metal hangers for jack rafters???

[John Ellis]

Just wanted to know if anyone had any good reason for putting metal hangers on jack rafters. These jack rafters have to be plumb cut with no bevel( or it would have to be 68 degrees and I ain't doin that) I have never had to put metal on a jack rafter .....ever. So are there any codes that are foreign to me that have to do with high winds or snow loads???? Please comment away boys........

[David Meiland]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

What??? A framing god here on the island. I need to know more about this.

Know any trim gods? I need one shortly.

[O'BrienConstruction]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

We're in a high wind zone we are required to use mts12's to strap jack rafters to valley rafters, only to hips or ridges if its cathedral with no ceiling joist or collar ties.

What't the big deal about a 68 degree bevel. My bigfoot does that no problem. I'd rather bevel and nail cleanly than use a hanger if I could.

[Joe Carola]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

Just wanted to know if anyone had any good reason for putting metal hangers on jack rafters. These jack rafters have to be plumb cut with no bevel( or it would have to be 68 degrees and I ain't doin that) I have never had to put metal on a jack rafter .....ever. So are there any codes that are foreign to me that have to do with high winds or snow loads???? Please comment away boys........

John,

First of all, why aren't you putting a 68° bevel on the jack rafters? Is it because you don't have a saw?

If not, just cut the plumbcut with the saw a 0° and then set the saw at 22° and run the saw down the face of the rafter plumbcut on edge and finish with a sawzall and that will give you your 68°.

What kind of saws do you have? 7", 8", 10" saw?

Cut the bevels and don't worry about putting hangers on every jack rafter.

Is this for an Octagon or bay roof?

[TSJHD1]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

... These jack rafters have to be plumb cut with no bevel( or it would have to be 68 degrees and I ain't doin that)...

So..., they don't have to be cut without the bevel, its just that you aren't willing to do it.

Installing them without full contact to the king rafter is not correct. If you're doing that kind of stick-framing, it needs to be done.

You can avoid the sharp bevel by installing a block first, cut to the 22 bevel where it meets the king rafter. Then all the jacks get attached to that block, with just a plumb cut with no bevel.

Hangers? If its code, or in the specs. But not to avoid cutting the rafters properly.

Tom

[John Ellis]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

I guess I am not willing to go through the difficulty of cutting the bevel because I don't have the right tools to do it cost effectively, however I do like the idea about the 22 bevel blocking.... didn't think about that. So I'm feeling a little un-godlike now thanks for putting me in my place guys. Yes it is an octagon roof that I have been thrown into at the last minute that someone else had started and kinda didn't have much of a good game plan. It started out as a truss project. I show up the day the trusses are delivered and right away let the "guy in charge" know that it ain't going to work.....really???? he says. So long story short he put them up anyways just to find out I wasn't pulling his leg. He was determined that all the trusses wern't going to waste so he kept four of them and we used them as a girder truss.....blah blah blah anyways it's one of those situations where I'm coming in on the ass end of things to fis someone elses mistakes... and do not have complete control of the job and have to comprimise with someone who has talents just not in this field. So as far as the hangers go.....the rafters are going on before the cj's, retarted right?? I know anyways the octagon is a irregular one at that. So I'm trying to simplify everything as much as possible so I can move on to bigger and better things. Every where there are jack rafters there are places to run kneewalls and stifflegs which need to be there anyways. I am a firm believer in redundancy but I hate wasting time effort and energy on things that need not be. Yes I would have I hard time going to bed at night If there were things done to cut corners that just aren't right this is not the case here. I just know where time and energy need to be focused on a job to get it done and these damn hangers are not and should not cost this homeowner 20 or so hours in labor. It just pisses me of to no end. And no I don't know any trim gods here on the island dave. I am fairly new to the area here and am trying to get used to the island time and mentallity thing you know? Thanks for the replies guys!!!! And what the heck is a big foot and how much are they?lol

[Dick Seibert]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

We always cut those with a hand saw, it isn't that hard, 30 years ago I bought my first 16" Makita sidewinder and we started cutting them with that. Yes, I'd say the inspector is going to require full contact on the hips and valleys, or use those funny looking hangers which really make it look like an amateur framed the roof.

[Joe Carola]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

I guess I am not willing to go through the difficulty of cutting the bevel because I don't have the right tools to do it cost effectively,

John,

You must have a circular saw and a sawzall, right? That's all you need if you follow what I said above. If you don't have a sawzall, use a sharp handsaw.

