The fascia was used so that the wood gutters had a good solid backer. The architect asked us to apply a 1x8 fascia notched into the tails and the bottom edge of the tails would have a radius cut on the point. We used 1†roofing nails for the first few feet around the eaves just to be safe. The combined thickness of the sheathing and bead board was about 1-1/8†so the roofing nails did not pop through on the under side. This would allow us to cover the PVC bead board with the usual 5/8†CDX sheathing because everything was in the same plane. We chose to drop the rafter tails by ½†below the main rafters so that the top of the bead board would end up being flush with the rafters. Bead board was chosen for the under side of the roof overhang and in order to minimize future maintenance we chose to use PVC bead board which was about ½†thick. Instead of laying out the KD rafters first and then sistering the tails, we used the tails for the primary lay-out and then shifted the KD rafters so they would be sistered. Since the exposed length of each tail was about 24†we decided to bury 36†up into the roof for strength. In all there were over 300 rafter tails, each about 5 feet long. We had these things spread out all over the place. Keep in mind that after we cut and sanded each batch we had to set up a dry area where we could prime and paint them with 2 coats of finish and then set them in a drying rack. Trying to keep ahead of the roof framers was a chore as it seemed as though as soon as we finished one batch they needed another. Many test pieces were cut and fitted before we settled on a final pattern and since it was a hip roof with two different pitches, we needed no fewer than 5-6 different templates. Every cut required a reasonable amount of precision since they would be painted prior to installation and could not be trimmed in place. All the rafter tail points needed to have a 1†radius round over so we rough cut them with a jigsaw and finished them off with a large router, hardboard template, and a solid carbide up-cut spiral bit. The straight cuts were cut using a combination of several chop saws set at certain angles and 2 circular saws. Because the meranti tends to bleed we needed to use a good exterior stain-blocking primer and a high quality exterior paint.Īfter the mountain of 2x10's arrived we got our work area set up and built all of our jigs and templates. Having used Meranti for many decks we determined that with proper priming, painting and the fact that it is up under cover of the roof, we ought to be good. We liked the beefier look of the 1-3/4†as opposed to the 1-1/2†thick cedar, fir or cypress. We ran some linear foot prices and by the time the material was purchased and milled down, Meranti was the least expensive, but the key factor was that it is available in stock at 1-3/4" x 10" thickness from our local supplier. As we sorted through our options we narrowed it down to red cedar, Douglas fir, cypress and red Meranti (in the mahogany family but technically not mahogany). Although I have seen many homes locally that have simply extended the ends of the KD rafters and made the decorative cuts on them, I was not too keen on using KD lumber in a coastal environment on such a beautiful home that will be expected to last 100 years. It was a challenge to figure out the right materials and methods because there were so many options. This link will show the pics We wanted to mimic the look of the old house rafter tails but without the problems. My company had to reproduce an exposed rafter detail last year on a house we built and we had a similar quandry.
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