Custom Rafter Tails & Knee Braces

What Is a Rafter Tail, and Where Do Knee Braces Fit In?

A rafter tail is the end of a rafter that sticks out beyond the exterior wall and stays visible under the eave. On older homes these are the real structural rafters. On most new construction and renovations they’re faux rafter tails: decorative pieces attached at the eave that recreate the look without extending the actual framing.

A knee brace is the diagonal piece that sits between the wall and the overhang, usually at a gable end or under a porch roof. It makes the overhang look supported, even when it doesn’t need the help.

Rafter tails give the eave rhythm, and knee braces give it weight.

Rafter Tail Styles and Types of Knee Braces

There are more types of knee braces and rafter tails than most homeowners expect. A few you’ll see often:

• Square-cut tails. Plain, blunt ends. Common on farmhouses and modern builds where the owner wants the detail but not the ornament.
• Angled or beveled tails. The end is cut on a slant, which reads lighter and a bit more refined.
• Carved or scrolled tails. Curved profiles, sometimes layered. You’ll find them on Victorian and Spanish-influenced homes.
• Straight knee braces. A simple diagonal member, typical for Craftsman and rustic designs.
• Curved or shaped braces. Arched or cut-out profiles for a softer, more decorative feel.

Open rafter tails, where you can see every rafter end along the eave instead of a closed soffit, are one of the most recognizable Craftsman details. Pair them with chunky straight braces at the gables and you get that classic bungalow look almost immediately.

Picking the right rafter tail design is mostly about matching what’s already on the house. If the window trim and porch posts are simple and square, a carved tail will look out of place. If the facade already has curves, a plain square end can look unfinished.

Why Decorative Rafter Tails Still Matter

A bare fascia board can make a roofline feel flat, especially on a long elevation. Adding rafter tails on a house breaks that line into a repeating pattern, which gives the eave depth and a bit of shadow. Braces under a wide overhang make it look anchored rather than floating. And on wide, low-slung modern homes, long rafter tails visually stretch the roof and help the house sit more comfortably on its lot.

The same box can read as farmhouse, Craftsman, or cottage depending on what you hang under the eaves.

Wood, Concrete, PVC, or Coated Foam?

Material choice is where a lot of projects go wrong.

Real wood looks great on day one, but eaves are exposed to weather on every side. Wood takes on moisture, checks and cracks, and gives insects a place to settle. Expect to repaint every two or three years if you want it to keep looking right.

Concrete and cast stone hold up to weather but are heavy. Hanging them from an overhang usually means extra hidden steel, which adds engineering and cost.

Stock PVC rafter tails and the typical plastic knee brace from a supplier’s catalog are easy to find, but you’re limited to the profiles and sizes on the shelf. If a PVC knee brace doesn’t match your overhang depth or rafter spacing, you end up adjusting the house to fit the product.

Uncoated foam is the cheapest option of all, and it shows. Without a real protective layer, it breaks down under UV and dents at the first ladder bump.

How Decorative Architectural Shapes Builds Custom Rafter Tails & Knee Braces

Decorative Architectural Shapes works mainly in custom architectural foam, and rafter tails and knee braces are made the same way as the rest of our line. We don’t resell stock parts. Every piece goes through our own architectural fabrication process, built to the drawings for your project.

Here’s how it comes together:

1. The core. We start with an EPS core cut on CNC hot-wire machines. EPS is dense, stable, and about 90% lighter than carved wood, so the finished pieces don’t put a heavy load on the eave. The core can also be shaped to hide wiring. If you want lighting built into the beams, or a channel for utilities, we plan for it at this stage.
2. The coating. Each piece gets a 60–100 mil hard coat of industrial polyurea. That’s what gives it impact and water resistance, and it’s the reason these elements hold up in humid climates. Unlike EIFS finishes, the coating doesn’t crack when the roof deflects or the temperature swings.
3. Hand finishing. Joints and complex assemblies are checked and finished by hand, so the final piece has clean lines without visible gaps.

Because the elements are made to length, long runs can be produced without the patchwork joints you’d get from stitching stock pieces together. The products are rated ASTM E84 Class A for fire, and the protective and decorative coatings carry a 20-year limited warranty.

What You Can Customize

Most of the design is up to you:

• the tail profile, from square-cut to carved
• the shape of the knee brace, straight or curved
• length, width, and height to suit your overhang and rafter spacing
• surface texture to match the rest of the facade

Pieces arrive primed and take any quality exterior paint, so you can match trim colors or go darker for contrast. For standard dimensions, check the size guide on this page. If your project needs something outside it, that’s normal for us.

Who Uses Them

Architects and builders use them on new homes where the drawings call for exposed eaves but the budget and schedule don’t allow for hand-carved timber. Developers and HOA boards use them where many homes need to keep a consistent look for years. Homeowners renovating a bungalow often want to bring back open eaves the original house lost, without signing up for repainting every couple of years.

A typical scenario: a new Craftsman-style home with a long front eave and two gable ends. The architect specifies exposed rafter tails along the front and heavy knee braces at the gables. We model the pieces in 3D from the elevations, fabricate them to the exact spacing, and ship them primed and ready to paint.

For a consistent roofline, they also pair well with our gable brackets and gable vents, which finish the gable in the same style.

Planning Your Order

Count the tails. Divide the eave length by the rafter spacing and add one. A 24-foot eave with rafters 24 inches on center needs 13 tails. Do this for each eave separately, since corners and gables change the count.

Measure the overhang. Note how far the eave projects from the wall. That sets the length of the tails and the size of the braces.

Gather references. Photos of the facade and elevation drawings are enough to start. On a restoration, a photo of a surviving original tail is the best reference.

Compare like with like. If you’re weighing us against PVC or other stock products, ask each supplier the same questions: what is the core, how thick is the coating, and can they make the exact size you need.

Installation

Since these false rafter tails and braces are purely decorative, they’re light enough that two people can usually set them without lifting equipment. They’re mounted with adhesive, and a single casing takes roughly 15 minutes to set. Seams are filled with sealant and disappear under the finish paint. The process is the same on stucco, brick, or siding.

Get Started

Send us your drawings or a few photos of the house, and the Decorative Architectural Shapes team will put together a 3D visualization and a clear proposal. Request a free quote and we’ll get back to you with the next steps.