How Stick Frame Hip Roof

There are a couple of ways to lay out a hip roof at the ridge.

How stick frame hip roof.

For stick framed roofs that have horizontal joists rafters rest on the exterior wall plates and slope upward to meet at a center ridge board to form a gable roof. The first step in the process of erecting the hip roof is to get the ridge beam into place at the top of the roof. Stick framing combines roof rafters with ceiling joists. Attach 4 6 centering rafters and lift the ridge beam into place.

Especially when we set 4 by or 6 by lvl hips using a forklift it is easier to drop the hip into a nice pocket. 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. Place the 4 6 common rafters in their designated positions along the 2 longest walls and nail them firmly to the wall with a nail gun. With single cheek cuts or double cheek cuts.

Most roofs utilize 16 inch spacings for strength and rigidity. Stick framing can also produce. I prefer to run king commons off the end of the ridge and cut double cheek cuts on the hips as shown in the photo at left. The rafters are usually positioned directly above the wall studs.

Like wall studs and floor joists rafters and trusses are spaced every 16 or 24 inches from center to center. Hip rafters are the diagonal rafters that span from the ridge at the top down to the corners of the roof.