Ridge Beam – Wednesday’s Word Of The Week
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| Ridge cut on an arch as part of a hip roof (left in photo) |
The ridge of a building is the peak between two sloped roofs, and a ridge beam follows this line. Usually ridge beams are structural, supported at their ends, and supporting other parts along their span. This could be a large, long span ridge beam spanning an entire building and supporting rafters along its length, or a ridge that spans between arches and supports decking running up the slope along with purlins.
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| Ridge beam during construction |
If decking runs parallel to the building ridge, e.g. a building with closely spaced arches, then the ridge may not be structurally required. But, we usually still recommend including a ridge beam to cover the joint between the two sides of the roof and to tie the roofs together.
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| Rafters tied into ridge beam |
Glulam ridge beams are usually fabricated with two bevel cuts on top, to match the roof slopes and provide flat surfaces for roof decking attachment. This is called a ridge cut.
*Wednesday’s Word Of The Week is a new feature on Unalam’s Wood Times Blog. Each Wednesday our structural engineer, Rik Vandermeulen, will discuss a new term associated with glulam manufacturing. He will do this until we run out of words. If there is a timber or glulam term that you have heard of and want to know more about, let us know in the comments.