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Building components

Structural Frame Members

The columns, beams, joists, rafters, plates and bracing that make up a load-carrying frame, identified by the position each occupies.

24 entries in this category.

Overview

About this category

A frame member is named for where it sits and what it carries, not for what it is cut from. A rafter and a floor joist may both be structural softwood; what separates them is orientation, what they support and what they bear on. That is why these entries sit beside the material library rather than inside it.

Every member here can be realised in more than one material family, and each entry records which families are commonly met. None of them states a span, a section, a spacing or a load: those follow from structural design, which is not what this library does.

Boundaries

What this category covers, and what it does not

  • Covers load-carrying and load-distributing members identified by position: columns, beams, joists, rafters, purlins, plates, studs, bracing and bearings.
  • Does not cover engineered products that already have their own material entries, such as timber I-joists, prefabricated roof trusses, masonry lintels or light-gauge steel framing.
  • Does not cover structural FRAMES as assemblies — platform frame, post-and-beam, steel frame and concrete frame are building systems.
  • States no span, section size, spacing, grade, connection or load capacity, and makes no structural adequacy determination.

Browse

Forms and roles in this category

Descriptive labels for what is here. They are a way of reading the list, not a filter and not a ranking.

Forms:Board or sheetConnector or supportLinear member
Roles:AttachmentStructureSubstrateSupport

Entries

Frame Members components

Every entry in this category. Each explains what the element is, what it depends on, and how it relates to materials, systems and junctions.

Linear memberBeam →A horizontal member that spans between supports and carries the load applied along it to those supports.Linear memberBracing Member →A member that resists sideways movement of a frame by triangulating it, rather than carrying vertical load.Linear memberCollar Tie →A horizontal member connecting opposing rafters part-way up their length to resist their tendency to spread.Linear memberColumn →A vertical member that collects load from what it supports and carries it downward to a foundation or to structure below.Connector or supportColumn Base Plate →The plate at the foot of a column that spreads its concentrated load into the foundation and anchors it in position.Linear memberFloor Joist →One of the repeated parallel members that span between supports to form a floor structure.Linear memberHead Binder →An additional member fixed over the top plate of a framed wall to tie panels together and spread load across them.Linear memberHip Rafter →The inclined member at an external corner of a roof where two slopes meet, carrying the shortened rafters on both sides.Linear memberJack Rafter →A shortened rafter running between the wall plate and a hip or valley rather than the full distance to the ridge.Linear memberNoggin →A short member fixed horizontally between studs or joists to restrain them, to support lining edges, or to provide a fixing.Linear memberPurlin →A horizontal member running across rafters or between frames to support them part-way along their span.Board or sheetRacking Panel →A board fixed across a frame whose sheet action stops the frame distorting sideways.Linear memberRafter →An inclined member running from eaves to ridge that forms the slope of a pitched roof and carries its covering.Linear memberRidge Board →The member at the apex of a pitched roof that the tops of opposing rafters bear against or on.Linear memberRing Beam →A beam running around the perimeter of a structure that ties the walls together and distributes load from above.Linear memberRoof Strut →An inclined or vertical member transferring load from a purlin down to a support below, commonly a loadbearing wall.Board or sheetShear Wall →A wall whose purpose is to resist sideways forces on a structure and carry them down to the foundations.Linear memberSole Plate →The horizontal member at the base of a framed wall that the studs are fixed to and through which the wall is secured down.Connector or supportStructural Bearing →The point or surface at which one structural member is supported by another, and through which its load passes.Linear memberTransfer Beam →A beam that carries load from supports above it to different support positions below, changing the vertical load path.Linear memberTrimmer →A member framing an opening in a floor or roof that carries the members interrupted by that opening.Linear memberValley Rafter →The inclined member at an internal corner where two roof slopes meet inward, carrying rafters from both and lying beneath a line where water concentrates.Linear memberWall Plate →A horizontal member bedded along the top of a wall that spreads the bearing of rafters or joists and gives them a fixing.Linear memberWall Stud →One of the repeated vertical members in a framed wall that carry load and give the linings something to fix to.

Related reference libraries

Components are what materials become and what systems are made of. The three libraries answer different questions and are kept deliberately separate.

Materials Library →Building Systems →