Custom Heel Plate

What a heel plate joins

A heel plate joins the two timbers at the foot of a truss, where the top chord, or rafter, rests on the tie beam, or bottom chord. That's what makes it a heel: the top chord comes down at the roof's pitch and sits on top of the tie beam, cut to bear on it, and the plate bolts the two together. Where they meet the other way, with the top chord running past and the lower timber ending against its side, the joint takes a collar tie plate instead.

One leg of the heel plate runs along the tie beam and the other up the top chord, with bolts through each. You set where the chords' centerlines meet, how far in from the tie beam's end, and the designer draws the top chord's seat cut, where it rests on the tie beam, and its plumb cut at the tie beam's end, so you can see the joint before it's cut. If a catalog pitch fits, our heel truss plate is ready-drawn in six collections for 3" to 12" timbers.

Sizes this designer makes

• Timbers: 2 1/2" to 15 1/2", entered as measured, in 1/8" steps: the tie beam's height and the top chord's width.
• Pitch: 3/12 to 24/12, or 15° to 65°.
• Legs: 8" to 48" along the tie beam, and up to 36" up the top chord. Each leg is 2" wide or more, up to its timber's size.
• Between the legs: open, as our catalog plates are, or filled.
• Bolts: 1/4" to 3/4", in one row or two. You set how many go in the tie beam and in the top chord.
• Ends: square, clipped, rounded, or pointed, with sharp or rounded inside corners.

The designer opens on our catalog VB4 plate on surfaced 6x6 timbers at a 6/12 pitch, with five 5/8" bolts in the tie beam and three in the top chord, square ends, in 1/4" steel. Change any of it.

Where the bolts go

The first question is how far the bolts sit from the ends and edges of your timbers, and from each other. Minimum distances, the default, holds every bolt to the American Wood Council's NDS minimums for softwood: 3 1/2 bolt diameters from the end of a timber, 1 1/2 from its edge, and 3 from the next bolt. That's how we lay out our own plates. At a heel, the end to watch is the tie beam's, past the plate. Full-strength distances doubles the end distance to 7 diameters and spaces bolts 4 apart, so plates come out larger or with fewer bolts. No minimum distances puts each bolt where you set it. Wood that close to a bolt can split, so have your engineer check that layout. The bolt spacing and edge distance guide explains the numbers.

How it's priced

By weight: the steel in your plate, less its holes, with shipping in the lower 48 built in. There's no charge for design or setup. The price changes as you change the plate, and the price you see is the price you pay. A plate over $500 goes through the quote form instead.

Questions

How many do I need for a truss?

Each truss has two heels. Plated on the front only, it takes two plates; front and back, four. The plate flips over to fit the other heel and the other side, so they're all the same plate. The designer opens at two.

Which thickness should I choose?

3/16" is our standard plate and suits most decorative work. 1/4" is a third heavier and stiffer, and 3/8" and 1/2" heavier still. Our plates are architectural hardware, not engineered or load-rated: if a plate is part of how your truss carries load, your engineer decides whether it's suitable and how thick it should be.

The basics

• A36 steel plate, laser cut in our ISO 9001 shop in Texas.
• Holes are cut 1/16" larger than the bolt you choose. Bolts aren't included.
• Enter your timbers' real size, not their name. How to measure a timber.
• Bare steel, or matte black powder coat added in the cart.
• Ships free in the lower 48 states.
• No published load ratings. Ask your engineer, and see what to give them.