I will be building a Redwood deck cover for a home owner who likes heavy hardware especially the kind with bolts as opposed to hardware that uses just nails or screws and has shown me examples of the heavy gauge hardware that he prefers. We have chosen some heavy stuff and are 95% of the way there on price and design but I am looking for opinions on one last connection
The design calls for 4″x6″ “rafters” with a pitch of 1 1/2 in 12 to sit on a 6″x8″ beam/header. This is a log home so they prefer hefty members as opposed to 2x material. If the “roof” of the cover was flat on the header I would have plenty of choices for the 6x to 4x connection like post caps or angle stock on each side of the rafter. With out cutting a birds mouth on the under side of the rafter this shallow pitch would cause it to pull up about 1 1/8″ from the header on one side. The top of the 6x below the rafter provides a large surface and I am thinking that angle stock on each side would be strong enough. I am looking at a Simpson L30 90* angle that is16 guage, measures 3″ long and has one 2 3/8″ leg and one 1 3/8″ leg. My thinking is that the larger leg goes on the rafter cheek and I could hit 3 out of four nail holes.
My supplier spoke with Simpson today and the do not make a version of an “H1″ that accepts a 3 1/2″ joist of rafter. They do make one at 3 1/8” for double 2x.
My instinct says that the angle stock plan will be OK. If I go ahead with this plan and it doesn’t feel right I will probably pre drill and counter sink some #10 x 3″ screws for good measure.
Any opinions and advice will be greatly appreciated.
Ross
Replies
Rather than a birds mouth in the rafters I'd consider notching the beam. (And by my calculation it should only be about a 3/4" notch, not 1 1/8".)
Or, heck, you could just rip the 6x8 to a bevel (if you can find a big enough saw). The slope will help prevent rot.
The slope could be milled with a router. Slow I know, but would provide a perfectly matched surface for the rafters to rest upon with full contact. The first step would be with a skilsaw set at the angle making full depth of blade cuts on each opposing face. Set the saw to cut the excess away of these two cuts which will leave roughly an inch + of material. Next, attach cleats to both sides of the beam which run slightly proud of and parallel to the excess material. Mount a router on a piece of straight 1x (a sled base if you will) long enough to span from cleat to cleat with the bit able to meet across the whole span while the plank is still resting on the cleats. Run the router sled on top of the cleats clearing all material left from the saw cuts. If you want to dress up the whole surface, it can be done with a little time and care to cover the whole thing. I did this on a timber frame sign which had 16" long tapers on 6" x 6" and though time consuming, the results were well worth the effort.
(BTW, what does one, say, 16-foot 6x8 redwood beam run these days? This guy's gotta be a banker or atty if he can afford it!)
Redwood 6x8
DanH
My supplier here in the Sierra foothills just quoted me $188.00 for a 6x8x16ft construction heart grade stick of redwood. The homeowners on this project are insisting of that grade.
Ross
I'd have to pay twice that here -- if I could get it at all.
I need to replace a few 2x6 pieces on our redwood deck, and I've been putting it off for two years now due to the cost. (Well, there's also the laziness factor, but we won't discuss that.)
DanH and Housewright
Thanks for the ideas and comments. As usual, other peoples ideas get me thinking and help my put together a solutions for situations like this. Thanks again.
Ross