Ledger Boards Tips

We received this question today about attaching covers without ledger boards.

“Is it possible to attach rafters to my stucco wall directly and not use the ledger board?”

You may attach the Alumashade rafters directly to the wall of your house but the only stipulation is the rafter brackets must be bolted to solid wood. Solid wood can be on the wall like a ledger board or exposed wood header. In the wall behind the plaster or siding, there will be solid wood. It is vital the Alumashade structure be attached to “solid wood” and not stucco, siding or plywood.

Direct To Wall
Attaching directly to the wall without a ledger board is possible in a few different situations:

You may attach Alumashade rafters to the second-floor rim joist of a two-story house. There is almost always solid wood in this area.
Windows and doors will have a large header above them. There is not a continuous set of windows and doors the entire length of most covers. Therefore this will require a ledger board. A direct wall attachment may work for smaller covers that cover just the doors and/or windows.
Masonry buildings with solid walls can have Alumashade patio covers attached directly to them.

It would be very difficult to try to attach the rafter hangers to the studs individually in a standard wall with studs at 16″ or 24″ o.c. I have never seen this done in my 30 years of being in the construction industry.

The rafters on a standard Alumashade Lattice Kit are 24″ o.c. We can design them with a 16″ o.c. layout. A framed wall never has studs uniformly laid out 16″ o.c. There almost always will be windows and doors that break up the 16″ o.c. layout pattern. Even if you were able to attach directly to the studs your Alumashade rafters wouldn’t be uniformly 16″ o.c., it would look really bad trying to do it this way.

Ledger Board
There are three popular ways to install a ledger board. A painted wood ledger, an Alumashade ledger with wood inserted and an Alumashade ledger wrap over a wood ledger board.

A painted wood ledger is a wood 2×6 or 2×8 attached to the house with lag bolts as per engineering specs. You must prime and paint the wood to help prevent rot. One of the main advantages of owning an Alumashade cover is never having to paint! A painted wood ledger defeats this advantage.

An Alumashade ledger with wood insert is an Alumashade 2” x 6.5” rafter with a painted wood 2 x 6 & strips of ⅜” plywood inserted. Mount this ledger just like the painted wood ledger board. This ledger can have end caps on it to finish it off nicely.

An Alumashade ledger wrap is my preferred method of mounting. You start this install with a painted wood ledger. Recess the lag bolts so the bolt heads are flush with the face of the wood ledger board. Rip the Alumashade 2” x 6.5” rafter the entire length, top and bottom. You now have a 3-sided wrap measuring 1.5” x 6.5” x 1.5”. Mount the ledger wrap over the wood ledger board. The rafter hanger brackets will hold on the ledger wrap every 24″. Cut down the end caps from 6.5” x 2” to 6.5” x 1.5”.

I like this method because the lag bolts holding the ledger board to the wall are hidden and you can put end caps on the ends. You may see this install demonstrated in our Help Videos but it’s a 5-1/2″ ledger wrap and the end caps don’t fit. We no longer offer the 5-1/2″ ledger wrap.

Custom Mitered Corner
Pictured below is a custom corner design. We wrapped 3×8 ledger board around the corner. The 3×8 rafters make up a mitered corner. Carlos Kurianski installed this custom job. Carlos is one of our recommended installers in Riverside county, CA. He will also travel to install almost any job if it is by a beach where he can surf!