There is a lot but not consistent IMHO. How many rafter ties are necessary? But then look at the code for footings - and in non seismic areas no rebar is required. Many here think that's not safe.
makes me wonder how much safety factor is in the building code.
I have a 30' span in my garage and during framing it snowed about 30" of wet heavy stuff and we only had 6 of the 2x10 rafter ties held in with a couple nails a piece and the walls didn't move an inch
30" of snow is not what they are building to. They are adding safety factors in for 1978 blizzard level snows and such.
Also you didn't give much info. The pitch of the roof changes the nailing schedule drastically. A 28' 12:12 pitched roof may only require (4) 16 penny nails where a 3:12 will require 15-16 nails
I am going to guess that your exaggerating when stating it only has two nails.
My garage is in Maine, so blizzard of 1978 snow totals are actually not much compared to what we usually get in a winter. The pitch is 6:12 not very steep at all i honestly cant believe it held. I didn't walk into the garage until a good bit had melted in fear of it collapsing and smushing me.
