Build a Shed, Day 3: Hip Roof
If you’re just joining us, we’ve been following Steve Wartman and his crew as they build a backyard shed. To catch up, read through day 1 and day 2 where we describe how they built the shed foundation, laid the subfloor, and framed the walls.
Hip Roofs
Today’s article will focus on framing the roof, and if you remember, Steve’s crew is building a hip roof to match the existing home. Hip roofs are much more interesting than a typical gable roof, and they are also much more complicated. Here’s a quick video describing the challenges of building a hip roof.
Hip roof terminology can be a little confusing so I’ve put together this rough diagram showing the different components of a hip roof. This is a sketch of what the shed roof will look like from above.
- Ridge rafter
- Common rafters
- Hip rafters
- Creeper rafters (also called Jack rafters)
- Top plate
The difficulty lies in making all the compound cuts, and Steve explains a bit more about that in this video.
Building the Hip Roof
Rather than framing the walls and building the hip roof on top, Steve elected to frame the roof on the ground. It’s a trade-off because while it’s easier to frame the roof on the ground, it can be challenging to get the roof in place afterward. This method is only possible if you’re careful to keep the subfloor, walls, and roof perfectly square. Otherwise, your structure will be skewed and the roof will be misaligned.
Like Steve mentioned in the video, he began cutting the rafters while the other guys worked on the walls. This roof features a 7:12 pitch, and he used a roofing square (speed square) to mark accurate angles.
The toughest rafters to cut are the hip rafters because they butt against two adjacent common rafters.
In this picture, the hip rafters have lines across the width, the other three are common rafters, and they all meet at the ridge rafter.
All the rafters have a notch called a birdsmouth seat that allows the rafter to sit flat against the top plate.
Steve’s crew began building the top plate around the perimeter of the shed, and they marked the locations of the rafters.
They setup a temporary support for the ridge rafter, and started by securing the six common rafters.
They spaced the rafters 24″o.c.
This is a closeup of the birdsmouth, and the small spacer is to account for the plywood siding. You can also see the 6″ overhang for the soffits, and that they cut the tail end of the rafter.
Next, they moved on to the hip rafters, and you can see how the birdsmouth sits at the corner of the roof.
Lastly, they installed eight creeper rafters.
The final step is to attach the fascia board to the ends of the rafters, and they ripped the edge to match the slope of the roof.
Here’s what the framed hip roof looks like before they slide it on top of the walls. You can also see they added a couple collar ties that span between common rafters.
January 25th, 2012 9:30 am
Great job with the nomenclature, Ethan. Rafter bits can be confusing but you did an awesome job explaining it. I liked the inclusion of the temporary collar ties too. it would be a shame to go through all that work and have the roof flatten itself out when they try and lift it. I hope the hoisting of the roof is documented in tomorrows post.
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January 25th, 2012 9:49 am
Very impressed with this build so far. Anticipating the final end look.
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Fred Reply:
January 25th, 2012 at 11:06 pm
I think the homeowners are anxious too! It has been a little wet around here lately, so I know the contractors have had to take a few days off.
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January 25th, 2012 10:38 am
Wow. Learning a lot through this play-by-play.
Is a hip roof stronger to help support snow accumulation?
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Ethan Reply:
January 25th, 2012 at 1:02 pm
The only real structural advantage of a hip roof is better wind resistance since it’s sloped on all four sides. There’s no real bonus for snow accumulation.
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January 25th, 2012 11:36 am
Thanks for the explanation. I was worried “Hip Roof” might mean “cool” or “trendy”.
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Joe Reply:
January 25th, 2012 at 2:05 pm
I dont think they have made a hipster roof yet
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Fred Reply:
January 25th, 2012 at 11:14 pm
I dunno. We could tie dye it, or paint cool colors on it. HOA probably wouldn’t like that much…
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January 25th, 2012 1:55 pm
Wow, what an incredibly great idea to build the roof on the foundation before putting up the walls. I definitely would have put the walls up first and then tried to build the roof in place, which undoubtedly would have been much more difficult (assuming you have a way to lift the finished roof up into place later after walls have gone up).
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Fred Reply:
January 25th, 2012 at 11:05 pm
This is a good idea. I think hip roofs are significantly more complex/expensive from a build perspective because gable trusses are now simply pre-formed, whereas hip roofs cannot be preformed completely, and are therefore more labor on site.
Anyhow, this is the first time I remember seeing you here, Reuben! Welcome and I hope we’ll have you back frequently!
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January 25th, 2012 2:01 pm
Hip roofs definitely look impressive, but it seems like a lot of complicated cuts – not for the uninitiated!
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Fred Reply:
January 25th, 2012 at 11:15 pm
It really is – and that’s one reason builder’s charge more for it. It’s an art and a science to get a hip roof perfectly square. I’m anxious to see Ethan’s follow-up post on the job!
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January 25th, 2012 6:58 pm
Love the Hip roof, but definitely not for a beginner. Good diagram on the layout also.
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January 28th, 2012 1:47 am
Great explanation on the hip roof construction! On any larger project, I would suggest using Ruben’s technique though, dimensions have a strange way of changing when the elevation gets higher.
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Ethan Reply:
January 28th, 2012 at 9:13 am
Hey Blair, I think you’re right and a bigger roof would be really tough to move into place. I can’t remember seeing you comment before. If this is you’re first visit to OPC, let me extend a warm welcome, and we hope to see you around.
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Blair Reply:
January 28th, 2012 at 10:45 pm
Thanks Ethan, I am new to this site, but have it added to my daily dose of RSS feeds, so you will be hearing from me from time, to time!
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