[Tim Uhler]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

I guess I am not willing to go through the difficulty of cutting the bevel because I don't have the right tools to do it cost effectively, however I do like the idea about the 22 bevel blocking.... didn't think about that. So I'm feeling a little un-godlike now thanks for putting me in my place guys. Yes it is an octagon roof that I have been thrown into at the last minute that someone else had started and kinda didn't have much of a good game plan. It started out as a truss project. I show up the day the trusses are delivered and right away let the "guy in charge" know that it ain't going to work.....really???? he says. So long story short he put them up anyways just to find out I wasn't pulling his leg. He was determined that all the trusses wern't going to waste so he kept four of them and we used them as a girder truss.....blah blah blah anyways it's one of those situations where I'm coming in on the ass end of things to fis someone elses mistakes... and do not have complete control of the job and have to comprimise with someone who has talents just not in this field. So as far as the hangers go.....the rafters are going on before the cj's, retarted right?? I know anyways the octagon is a irregular one at that. So I'm trying to simplify everything as much as possible so I can move on to bigger and better things. Every where there are jack rafters there are places to run kneewalls and stifflegs which need to be there anyways. I am a firm believer in redundancy but I hate wasting time effort and energy on things that need not be. Yes I would have I hard time going to bed at night If there were things done to cut corners that just aren't right this is not the case here. I just know where time and energy need to be focused on a job to get it done and these damn hangers are not and should not cost this homeowner 20 or so hours in labor. It just pisses me of to no end. And no I don't know any trim gods here on the island dave. I am fairly new to the area here and am trying to get used to the island time and mentallity thing you know? Thanks for the replies guys!!!! And what the heck is a big foot and how much are they?lol

Here are two pictures of the 10" Big Foot with swingtable cutting jacks a week or so ago http://picasaweb.google.com/TimothyU...91557344477810 http://picasaweb.google.com/TimothyU...91561639445122 http://picasaweb.google.com/TimothyU...91604589118130

[TSJHD1]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

We always cut those with a hand saw...

Yeah, and you had to walk to school uphill in the snow barefoot too. Both ways.

Tom

[Dick Seibert]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

Tom:

No snow here, but I did have to walk a couple of miles to school and back every day, through hayfields with really bad hayfever, my eyes would swell shut and the other kids would lead me.

When we cut the jacks with a handsaw we didn't own a 5hp DeWalt Radial Arm Saw to cut them, when I went into business that's one of the first pieces of equipment I bought, although nobody used them anymore when the 16" Makita sidewinders hit the market in the mid-70s. Can you imagine we nailed them by hand with our Stilletos too? No nail guns in those days. The hardest part of being a carpenter in those days was poring concrete, we almost always built on hillsides and there were no concrete pumps, if we couldn't get the truck above the pour there was lots of pushing wheelbarrows full of concrete uphill. I was in my warehouse to let a former carpenter borrow some scaffolding the other day, the tires are flat on all my wheelbarrows now, that tells you something.

[TSJHD1]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

Tom:

Can you imagine we nailed them by hand with our Stilletos too? No nail guns in those days.

Say it isn't so!!!

...the tires are flat on all my wheelbarrows now, that tells you something.

You don't use them anymore??

Tom

[Dick Seibert]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

No, retired guys got no use for wheelbarrows, kind of makes me sad to look at all that stuff in the warehouse, I've got to bring myself to selling it and stop paying the rent.

[David Meiland]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

Do it quickly, because according to your predictions there will be no market for construction equipment for at least 20 years!

[wallmaxx]

Re: metal hangers for jack rafters???

Installing them without full contact to the king rafter is not correct. If you're doing that kind of stick-framing, it needs to be done.
Tom

Tom,

I was asked once by a helper (back around 1990) why we had to bevel cut any jacks at all. His argument was, it was the 4 nails in the top of each jack that held them in place, not the contact surface area of the jack meeting the hip/valley. He thought that bevels would be good if you were gluing the jack to the hip/valley but for nailing, it added no benefit other than visual appearance.

I had no good or smart a$$ answer other than, that's how I was taught.

I haven't really thought about it. What are your thoughts?

I guess if you calculated the jacks to the short point, you could square cut them along the common plumb pitch...

feel free to fire away

Mike