Hello folks, My name is Patrick and I'm currently building a Craftsman style home in downtown Edmonton, Alberta. The house was inspired by Fort Edmonton's Firkin's House bt has been altered to fit the small city lot we have to work with.

I've stick framed the entire building myself and I had left the 24' 2x12s of the 3/12 sloped part of the roof exposed. I'll scroll cut them when I apply the siding later this summer.

I was getting a bit woried that I had opened the structure up to some massive envelope failure down the road. I'v seen a few examples of what I was planning to build on this website.

I'm looking for more information and images of exposed rafter tails (directly exposed, clear of the soffit).

I'm also after some framing suppport details for a 2' roofing overhang that will allow the same exposed rafter tails without sagging of the roof deck. I'm used to build a horizontal plane for soffit panels so I'm wondering how they are typically built.

I'll post some pics as framing nears completion. Thanks.

Hello TJ,
First of all welcome to the Arts and Crafts Society and we hope you continue coming back.

I hope you haven't set the rafterts as a 3/12 pitch is too low for the snow coverage in that area. No roof should be less than a 4/12 pitch and supported in the center every so often if it is an attic.

You should have no trouble with the 2' overhang if you are using 2x6 rafters as they are the minimum size to meet the building codes.

What is the span of the structure? If you so desire you may email me at Ralj7@AOL.com and I will help you as much as possible.

Respectfully,

Ralph Jones

Hi Ralph, thanks for the reply.

The roof is combination of 8/12 and 3/12 slope. the 3/12 sloped section is 12' wide and is supported with an interior wall. I had a local architect produce the design drawings and he chose those two slopes. The city approved his drawings.

The building is 35' in length so each 2x12 rafter is spanning roughly 17'6. I had to special order 24' 2x12's for this project as I wasn't interested in a factory truss package.

I'm leaving the rafters uncut until the roofers have completed their work. I'll do the trim cuts on the rafters while I'm applying the siding.

I'm still interested in some links to other rafter cutout patterns. They seem to be remarkably difficult to find on the web.

Regards,

Patrick Talbot-Jones

Hello TJ,
Go to google and keyword Arts and Crafts Exposed rafter tail treatments and you will find several including some of mine.

Ralph

Hi Patrick,

Hello to a fellow Edmontonian! We live in the Highlands where I am involved with the local Historical Society. From my experience, the type of rafter ends you're trying to reproduce are relatively rare in the city. This is likely due to the fact that 1) there are few remaining examples of the early, i.e., pre-1910 bungalows or other buildings in the city, and 2) our neighbourhoods did not really take off in development until post 1910 when Arts and Crafts architectural styles were beginning to simplifly (plainer, more refined details).

With respect to the fascia board rafter tails on gables, one of the most common types on bungalows in Edmonton from the late teens until the late 20's is the simple sharply pointed design. I've included an image of our home below as an example. The home was recently placed on Edmonton's inventory of historic resources, partly because the original rafter tails -- most of these have been hacked off to extend the eavestroughs to the ends. I just added aluminum 'spoons' to catch any water that might drip onto the tails from the roof.

With respect to the rest of the supporting rafters, most of these were sawn off to accept an eaves trough. However, I've attached an image from American Carpenter and Builder demonstrating how this was done. Below that is an image from a 1921 Chicago catalogue highlighting 10 styles. Both images are from Bungalow Details: Exterior, by Jane Powell.

There are actually a few extant examples of homes in Edmonton with interesting exposed supporting rafter ends. These can be found in the historic neighbourhoods in Edmonton; I'm sure you're aware of Old Strathcona, Highlands, Westmount, Inglewood, Old Glenora, etc. If you'd like to know of an example of two of the homes I know of, please contact me privately and I'll send you a link. Hope to meet you sometime.

Best Regards,

Copperoak

Rafter end builder instructions.

Rafter end designs.

Thanks Copper! That last image is exactly what I have been trying to find.

My project is not that far from you either. It's in the Boyle-McCauley area a block or two south-east of Giovanni Caboto park.

I'd been envisioning rafter ends fully exposed in a style similar to the one labelled M2044.


I'd love to see the other sites you mention in the city.

Hi TJ,

Apologies for the late post. Please contact me privately and I'll provide you addresses to places with the fancy rafter ends in Edmonton.

Best Regards,

Copperoak