed ridge beam structure can be seen on our magnolia residence which is currently in construction. Glulam ridge beam span table elcho beams tables golagoon. The term plate means a major horizontal supporting timber. 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.

Alternatively design in a specific timber or steel material type. Its the way i was trained to build sheds. Design of single span ridge beams in roofs in houses office buidlings schools and other structures. 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.

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. For the example above uniform gravity load to be resisted by ridge beam is 160 plf dead load plus 320 plf snow load. Press design to obtain.