Framing Hip Roof Rafters

Rick arnold frequent contributor to fine homebuilding and the journal of light construction presenter at jlc live the katz roadshow the remodeling show.

Framing hip roof rafters.

Roof framing members that go from the top wall plates to the ridge. Span for the main rafters measure from outside of wall to outside of wall. Depending on the size of the roof most hip roofs will have 4 6 short jack rafters that are spaced out every 20 inches 51 cm between the hip rafters and the king common rafters. Select the following information by using the drop downs to enter values in feet and inches.

Print full scale paper templates cut and fold over wood to mark and cut angles set bevel gauge. Common rafters in a hip roof that meet at right angles on either side of the hip rafter. If using a circular saw or compound miter saw set saw bevel angle to 45 to obtain creeper and hip side angles. The hip roof framing calculator returns the value of the main rafter the side rafter the length of the hip the height of the knee wall and the lengths of the jack rafters.

If the wall plates are all square of equal lengths then the hipped rafters would form a pyramid shape like the picture above normally a roof is rectangle and there are more yellow common rafters. Before you cut your boards you ll need to measure the width of your building and calculate the exact length of each rafter. With the right hip roof framing prior to starting construction it becomes easier for all workers to maintain perfect alignment at various corners to ensure proper connections of rafters and ridges. If you re framing a gable roof on a new house or building a shed or even a doghouse with a gable roof you ll need to cut a number of roof rafters.

Hip rafters are the diagonal rafters that span from the ridge at the top down to the corners of the roof. The roof rafters provide integral structural support to the roof. Measure the distance between the angled hip rafter and the top of the wall at 20 in 51 cm increments and cut jack rafters to fit.