When cutting rafters there are two main cuts that are involved: the plumb cut and the level cut. The plumb cut is any line on the rafter that is vertical when the rafter is in .
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position. A level line is any line on the rafter that is horizontal when the rafter is in position. .
Pitch is the amount of incline of a roof (Total Rise divided by the Total Run = Pitch), here is an example. The total rise of a rafter is nine feet, and the total run is twelve feet. The distance between the two is fifteen inches. By using a scale of one inch equals one foot, the rough rafter length from plate to ridge is fifteen feet. .
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Body.
There are seven types of roofs carpenters need to know how to frame. They are: gable roofs, shed roofs, hip roofs, intersecting roofs, gambrel roofs, mansard roofs and butterfly roofs. A common roof style is the gable roof, which is where two sloping surfaces meet at the top. They form triangular shapes at each end of the building called gables. The shed roof slopes in only one direction. Also called a lean - to, the shed roof has been exclusively used on contemporary homes. The hip roof slopes upward from all walls of the building. This style is used when the same overhang is desired on all sides of the building. An intersecting roof is needed on a house when two wings intersect. Since two roofs are intersecting, valleys are formed which require several types of rafters. The gambrel roof is a variation of the gable roof because it has two slopes on each side instead of one. The lower slope is mush steeper than the upper slope; therefore framing it is like framing two separate gables. A mansard roof is a different type of hip roof; it has two slopes on each of the four sides. The last roof type is the butterfly roof, which is an inverted gable roof. It resembles two shed roofs with their low ends placed against each other. (Bliss, 1997).
When laying out for a roof, the first to be laid out is the ridge beam.