Metal rafters?

[Father & Son]

I'm planning on adding on to my sugar house and in the brainstorming mode I wondered if there is such a thing as a metal roof rafter. I have seen metal studs for drywall instalation. Do they make metal 2x6's? That would eliminate the need for (X) amount of clearance around the stack.

Jim

[KenWP]

Metal studs stand on their ends so they can be pretty light metal. For a roof your talking side deflection so it has to be much heavyier. They make metal roof rafters as you call them in lots of different applications all expensive. Best thing is to frame in with wood on both sides of the stack with double or tripple laminations so that you can be far enough away from the stack and then frame across so you can finish the roof.
You could also use 6 inch metal I beam to build that part of the roof but remember metal conducts heat so if it's touching the stack or to close to the stack it's going to get hot also and if you got wood on the roof at that point then it could burn.