How to Install Hip & Ridge Shingles

Align a cap shingle with each end of the ridge or hip that you are covering. Stretch a chalk snap line between corresponding sides of the shingles. Pull the string taut and snap it to lie out a straight installation line along the hip or ridge. Remove the shingles from the hip or ridge.

Cut along the center fold of a cap shingle to sever the finished side of the shingle from the concealed side. Note that the finished side of the shingle is the side that displays the shingle's pattern, grain or texture. Position the cut to leave the fold attached to the concealed side of the shingle. The resulting piece, both fold and concealed side, create a starter shingle.

Align the fold with the edge of the roof's eave on a hip or with the edge of the rake's peak on a ridge. Position the side of the starter shingle over the chalk snap line. For ridges, begin on the side of the roof farthest from the prevailing wind direction. Position a nail over the fold, roughly 1 inch in from the shingle's edge. Drive the nail through the shingle with a hammer. Position and drive a nail through the opposite side of the starter shingle's fold.

Lay a full cap shingle over the starter shingle. Position the shingle's exposed edge approximately 1/4 inch beyond the outer edge of the starter shingle. Align the shingle's side with the chalk line. Fasten the shingle through fold with one nail on each side, roughly 1 inch in from shingle's edge. Overlap successive full shingles roughly 1/4 inch beyond previous shingles and fasten shingles with a similar nailing pattern.

Trim shingles with snips or a utility knife to make them fit the intersection of hip and ridge or the ridge's end. Lap the ridge cap over the hip cap. Install the ridge cap until the final shingle reaches the roof's opposite ridge.