Porch roof

[dougpete]

Greetings -

We are building the 2 story "universal" and are about to start on the porch - how do we know exactly how high on the wall to place the 2 x 6 ledger?

Doug

[John Raabe]

For the ledger on the house to deck connection, see the house-deck detail in the middle of sheet 13. The exact height of the ledger depends on the thickness of the deck materials and the finish flooring of the house. What you want is about 1" between the top of the house finish flooring to the top to the decking. This works for most doors. This will place the sloped door threshold a bit higher than the decking and will allow water to drain away.

Check how the floor and door detail will work with your deck, the door manufacture literature will have more information.

If you already have the door in place then this will be even easier.

For the location of the ledger for the porch roof rafters, that is a common framing problem that can be solved a number of ways. One of the easiest (since it involves no calculation or even much measuring) is to cut a trial rafter and test it to determine the ledger height. Have the porch beams and posts in place. Do you want the standard 4:12 pitch shown on the porch section detail sheet 12? Whatever the pitch cut this pitch on the end of your test rafter (use the framing square) and put it flush against the house wall. Then slide it down to the top of the beam. Transfer the location of the beam and cut your rafter seat to the same pitch. Now cut 1-1/2: off the top end of the test rafter to account for the thickness of the ledger and the bottom of that rafter can be transferred to the wall and a line snapped for the bottom of the ledger. If you test rafter fits tight then it is the template for the rest of the rafters.

PS - Be sure that the roof pitch you choose works with all the upper windows and any flashing that will be installed.