The ends of our rafters had gutters attached when the house was last painted so they weren't painted. We recently pulled down the old gutters and discovered that the ends of the rafters have been wet for so long that about half of them are rotten. I can have the new gutters attached to the roof instead, but I still want these fixed first so... <br>How do you replace just the ends of the rafters? We would need to saw off about a foot. Then how do you attach the new pieces?

NOT that I would recommend this [img]/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] But the muddler who extended a back porch on our house tried this. <br> <br>http://www.houseinprogress.net/images/badtail.jpg <br> <br>We do wish he had primed and painted the wood. And had made the back room level and not at a 10 degree angle. That would have been nice.

There have been two recent threads in this forum (or was it "exteriors?") discussing this. If you have a chance, do a search on the site. Otherwise, I'll come back later and see if I can find the old threads. Suggested search words: rafter repair. <br> <br>Tim

I would cut the rotten ends square and only as much as necessary. Then I'd cut a half-lap joint in the rafter and then the matching other half of the joint in the new rafter end. After that use some really good exterior wood glue and glue and clamp them together for about 6 hours. After that, drill a couple of 1/2" holes thru both sides of your patch and glue in some 1/2" hardwood dowels. After that dries you can hide the seams of the repair with some wood putty before you paint. This should be almost as strong as a solid piece of wood. Hope this helps.

Like Rick, I'd go with the half-lap joints - a simple and elegant solution. But I wouldn't hassle with the clamps and dowels. Instead, I'd just use exterior glue and wood screws. Then, patch the gaps with an epoxy-like wood filler, sand and paint.

I know that we did this backward, but I just had a roof put on. I think that I can manage sawing off the rotten ends, but how do I then cut the joint piece out on the rafter without removing any roof decking?

Cut off the rotten part of the rafter flush with the under side of the roof decking. You may need to use a pry-bar to seperate the rotten wood from the roof decking. Cut your half-lap so the long part of the "L" is flush with the under side of the roof decking. Position your new piece of wood next to the now trimmed rafter and with a pencil mark the location of the half-lap onto the new piece of wood. Cut the corresponding half-lap and the two pieces should fit together nicely.

I think I understood that ;P <br>I was thinking that you would cut half off of each piece from the sides so that the faces to be glued would come together vertically, but it sounds like you mean for me to cut half off the bottom of one and half off the top of the other (horizontal cut). Is that correct? <br>Then you would put long wood screws in from the bottom? Seems like you'll have gravity working harder against you that way and the glued area won't be nearly as large.

Your idea is a good one if you can figure out a way to "slice" the rafter without sawing through the underside of the roof. After gluing and clamping with wood screws, gravity and a smaller glue surface area shouln't be much of a factor at all. As a matter of fact, I would venture to guess that your joint will be stronger than the wood itself. If you have 2X4 rafters, a 6" lap should be plenty. Two screws should also be adequate - each one 2" in from the end of the lap.