INTERESTING RAFTER TAIL DESIGNS SERIES
INTERESTING RAFTER TAIL DESIGNS FREE

It has the inherent issues of requiring a larger amount of dried large timbers that aren’t seen as practical and it is expensive and requires very specialized labor use. Why is timber-framed construction not often done?įirst of all, it is a slower more complicated version of the building process. Although timber-framed construction is still a building style used, it is not that often in this current building environment. This is what we are ultimately creating, a decorative component that emulates this feature. The tail cut is the ornamental scroll or cuts to the lower end of a rafter tail. This is where the design came in, with the “tail cut”. The soffit is the perimeter overhang of a home or building – to learn more about soffit systems, read our “What is a soffit system” post. The rafter tail was the exposed end that created the soffit of a home.

INTERESTING RAFTER TAIL DESIGNS SERIES

In timber-framed construction, the rafter is a series of parallel beams used to support the sheathing or roof decking. Some of these vernaculars or styles are Coastal, British West Indies, Dutch Indies, Cape Cod, New England, Key West, Charleston Style, Spanish Mediterranean, Colonial, Low country, and Craftsmen style homes all prominently use wood rafter tails, wood corbels, and wood bracket detailing. In most architectural styles that predate the 20th-century rafter tails were almost always used.

The use of PVC rafter tails is the perfect way to emulate traditional timber frame construction. With these options, you can understand the variety of uses for this detail in different styles of architecture. They run in two different directions atop the column and have a unique scroll detail.

We see this often as a detail in British West Indies style homes on the second-floor patios.

INTERESTING RAFTER TAIL DESIGNS FREE

The bolster is a horizontal timber on a column or post that gives support to the free span of a structural beam. You see these at the intersection of the gable end and the tie beam or at a cantilever porch or balcony.įinally, we use a Bolster in different styles of architecture which gives a very unique look to the design.

An outrigger is a beam extending outward from the main structure to support the projection of a floor or roof rafter, fly rafter, or barge board.

It has on a different scale the ability to be an Outrigger. These are a rafter that projects out at the gable end that supports in conjunction with the roof decking the fly rafter, facia, or barge board. You will also see them used in Gable ends used as an Outlook or a Lookout. In coastal architecture used under a bay window or small balcony. These units are usually applied to the structure, S-shaped typically ornately carved and the top is larger than the lower.

A Corbel is an architectural component that is embedded into a wall to help support, like a type of bracket, that carries weight.

Rafter tails can also be used as a decorative feature beneath a beam run vertically on a wall and replicate a corbel. These components support the soffit system, cantilever deck, or gable end all of which consist of tongue and groove roof decking and the fascia or exterior trim board. Depending on where it is used on a home, it can also be used as an Outlooker, Outrigger, Lookout, or Tailpiece. In coastal architecture used under a bay window or small balcony.Ī rafter tail can be used typically in the overhang or soffit system of a home replicating the look of a traditional roof decking support.

A Corbel is an architectural component that is embedded into a wall to help support like a type of bracket that carries weight.

An Outlook or a Lookout is a rafter that projects out at the gable end that supports the roof decking as well as the fly rafter, facia, or barge board.

An Outrigger is a beam extending outward from the main structure to support the projection of a floor or roof rafter, fly rafter or barge board.

We call them Rafter tails because they are the tail end or exposed end of a rafter.Ī rafter tail is also called, depending on where it is used on a home, as an Outlooker, Outrigger, Lookout, or Tailpiece. The Rafter tail is typically scrolled and detailed and is a major component of the soffit system in timber frame construction. This structural element is secured to the top of the wall or tie beam and then projects to support the soffit overhang.

Rafter tails are the exposed exterior portion of a building’s wood structural truss that projects beyond the perimeter wall of the structure.

Interesting rafter tail designs