Rafter book vs step off Explained
all right so if you haven't already watched my video on gable roof rafters to step off method please go watch it now what I want to explain to you is how the framing square does the math for you when you're stepping off a roof just in case you don't understand it so years ago I bought this book and it has all the roof pitches tells you the degree you tell it how much run you need like if I had an 8 foot building you would take half of that and the 612 pitch would be 53 and 5/8 that would be my Raptor left but the framing square will get you the same number and I'm going to show you how I'm going to step off one foot of run on this 2×4 I have and I'm going to show you how to do it with the square and how to do it with the book so it will be 13 to 3/8 for 1 foot all right I got my spray on the board and we're gonna do a 6 12 pitch just like we looked at in the book so we're gonna get the 6 and the outside right on the edge of your board then you want to get to 12 right on the edge and your first small is gonna be right here we're gonna cut the video for a second because I'm holding the camera in one hand ok so I made my mark so I'm gonna move the square in a second one cut right here I got it marked and then for the end you can walk it in two different spots I like to do it this way the 12s here and then just go up when you square set them to the mark the lines up with the twelve and put a mark here or you can mark at the bottom right here and it swells but I'm gonna use this mark here alright it was month uncut I made my mark on the board right here see I got my Square right up to it on six and twelve and now I'm going to mark this and that's gonna be one foot and in this line to this line should be 13 and 3/8 just like the Booker rafters that I have Feldman all right so we sent a 612 rate booth one foot of run would be 13 and 3/8 I did this the step-off method with the framing square so let's measure it and see if it matches them okay so I'm holding the tape right on the end of my mode and I'm together step off if you look 13 and 3/8 and the money that's one step off if that's all we was doing if they roof that the width of the building was to fit we would do a one foot step off and the birds mouth will go right here you need reference go back and watch my video on stepping off gable roof rafters and I'll show how to do the birds mouth okay so if I just want to use this book and not do this stuff off method and I need a 1 foot it's 13 and 3/8 come down here we got my square on 6 and 12 as you're doing the 612 pitch roof I'll make my first mark I can remove my square and I'll put a tape measure at the end of this line out here at the end and measure 13 and 3/8 over mark it and then put my square six and 12 and Mark that lock and I started out my 6 12 pitch marked and I took a tape measure and I measured 13 and 3/8 from this point to this point right here and I put a line if you see I got my square back on 6 12 and that's right on that line then you just mark this angle right here and you got the same thing I did with just a framing square put a step off method so these books are really handy and they can help you get some accurate measurements to get some cuts but you do not need them many roofs will cut a long time ago before they had books like this or calculators just using the stuff off nothing thanks for watching this video I hope you learned how to step off a rafter opposed to using a book of rafter tables which is gonna give you the same numbers a calculator one thing to keep in mind if you're doing a long rafter there'll be multiple step-offs which is square and it's really important sure they're very accurate because a little you could be 1/16 of an inch off at the beginning and 1/16 on each step off and you could be way off at the end and your wrapper wouldn't fit right a lot of people use stair gauges to put on a square just makes it easier to line up for like the 6 12 pitch put one on six put one on 12 and then you can just slide the square and it'll stay accurate but all in all both methods work really good when I build my shed I used the step off method and if I would do a house or anything I may use the book and wrap the tables but it really doesn't matter as long as you take your time it's gonna fit perfect thanks for watching please subscribe got any questions or comments put them in the comment section down below [Music]