Got a question

[SIHUNTER]

Hello, my name is Clint Furlow. I've been lurking around the site for a while now and have really enjoyed it. A lot of good info, and some really nice pics of some beautiful homes and country.

I've started a remodel on my home and have to tear down my entire roof frame. I can go with factory trusses, but was thinking about framing with rafters, so I could have more freedom as to how I might want my ceilings to turn out. My question concerns rafters and ridge beams. The span would be 27 feet, and would run along 43 feet from one end of the house to the other. I would like the pitch to be somewhere in the 6-8 range, and I live in So. Illinois. What would be the rafter material of choice, and as far as ridge beams go I hate the thought of splicing a ridge beam, and was wondering if they even made a monster that would run 43 feet?.... I know, call my local truss company for these type specs, but what fun would that be.lol   

[MountainDon]

 

You state ridge beam. There are ridge beams and there are ridge boards. A Beam is supported at each end, maybe someplace in the middle. In long lengths it would be some sort of a manufactured / engineered product. A ridge beam requires supports that carry the load all the way down to the foundation as it carries 50% of the total roof load.    A ridge board is usually a simple 2x. For long lengths it is assembled from two or more pieces of 2x. It is just a method to connect rafters and carries no load so does not need to be supported through to the foundation. The load is tranferred from the entire roof down to the sidewalls, 50% to each wall. Rafters and ridge boards also push outwards on the side walls. Usually the ceiling joists are placed on the wall top plates and also serve to tie the walls together to resist those outward forces from the rafters.

Trusses can be engineered to provide some usable attic space as well as cathedral ceiling effects.

Hope that helps

[MountainDon]

Depending on wood species and snow load, rafters (on 16" centers)  for that would need to be 2x8 or 2x10's, maybe larger if snow load is more than 40 lbs.

A local truss company would design trusses for the local conditions.