ROTTED rafter tails – any elegant fixes?
toolbear
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
ROTTED rafter tails – any elegant fixes? What do you do?
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We have a project coming up that included a bunch of gonner rafter tails.
Anyone have an elegant fix for these? Always looking for new and better ways.
Doesn’t look like the rot got inside the building. Had that on 2nd floor decks. Had to jack half the living room floor for that repair.
The ToolBear
“You can’t save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice.” Dogbert
Replies
Just how "elegant" are you expecting?
I repaired several on a house I intended to sell with an approach that seemed to work out quite nicely. The end result can be seen when complete but it's somewhat hidden by the gutter and position under the eve.
1- Plumb cut and trim a short section of same nominal dimension lumber stock as was used for the rafter tail.
2-clamp the short replacement piece beside the rotten tail then, using a reciprocating saw(sawzall), cut both rotten and replacement pieces at the same time with one cut. If your careful to make the cut square across both pieces the resultant fit will hardly be noticeable.
3- Cut two 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" peices of support stock, about twice the length of the partial new rafter tail, and screw these to both sides of the old rafter tail such that they extend out to within an inch or two of the new rafter end.
4- Slip the new rafter tail between the two support pieces and secure in place by installing screws through the support pieces into the new tail piece.
5- Use one long screw (3 to 4 inches long) and place it through the bottom of the new rafter tail into the cut end of the old rafter tail. It's a good idea to countersink this into the bottom of the new tail piece so that the hole can be filled later.
6- Use bondo (body filler) to fill the gap created at the cut line between the new rafter tail and the old rafter tail and let cure till hard. Sureform plane the soft bondo to near flush before it gets too hard. Sand smooth when completely cured, prime and paint the whole assembly to match old color.
Edited 10/24/2008 11:23 pm by woodway
Edited 10/24/2008 11:26 pm by woodway
Nice fix. When you broke out the Sawzall I started to wonder, but you redeemed yourself with the Bondo and painting.
Just how "elegant" are you expecting?@@@Going to vary by tail. For small end rot I was wondering something similar to your approach - WEST expoy and a dowel to connect a new tail to the sound wood on the old one with a removable set of sisters to hold the splice until cured.We have sistered some with the connections made inside the rafter bays. Something like doing a boat in a bottle.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
Often, especially on fancy scroll-cut tails, the actual rafter stops at the plate line, and the decorative tail, made from a short piece of higher-grade stock, was lapped onto it. These 3-to-4' pieces were much easier to spin through a bandsaw.
If that's the case, you can replace the bad tails completely, lapping the new ones on the same way.
AitchKay
Often, especially on fancy scroll-cut tails, the actual rafter stops at the plate line, and the decorative tail, made from a short piece of higher-grade stock, was lapped onto it. These 3-to-4' pieces were much easier to spin through a bandsaw.@@@I fear these are common, garden-variety tails.@@Makes sense to have something you can actually move thru a band saw. So that's how they do it.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
The most important thing, after you fix them,
DON'T PUT %$#^& GUTTER SPIKES IN THE RAFTER TAILS.
If you can avoid gutters, great. If you have to have gutters, use hangers that fasten to the decking over the rafter. Any fastener in the end of the rafter tails will open up the wood and let water in.
Yeah, for real.I don't know how many rafter tails I've seen that were semi-solid on the outside but rotted hollow around the gutter spike.
Edited 10/27/2008 2:27 pm by True North
Every one of the rotten tails that I had to repair was because the idiot crew that installed the gutters, they drove a 8d galvy through the back side of the gutter into the end of the rafter. Every nail resulted in a rotten rafter, except where it was protected by some sort of overhang. There were 45 rotten rafter ends counting house and detached garage. Gutters can be hung that way but you've got to flash over the spike or water gets in and the rot starts. I wish I could meet the guy who installed those gutters!
The most important thing, after you fix them,DON'T PUT %$#^& GUTTER SPIKES IN THE RAFTER TAILS.@@@@But we like people who spike the gutters to the rafters. It means work. We don't do it, but we admire and respect those who do. Ah, another rotted rafter tail and hanging gutter.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
toolbear,
i wonder if the species of your local rafters-----or the rafter tails being un-painted--has more to do with it than gutter spikes????locally we have a lot of houses built in the 1920's--typically the decking and rafters were SYP----originally with exposed rafter tails, steel gutters, steel gutter spikes.
Yes I will come across the occasional bad rafter tail----but nothing in proportion to the actual number of exposed rafter tails combined with gutter spikes
Actually???--- more typically the damage will be from a newer gutter spike driven in off-center and blowing out the side of the rafter---not really a rot issue but more of a "fracture"
i will see rot on rafter tails of poorly maintained garages--but houses that were kept painted---not so much
Best wishes,
stephen
locally we have a lot of houses built in the 1920's--typically the decking and rafters were SYP----originally with exposed rafter tails, steel gutters, steel gutter spikes.
Yes I will come across the occasional bad rafter tail----but nothing in proportion to the actual number of exposed rafter tails combined with gutter spikes@@@Must be back east. I'm in The OC and it's doug fir, spruce for fascia, etc. Did have a fallen mail box stanchion that was 4x6 RS heart redwood. Wonder when that project went in. Sure would not see that nowadays. Didn't save it from the bugs, but nice deep color. And we used to make picnic tables out of that stuff. My condo fence was 1x13 redwood. Now you better be rich to get heart. I fondled a 2x12 const. heart at Ganahls - +$200.The ToolBear
"You can't save the Earth unless you are willing to make other people sacrifice." Dogbert
i second that about gutter spikes. Last house we had (between Clintonville and OSU) one of the previous owners had done that. Some of the rafter ends had turned to sponge as a result.