Hip Roof Truss Calculator
A hip roof slopes down on all four sides instead of ending in flat gable walls, giving it excellent stability in high-wind regions. This hip roof truss design calculator sizes your hip trusses from span, pitch, and spacing, returning rafter length, roof height, roof area, and material cost.
Size Your Hip Roof Truss
Enter your building specifications below. Results and the roof diagram update live as you type.
Live Roof Diagram
Results
Estimate Your Project Budget
Automatically calculated from your inputs above in the calculator.
Estimates only. Actual costs vary by region, supplier, and site conditions.
Why Choose a Hip Roof Truss
Unlike a gable roof, a hip roof has no flat vertical end walls — all four sides slope inward to the ridge. This shape is inherently more aerodynamic, which is why hip roofs are common in coastal and high-wind building codes.
Hip roof framing is more complex than gable framing because it uses several truss profiles (common trusses, hip trusses, and jack trusses) working together, so more pieces and connector plates are typically required for the same footprint compared to a gable roof.
The calculator above models the common-truss portion of a hip roof using your span and pitch; a full hip roof takes-off will also need corner jack and hip-girder trusses sized by your supplier or engineer.
Frequently Asked Questions
What size truss for a 20 ft span?
A 20 ft (6.1 m) span typically uses 2x4 or 2x6 top and bottom chords depending on load, pitch and truss spacing (usually 24" on-center). Engineered trusses often use 2x4 members with web bracing for a 20 ft span, but always confirm with a stamped design for your snow/wind load.
How far can you span a 2x6 truss?
A 2x6 truss chord can commonly span roughly 20–24 ft depending on grade, spacing, pitch and load. Higher loads or wider spacing reduce the allowable span. Use the span calculator and verify against local building codes and an engineer's design.