Run Your Rafter Tails Wild (Trusses Too!)

Written By Andrew Morrison
December 13, 2011

Straw Bale House Under ConstructionWhen framing your roof, don’t waste time lining up your rafter tails. Instead, run your rafter tails wild and cut them all at once when the frame is complete. Decide where you want the ends of the rafters to be and then snap a chalk line from one end of the house to the other.

Use a jig made from scrap plywood to mark the plumb cuts on the rafter tail sides (a top piece sits on the top of the rafter and another piece lays out the plumb cut line for the rafter tail). Mark the line and cut the tail with a skill saw. Move your way down the wall until you reach the end. This ensures a perfectly straight fascia line, even if your initial framing job was less than perfectly straight!

You can learn even more about framing for a straw bale house in our comprehensive How-To Instruction Video Series. It contains over 10.5 hours of top-notch, professional quality instruction on everything from foundations, to framing, to baling (post and beam and load bearing), to plaster. All delivered instantly to your inbox.

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