OK, I'm reviving my patio cover plan after almost two years "on hold".
Previous thread is here:
http://www.doityourself.com/forum/de...ve-stucco.html

I have discovered that there is no rim joist in the porch roof where I was going to attach a ledger. So, after consulting with the city permits guys, I have decided to go with a self-supporting (a.k.a. free-standing) design. I can come up with a self-supporting design, but have one question. The city code defines patio covers as either "attached" or "free-standing". It calls the free-standing cover an "accessory building", and considers the attached to be an addition to the structure with requires a permit. Free-standing structures must be 10 feet from the house. So, to conform with this, they recommended a self-supporting structure with a minimal (non-load bearing) attachment, which he said can be almost anything, even as simple as a Simpson A35 framing angle. He suggested attaching in at 2 places, but not over the entire length of the structure (as you would with a ledger).

I'm looking for suggestions and ideas. This is kind of like a free-standing deck, but of course with much lower loads. Any, usually free-standing decks have no attachment at all, with maybe a 1/2 gap to the house.

Any suggestions on nice way to do the attachment? The rafters will be 4x6 and will end right at the stucco wall, though they do not need to touch it.

 

OK, updating this even though nobody responded. I'm working on a design that would be self-supporting in the vertical, but braced to the house for lateral support.

This would have 4x6 rafters that end at the wall. Then I would bolt a piece of flat steel, maybe 1/2" x 3" x 24" to 2 or 3 of the porch roof joists (I have access to the rafters through the porch ceiling). These stell flats would extend through the stucco wall, maybe about 4" out of the wall. Then I would bolt the steel flat to the side of the rafter, near the end. This would still provide plenty of lateral support (both parallel and perpendicular to the house).

I have attached some pics to illustrate. The first is the type of structure, the second one is my house where the patio cover would be attached, and the third appears to show an example of this kind of attachment at the house wall above the window (though not the same structure design).

Thoughts, suggestions, potential issues?

 

I would be concerned that the outer posts might tend to want to sway (parallel with the house).

 

Ah, thanks XSleeper, I can see you're really thinking. What I forgot to mention is that although the frame is like the first pic, it will be decked and roofed, so the top will be one rigid piece.

I've attached a pic of the type of roof. It's just some 1x and pro-panel.

 

Also, I am considering going with square posts (and ditching the corbels) so I can use the Simpson Architectural HTPC Beam to Column Ties. This should help with the lateral support too.

I'm thinking 8" for the posts and 8x8 beam. The free span is only 10'.

See attached pic of the Simpson HTPC.

 

Our city code here requires shade structures such as patio covers to be either attached to the house or 10 feet away if not attached. However, the guys at the city building office have told me that they will issue a permit for a free-standing (i.e self-supporting) structure adjacent to the house if it has ANY attachment at all. This is how they get around the 10 foot separation requirement.

OK, so that's what I'm going to do, but I'd like to come up with a good way to do the attachment. One guy at the city suggested a Simpson A34 or A35 connector, but I'd like to come up with something better. The connection will be between the ends of a 4x6 rafters and a frame-stucco wall. The cover will not have a band joist like you see on a deck. There are some roof joists in the wall but no band joist there. The roof joists are parallel to the patio cover rafters.

Any suggestions? I've been kicking around a couple of ideas in my head but nothing that seems really great.

 

You are getting too many threads going on the same subject. Can we not continue with the same subject in the same thread??? http://www.doityourself.com/forum/de...-question.html

 

I merged the threads so that too many threads won't be all over the place. It can get very confusing that way.

 

Ah, thanks for the merger. I was thinking that since I had migrated away from the original design, and the original plan changed so much that it might be simpler to just ask this one question so as not to confuse the issue.

Anyway, I thought of a possible solution last night. The two end rafters are 12 feet apart, these will actually be 6x6, and they line up roughly with two of the porch roof joists. So, how about using a metal strap between the rafter and the porch roof joist. To make it more aesthetically pleasing and help with the horizontal alignment of the rafter & joist, I could cut a vertical kerf in the top of the end rafters for the strap to rest in, and then just fasten the strap to the rafter with a horizontal bolt through the rafter. The strap would be attached to the joist in the usual manner, with nails or screws, or bolted through the joist. I guess a sketch would help here.

edit: Note that this attachment is not load bearing, though it would serve to maintain the small space between the end of the rafters and the side of the house.