Advice for shed rafters

[Gavin77]

Hi, got a question on my shed build. Excuse the lack of technical terms.

I am about to cut the rafters for my shed, and am wondering how these should be attached to the walls of the shed. The shed wall frames are made up of 4x2 as is the rafters. The easy way is to place them on top of the walls and drive screws in from the top / use some angle brackets to secure them. However i am wondering if there is a more correct way of doing this. Such as cutting a notch out of the rafters so they lock onto the wall frame before fixing them down?

Also due to the sloping roof, how do you get the rafters to lay "flat" on the wall frames? Is it a case of cutting the rafters so they fit flat, or are there some "wedges" that can be bought that will allow the rafters to sit on the walls correctly.

Hope that makes sense, if not I'll have to sketch something up.

 

[big-all]

on my shed i used 3x2 at 2ft centres for all the structure although the roof varies from 2-4ft centres
i use triangular 12mmply plates where the timbers meet
double up on the wall plate[2x3 on its thin edge agains the wall plate 3"]giving 5" support area
http://s21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/bigall2005/?action=view&current=e1e47346.pbw

 

[misterhelpful]

You need to cut a notch (known as a bird's mouth) in the rafter where it sits on top of the wall plate.

Here is a previous topic on the same theme.
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=46425

 

[^woody^]

If you don't want to bother with notching, then use truss clips to secure the rafters.

But for a shed, you can just lay the rafters on the side panels and just screw or skew nail them

 

[Gavin77]

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. Bigall, nice shed If mine looks half that good, i'll be happy.

I probably should have mentioned, its a flat roof, with a 10 degree slope. So not sure if the birdsmouth cuts still apply, but see no reason why not.

 

[^woody^]

I probably should have mentioned, its a flat roof

Yes probably

Then it's joists not rafters , and you don't need to notch them

 

[Gavin77]

Thanks everyone, they wont be notched then, i'll just screw them down.

Gavin