Roof Frame Rafter
A Rafter is one of a series of sloped structural (usually timber) members that extend from the ridge or hip to the downslope perimeter or eave, designed to support the roof and its associated loads:
- Common rafter – the main support rafter of the slope between eaves, wallplate and ridge
- Cripple rafter – the rafter connecting a hip and valley
- Crippled jack rafter – a rafter connecting the end of a ridge to a valley
- Hip rafter – a rafter following the line of the external intersection of two roof surfaces
- Hip creeper rafter – a rafter connecting a wall plate and hip
- Jack rafter – a rafter that fits against the end of a ridge at the intersection of two hips
- Principal rafter – an upper member in a truss having the same inclination as the common rafters
- Valley rafter – a rafter following the line of the internal intersection of two roof surfaces
- Valley creeper rafter – a rafter connecting ridge and valley
Rafters carry loads from the battens and the gravity loads from the roof structure to the tops of the walls. Even where the roof structure is a truss, the top chord of the truss is called a rafter.