How To Cut Roof Rafters With A Speed Square

The rafter square or speed square does more than mark perpendicular lines.

How to cut roof rafters with a speed square.

Common rafters are the most common type of rafter in construction. Before you cut your boards you ll need to measure the width of your building and calculate the exact length of each rafter. Familiarity with using a speed square. Ability to read a tape measure ruler.

Before miter saws and even since professional carpenters used speed squares as a quick saw guide for cutting 45 and 90 degree angles. The secret to making a good rafter is cutting the proper angle. Today we are tackling a big beginner lesson which is common rafter layout and cutting. The key to accurately cutting the necessary angles is the proper use of a basic carpentry tool the framing square.

This is the first episode of a series that i am making called construction rocks this series will help teach skills useful when building a house. A bevel square can also be set to the plumb cut angle and used to mark the rafter s top overhang and bird s mouth cuts. If you re framing a gable roof on a new house or building a shed or even a doghouse with a gable roof you ll need to cut a number of roof rafters. 2 lay out a plumb cut on a rafter.

The roof rafters provide integral structural support to the roof. Building plans will specify the slope a roof should have. In this first installment we ll start with roof framing. And the secret to cutting correct rafter angles is the speed square also known as the rafter square which was invented in 1925 by carpenter albert j.

Locate the desired roof pitch on the common top cuts table of.