Even though a porch roof’s overhang provides a house an ornamental touch, the overhang is not just decorative; it can help to keep rain and sun off the porch and also protects the construction of the building from harm. It plays an essential function, but it is a relatively straightforward part of the construction in terms of its framing.

Selecting the Overhang Width

The framing member that establishes the size of the porch overhang is your rafter. On a porch with a gable roof, the rafters descend in the peak of the roof and also extend past the porch walls or support poles. The section of the rafter which overhangs the edge of the porch is known as the rafter tail, and also so as to keep water from running off the Landscaping tips Fort Lauderdale, FL and falling straight onto the porch and its foundation, the rafter tails should extend no less than a foot beyond the door wall.

Supporting the Rafters

The rafters rest on horizontal beams which are supported by vertical poles; the beams support the weight of the roof, plus they’re commonly made from a set of two-by-eights or two-by-tens nailed together. A V-shaped notch in the rafter, referred to as a bird’s mouth , hooks above the corner of this beam and keeps the rafter in position; the distance in the bird’s mouth into the end of the rafter is the width of the overhang.

Framing an Open Overhang

In the simplest framing layout, the overhang includes nothing over the rafters. Roof sheathing is nailed into the tops of the rafters, and the distance between them is left available. The distance between the rafters over the beams may be filled with blocking to shut up the gap between the beams and the roof sheathing, or it, too, can be left open.

Adding Fascia and Soffits

An enclosed overhang is framed with a horizontal ring, referred to as a fascia, that runs across the overhang and covers the ends of the rafters. If a rain barrel is installed on the overhang, it is going to be attached to the fascia. The soffit is a horizontal board which runs in the fascia back to this beam on which the rafters rest. Together, the the soffit completely enclose the space directly below the rafters. On some overhangs, vents in the soffit allow air to move between the rafters and outside through a ridge vent to be able to cool the atmosphere below the roof.