How Much Will Rafters Hold

[ROM]

I need your help folks. I am going to hang game from my garage rafters. I need the following:

1) your best guess for a min and max amount of weight on one rafter
2) what you think could be done to increase the strength. ie. using 2 rafters with a pipe, 2x4 etc
3) keep in mind I am not a carpenter

Thanks alot.

R

[.308win]

You will be fine to hang any game! I have a 10x12 shed with 2-2x5 boards that I nailed up with 4" nails(4 per board) 2 years ago me and my buddy hung a Moose off of them, plus we used his truck with a pully tied to the boards to lift the quarters, alittle scary, but no problem!!! And I am by no means a carpeter or engineer!! Found a pic of it, 4 quartes weighted 650lbs @ the butcher!
http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p101/newfieguy1/moose-1.jpg

Perry

[Caveman]

Are we talking rafters or trusses?? Trusses, if professionally built, will easily support a whole deer, quarters of a moose. Screw eye hooks into four different trusses and you can hang halves of moose using two of these hooks on different trusses. If the trusses are open, no drywall, string a 2X4, 2X6 or two inch pipe, spanning across several, on edge and you could sling a whole moose from that, I'm sure. We have hung dozens of animal from my dads trusses over the years. You can tell by the numbers of remnants of rope still hanging there from when the quarters were cut down.

[mark]

If it is trusses, you can also lay a log or a pipe or a beam across 4 or 5 trusses to span out the weight if your worried!

[Bighorn hunter]

Make sure there isnt 3 feet of heavy snow on the roof before youdo it, but like the guys are saying, just span a few truss's with a beam of some sort running the oposit way to the truss's and you'll be fine

[hunter1947]

I have hung moose and elk that weigh around 600 pounds from my trusses. All I do is pot up an 4x4x8 foot post ,I lay it across the trusses the post will pick up 4 trusses that are a 2 foot center ,that means that the weight will be supported but the 4 trusses. I have had no problems hanging the animals from my trusses after doing this. Keep in mind that these trusses that are in my garage come from a truss company.

[boxhitch]

Rafters or trusses ?
Rafters may be 2x8,10 or 12 but are not designed for more load than the roof design and snow load.
Same with trusses, where the bottom cord may only be a 2x4.
Best is to spread the load , as mentioned. Or if space allows, two posts and a seperate beam.
If you want to get fancy, consider hanging an I-beam or channel steel, with a trolley, to move load around.

[ROM]

Thanks!

I appreciate it.

R

[Mik]

I use a post across 4 rafters, have hung moose, elk and deer at the same time with no problems.

[pmj]

The bottom cord of a truss is designed to hold the weight of dry wall and insulation only, about 12 lbs a square foot if I remember correctly. If you are hanging anything from the bottom chord then you are adding stress the truss is not designed for.

My father designed his garage for hanging game. It has a 9 foot ceiling. The attic access hatch is located under the center of the ridge. When the garge was built the 2 trusses on each side of the access hatch were reinforced to take hanging meat. There is an attachment point at the ridge between the two reinforced trusses. I have a chain hooked to it and hanging down through the attic down through the hatch. I can hook a come-along to it.

Right now I have one end of a built up 2-2x10 beam attached to the chain in a sling. The other end of the beam runs to the wall about 11 feet and it is sitting on 2- 2x6 post all attached to the wall.

No worries about stuff falling over or anything when my mom sneaks in and pulls off a neck or something to take in to the house when she can't wait for her boys to finish the butchering.

[island hunter]

if you wan't to hang a good load of a truss ,you can screww a 2x8 beam across the mid-span just below the webbing gang nails.this way your weight distribution will act like a good collar tie.
if its a rafter constructed roof see if there are pulins running on the mid span down to a wall ,if so hang from above that and you'll have no problems.sorry if the termaology is a bit different i'm from down under. but i'm sure you get the point.

ez.

[boxhitch]

pulins
Kinda like our purlins ?