You wont find a book which explains complex roof scenarios in an easier to understand way. I put every framing situation i could think of in this book. How to calculate the length of roof rafters captioned. Among its basic uses are marking common, hip, valley and hip, or valley jack rafters, laying out stair stringers, determining and marking angles, and making square cuts.
Professional tradesmen use rafter and framing squares to save time on roof construction projects. The swanson speed square comes with a pocket sized blue reference book that describes the tools functions and contains charts for rafter lengths and widths from 3 to 40 feet. By knowing you have access to all of the right information from proper storage and installation instructions to trim and flashing details, you can be confident installing your fabral materials. Swanson tool company speed square with black markings in. Measure back from this line and mark a second, parallel line on both sides of the hip. The roof framers field manual has every trick in the book. Enter the value for the roof width outside to outside in feet, inches, and. To figure out the rafter length from ridge to the seat cut, you take the run and times it by the number 6 pitch on the framing square, minus 34 which is 12 the thickness of the ridge. It follows the narrative of jaya, a biracial girl who recently lost her mother and is dealing with the aftermath, as well as the sudden appearance of beings, or angels that have started falling out of the sky. Includes result for hipvalley factor, slope factor and the roof slope in degrees. Rafter is a sloping beam usually wood that supports a pitched roof. All of the necessary cuts for a particular rafter can be laid out. How to calculate rafter lengths for gable, hip and valley.
A carpenters framing square includes some tables stamped right into the tool itself. This calculator helps you make the rafters of the suitable sizes required for your roofing. Our roof rafter calculator tools are handy for calculating the number of rafters needed, rafter length calculator, lineal feet of rafter, board feed in ridge and subfacia,and the total board feet in the roof. A hip rafter is laid out just like a common rafter with a few twists.
Blackfilled graduations stand out against a matte finish for easy reading. How to use the swanson speed square as a framing square. Mark the end plumb cut angle line back from square on both sides of the hip. Or i can tell you the rafters should be 45 58 long from ridge to seat cut. A ready reckoner is pretty much a rafter length calculator a book full of tables for working out the rafter lengths quickly and easily. Hes proclaimed for years that the best method for finding the correct lengths for hip rafters and laying out the back bevel angles, hip rafter side cut angle, was in the swansons blue book that you get when you purchase their speedsquare. When building a roof, how do you calculate the length of the rafters. Rise and run means that a 612 pitch roof has 6 of rise vertical for each foot of run horizontal. Now, calculating the correct angle for a common rafter is simple with a little trigonometry, but the speed square takes away the need to drag out a calculator. Keep in mind that, for most framing jobs, the tongue the skinny side is the vertical cut, and the body the wider side is the horizontal or seat cut. One length method by richard birch richard birchs method,one length method, that he developed from the swansons blue book. Drh double rafter h has been listed in the blue book since 2016.
The rafter square, or speed square, does more than mark perpendicular lines. Swanson big 12 speed roofing rafter square layout bar with blue instruction book. Large illustrations and simple formulas chop every roof framing problem down to size. Just set the pivot at the edge of the board and then rotate the square around that point until the edge of the board aligns with the correct mark on the common scale marked in red in. There is an old book that is called the full length roof framer by a. Rafter book vs step off method explained how to step off gable roof rafters s.
Includes markings for swanson 1number method of rafter layout, and is packaged with the swanson blue book of rafter length and roof construction and the speed clip to keep your square handy while you work. It is the second in the trilogy of the stewart sisters and has some of the same characters in it. The inch rise, the rafter run and the tables in the back of the book are all that are needed to lay out rafter lengths and the cuts for common, hip, valley and jack. Hip roof framing calculator with rafter angle cutting. If building is out of square, one hip will be cut a. It seems you are determined to figure out the rafters using long hand math. Here is the access download page of swanson speed square blue book pdf, click this link to download or read online.
Made of steel, aluminum, or plastic, this common carpenters tool combines a ruler, a try square, a protractor, a line scribing tool, a commonwidth board ripping guide, and a saw guide for making accurate 90 and 45 cuts with a hand or circular saw. The speed square, also known as triangle square, rafter angle square, and rafter. Swanson big 12 speed roofing rafter square layout bar with. Common rafters are shortened 12 the ridge thickness.
