collar tie between misaligned rafters
This is a dumb question but I feel stupid for having done this and it’s bothering me.
I replaced a collar tie in my attic. The old one was nailed on and I glued and screwed the new one pulling it tight against the rafters. What I hadn’t thought about was that the old tie was attached to rafters that were not aligned. One side has a double rafter and the other is single. The tie is attached to the extra rafter. Because the attachment points are off by ~1.5 in, the ends of the spurce 2×4 tie are bent and under tension. The old tie wasn’t attached that tightly so it probably wasn’t applying any twist but the new one is. Is this hard on 70 year old doug fir 2×6 rafters or does it not matter?
What’s frustrating is that I had to remove the old collar tie because it was in the way of sistering the single rafter but I put the sister on the other side. If I had just put it on the tie side while it was off, everything would’ve been in alignment. It just hadn’t occurred to me that the old tie was attached kiddie-corner.
Replies
I know you said you glued it and screwed it, but do you think you could remove it some how? Maybe carefully cut with the sawzall, and then add a small 2x block behind it to bring it back into plane with the other rafter? I wouldn’t beat yourself up too much, I’ve made way worse mistake (most of us probably have). You might have to bolt it at that thickness (that would be four ply if you want to go through the sister as well), but I think it would still do the job.
I could get it apart. The screws will come out with an impact driver and I'll use a hacksaw blade to cut through the glue if I have to. I considered spacing it out with a piece of 2x but would that be a torque arm on the rafter? I should have a structural engineer coming in a few weeks and I'll ask him but I'm worried it's bad for it to sit like that until then.
To be honest I can't see that it is a major problem. Lumber that comes twisted is often torqued into place during framing. It adds some tension, which could be helpful in some situations, but it's hard to avoid with today's lumber supply unless you are willing to just use engineered lumber.
But I know it's hard to leave a goof behind. If you can separate the tie and use a 2x spacer to bring it in line that should be fine.
Thank you for the advice.
Is it a problem that the doubled up rafters are not aligned opposite each other on either side of the ridge board like the 2nd picture shows?
I wouldn't lose a moment's sleep over that.
https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2001/07/01/rafter-ties-vs-collar-ties