[Shop-talk] replacing Ridge Board in garage

[Jim Franklin]

On Nov 21, 2008, at 5:55 AM, Dan and Jenny Fest (Coles Nurseries Inc)  
wrote:

> We have an older garage on the property that was added to over  
> time.  The wood
> used must have been whatever they had around at the time.  It's  
> pretty solid
> and a good structure but the ridge board looks like a piece of 1x6  
> flooring
> and is cracked.  Are there any recommendations on how to fix this ??

Typically, the 1-by ridge boards don't provide any support; it just  
gives the rafters a place to nail to and keeps them in line during  
construction. Though I have seen buildings where the ridge board bore  
a lot of the roof weight and was sized and supported accordingly.  
Depending on how's it's cracked, I'd just sister in a piece of 2x6  
between the rafters, and nail through the rafters to it (or vice versa  
if there's no room).

jim