#Rafter tails detail design how to
#Rafter tails detail design professional
#Rafter tails detail design tv

To ensure that gutters drain properly, make certain they slope (½ inch for every 10 feet) toward a downspout. At the ends of the gutters are 4-inch-diameter corrugated aluminum downspouts ($1.75 per linear foot), which were ordered in white to match the house trim. The dark-green aluminum gutters used here ($2.75 per linear foot, materials only) were attached to the fascia with cast-aluminum, closed-curl brackets ($8 each), which the homeowners spray-painted antique gold.

#Rafter tails detail design tv

His company makes distinctive, half-round reproduction gutters, which have been featured on several This Old House TV projects. If you have a basement, the water could also leak into it. If you have a house that doesn’t have a gutter, the rainwater that comes off the roof and hits the ground could damage the siding and trim. That’s why we enlisted Agustin Crookston, owner of Classic Gutter Systems in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to show how attractive gutters can be-and how easy to install.

#Rafter tails detail design professional

Experiment with different patterns to see what looks best your particular project.Įditor’s Note: Mark Clement is a professional contractor and co-host of the MyFixItUpLife radio show.Many homeowners nurse their battered, leaky gutters along because they just don’t see the reward of new gutters outweighing the effort required to replace them. The choices in pattern design are limited only by the size of the wood and your imagination. Lots of notches and detail can add a sense of ornate elegance to a rafter tail design, while simpler geometric patterns give them a more basic, streamlined appearance. The only down side is a jigsaw cuts much more slowly.Īfter cleaning up the cut edges of the tails with a sander, use your completed rafter as a pattern template to trace a matching profile on all the other rafters of your project. The thin blade of a jigsaw can follow the curved path of your swoop, and its straight-cutting action can finish the incomplete cuts that the round blade of a circ saw leaves behind. A Speed Square makes a handy guide to keep cut marks square.Ĭlement suggests you save time cutting by using a handheld circ saw on all straight cuts. screws partially driven into the lumber on each side of the metal strip to hold its arched position as you mark the cutline.Īccentuate the swoop design with notches and angles. Use treated lumber for outdoor projects or a wood species such as redwood that has natural preservatives.Ī neat trick for making a decorative swoop on a rafter tail is to use a straight strip of sheet metal as a cutting guide. The broader the face of the board, the more material you have to incorporate the swoops and notches that comprise the rafter-tail pattern.

For both a sense of visual balance and structural strength, these framing members are generally made from large boards measuring 2×8 or wider. Rafter tails generally dress up large outdoor structures. With a few basic carpentry tools and an eye for creativity, you can create a design that puts a personal stamp on your next outdoor building project. With a limitless array of patterns, these stylistic enhancements to the ends of a beam or rafter can give a unique look to a pergola, a rose arbor, a trellis or covered patio.

#Rafter tails detail design how to

Alternative Heating & Fireplace Insertsĭress up your rafters with a decorative tail patternĪt the recent Remodeling Show/ Deck Expo in Baltimore, Maryland, the EHT staff caught up with our friend Mark Clement, who was giving a demonstration on how to cut decorative rafter tails.