Assuming that your builders have chosen to use wood for your house s frame your roofing joists ceiling joists rafters or trusses will be made from long planks of wood placed parallel to one another at evenly spaced intervals along the length of your roof.
Roof rafters and ceiling joists.
Rafter ties or ceiling joists acting as rafter ties are required by code unless the house is designed so that the walls or a structural ridge beam carries the full load of the roof.
In unfinished space an attic insulation is typically laid between the joists.
The joists might then be covered with osb or plywood to form an attic floor for storage.
A structural ridge is the standard alternative to ceiling joists.
Rafters are the building components that run diagonally from the wall plate to the apex of a roof structure.
Rafter spans can be extended slightly beyond what the rafter tables suggest when there is a cantelever extending beyond the supporting wall.
Rafters form the foundation for attachment of the roof boards onto which the final roof covering is fixed.
In traditional timber they are nominally 2 inches thick and typically 8 to 10 inches wide.
If you are framing a cathedral ceiling there are a couple ways to deal with the need for rafter ties.
You can possibly remove them altogether of you include posts in the gable walls to support a structural ridge.
The are similar to trusses in this regard.
This board forms the bottom member of each rafter and of course the ceiling of the space below.