How to Frame an Entry Overhang & Tie It in to an Exisiting Roof

Remove any fascia or trim boards from the rake or slope sides of the roof. Strip the end of the roof bare to expose the end rafter or truss on top of the end wall cap. Use a pry bar to pull trim or other boards loose.

Determine the pitch of the roof. Put a framing square under the slope, level the wide blade with a level with the thin tongue upright to the rafter. Set the 12-inch mark on the blade at the center of the peak and check the height to the rafter on the tongue; it that is 6 inches, the roof is a 6/12, sloping 6 inches per foot.

Cut 4 rafters of 2-by-4-inch lumber with a circular saw to the top cut pitch and length of the end rafters on the house. Measure the length with a tape measure and cut with a circular saw. Set rafters side by side with 2-inch faces up and mark 24-inch increments from the outside to the top. Cut 2-by-4-inch "lookout" spacers to the length of the desired overhang, less 3 inches; make lookouts 21 inches for a 24-inch overhang, with a rafter on either side.

Build two "ladders" with lookouts between two rafters at the marked spaces. Fasten the lookouts with 16d framing nails driven through the rafters into the lookout ends or hang them with rafter hangers for a stronger connection; nail hangers to rafters with 8d galvanized nails, set lookouts in place and nail them through the side holes of the hangers.

Lift the ladders into place, one at a time, with the top at the peak; the inside rafter should be flush against the end rafter on the house. Fasten the ladders to the end rafters on the house with 16d framing nails between the lookouts. Nail the two top ends of the rafters together.

Cover the rafter extension with oriented strand board decking cut to the width of the extension. Butt one edge against the end of the decking over the end rafter on the house. Fasten decking to the fly rafters and lookouts with 8d galvanized nails. Toenail the extension decking to the end rafter with 8d galvanized nails driven diagonally.