How to Measure a Hip Roof With No Rafter Lengths

Drawing

• 1

  Draw a diagram of your roof as it would be seen from above. Separate the roof into rectangular and triangular areas in the drawing. You can then determine the size of those areas by measure their lengths and widths. Ensure that you draw a line along the ridge and lines at the hip rafters, the four rafters at a 45-degree angle to the ridge beam. Use a different color pencil for the hip rafter lines than the ridge line.

• 2

  Draw a straight vertical line on the paper that intersects where the ridge beam and two hip rafters meet on one end of the roof. Use the same color pencil you did for the ridge line. Repeat this for the same intersection on other side of the drawing. Draw a line at one end where the common rafter that joins to the ridge extends down the length of the hip using the same pencil. Repeat for the other end of the house.

• 3

  Count the number of rectangles and triangles in the drawing around the borders your lines. You should have two rectangles on either side of the ridge and 8 triangles at hip sections.

Measuring

• 4

  Go outside to the roof with a 100-foot tape measure and, guided by your drawing, measure the height and the width of the roof rectangles and triangles you created on paper. Place the tip of the tape measure on eaves and carefully walk up to the ridge and place the tape at the ridge beam to obtain the height of the various sections. Measure straight up the roof, not on a diagonal such as the hip rafter line. Measure along the eaves standing on ladder for the widths.

• 5

  Place your measurements on the paper next to the colored lines. Multiply the length times the height of each rectangle and triangle. Divide the answer by two when measuring a triangle. The numbers give the area of each section

• 6

  Add all of the sums for each rectangle and triangle together. The answer is the number of square feet in the roof.