Good afternoon !

[Liamm]

Hi everyone, I’ve probably what may be a very stupid question.

 

I’ve  got a cottage in Scotland with a ridge beam and above it what looks like a ridge board , so in effect an inverted T ,I am just curious as to why a building would have both when I’ve only encountered buildings with one or the other.

It was built in 1760 !

 

[ProDave]

Perhaps it was built with just a ridge board but the roof was found to be inadequate and was spreading, so the ridge beam was added later to strengthen it.

 

A lot of old buildings like that were built with whatever was available rather than to "best design"

[Liamm]

54 minutes ago, ProDave said:

Perhaps it was built with just a ridge board but the roof was found to be inadequate and was spreading, so the ridge beam was added later to strengthen it.

 

A lot of old buildings like that were built with whatever was available rather than to "best design"

That makes perfect sense ,I should have asked the structural engineer I had out there a while back about it ,he informed me that the beam was supporting the rafters and stopping the walls from spreading at the time as I was asking about rafter ties.

 

I am just curious that’s all!

 

Thanks for the reply.