The complete pocket reference to roof framing 2nd edition by barry d. Irwin rafter square reference guide complete instruction book and rafter length tables. Common rafter layout step off method using framing square when building a roof duration. It seems that most of the others used a rafter length book, or some sort of book reference, to get the length of rafters, jack rafters, etc. Irwin rafter square 7 inch aluminum with guide book high contrast blue 1794463 5 out of 5 stars 2 product ratings 2 product ratings irwin rafter square 7 inch aluminum with guide book high contrast blue 1794463. Swanson tool s0101 7inch speed square layout tool with blue. This standard details manual, aka the blue book, is the right tool to have at your fingertips. Laying the square on the top of the rafter material, i start by scribing the plumb cut at the peak of the rafter. Each page has a different table depending on the pitch angle of your roof with all the figures you need.
The roof framers field manual blue palmetto home inspection. Drh double rafter h san antonio, texas the blue book. The company started out as an online book rental service competing with the likes of. How to lay out a hip rafter explained by a holly hill sc. Use our online rafter length calculator to quickly compute the length of the shed roof rafter by entering the measurements of overhead, length of roof span, pitch or angle. A speed square aka rafter square or triangle square is a measuring multitool. The inch rise, the rafter run and the tables in the back of the book are all that are needed to lay out rafter lengths and the cuts for common, hip, valley and jack rafters. The ending has an interesting and unexpected twist but the. The speed square includes the swanson metric blue book of rafter length and roof construction and also features markings for using the swanson onenumber method of rafter layout. Startup bookrenter has rebranded itself as rafter, a content platform company for colleges and universities. Calculate the length of a rafter from the roof slope ratio of inches per foot, and a building width measurement. The diamond cut out used to square a line that is drawn across the board to allow. Plan view the plan view is a view looking straight down on the roof measuring line the length of a rafter is measured and laid out on a measuring line on the rafter.
The swanson speed square is our most popular product and remains the most trusted square of its kind. Blackfilled gradations stand out against a matte finish for easy reading. Year 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 20 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000. Another best rated speed square from swanson is the swanson speed square with blue book and combination square kit, which is perfect for contractors or doityourself alike. The rafter square and framing square save time on roof construction. I make this plumb cut at the peak with my saw before marking my seat cut or.
Swanson na202 metric speed square layout tool aluminum. Shiften or swansons blue book roof framing geometry. I learned how to lay out roofs with a framing square. The measuring line on a common rafter with an eave, is located along the side of rafter parallel to. Get swanson speed square blue book pdf file for free from our online library pdf file. For larger roofs though, i use a roofing ready reckoner. Pivot s1uare to where number 5 on common scale lines up with same edge of rafter as pivot point. The instructions outlined below show the stepbystep procedure to follow for basic roof construction. Hes proclaimed for years that the best method for finding. Bookrenter becomes rafter, a content platform for colleges. Irwin rafter square reference guide complete instruction book. The speed square includes the swanson blue book of rafter length and roof. The speed square includes the swanson blue book of rafter length and roof construction and also features markings for using the swanson onenumber method of rafter layout.
Made of heavygauge aerospace aluminum alloy, it is built to last. This article explains how to make quick use of a framing square and its imprinted data to get some basic roof measurement data like roof pitch or slope, rafter lengths, and end cuts. All you need to know are the span of the building and the slope of the roof. Determining rafter length by rise and run by roninohio. All necessary cuts for a particular rafter can be laid out with these two squares. Enter the value for the roof width outside to outside in feet, inches, and fraction, inches and fraction, or use the inches box to enter a value in decimals if. Heres how to make sense of all the numbers on your square and get the most out of this tool. If you add an eaves overhang dimension then the amount the rafter sticks passed the wall will be added to the rafter length. The little blue book for roof and stairway layout includes detailed instructions on how to use the speed square and big 12 speed square using the one number method sm for roof layout.