Originally Posted By: lclark This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
I inspected a small 1200 sq ft house today with a hip roof. The house was in fair condition. when I looked into the attic there were no collar ties connecting the rafters to keep the roof from spreading. It was a wide open space. The cliants Grandfather was their’ took a look and said, that’s the way they used to build em. I told Him when they put the new roof on they may as well put some ties in to make it last another 60 years.
Has anyone else came across this type of hip roof before in older homes?
The house was built in 1940.
Originally Posted By: rcloyd This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Larry:
Did the house have ceiling joists running parallel to the rafters? If so, the rafter ends should be fastened to the ends of the ceiling joists. This would provide adequate bracing against rafter thrust. If the ceiling joists run perpendicular to the rafters, your recommendation would be a good one.
Originally Posted By: ecrofutt This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Larry,
Collar ties are in the upper third of the roof height and meant to hold the rafters DOWN against uplift.
Rafter ties are in the lower third of the roof height (and often ARE the ceiling joists also). They are meant to hold the rafters from spreading the walls.
At one time, I had a neat diagram that I put on here showing the difference but cannot readily locate it right now.
Search rafter ties or collar ties and it should come up.
Originally Posted By: dhartke This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Recently I inspected 2 homes built in 1920 and 1921, 1 1/2 story each one. They had the combination rafter tie/ceiling joist as Erby described. No collar ties. I rarely find collar ties on the old homes. These 2 went one step further. They did not have ridge beams either. Each time I sat there in the attic and wondered, " Wouldn’t it be easier and better to build this with a ridge beam?" The fact is these guys probably had already forgotten more about framing than I’ll ever know. The test of time must account for something as their product is setting there like a rock after 85 years.
A little thread drift here. The 1920 home had a discontinued, partially removed brick chimney. The chimney had been removed in the 1st floor area and no post support was set in its place so approximately 13' of the chimney is resting on the 2nd level floor joists. It has dropped 3/4" in the last 11 years and I called for further evaluation. It looks like it may be a deal buster, especially when added to the live knob and tube wiring found.
Originally Posted By: lclark This post was automatically imported from our archived forum.
Thank’s everyone. Amazing how it held up after 65 yr’s we get alot of wind and heavy snow in this area. Adding collar ties to this roof would be a plus.
