Finding Pitch On A Roof

See the chart below for some examples of common roof pitches.

Finding pitch on a roof.

Measure from the roof. Finding the pitch of a roof can be done by finding the rise and run or converted from the angle if it is known. Roof pitch is the measurement of a roof s vertical rise divided by its horizontal run. Finding the percent of your slope is easy if you know the height of your roof.

The roof pitch calculator is a convenient online tool you can use to quickly assess the pitch of your roof to determine the length of rafters you need. If you want to find the roof pitch in the form of x 12 simply calculate the pitch and substitute 12 for the run length. You ll need a level that is 12 or longer. However if you have a more complex roof you may need to calculate pitch section by section.

How to measure roof pitch. Using our previous dimensions the equation is rise run x100 the percent of your roof pitch. For our example it would be 2 4 x 100 50. For more on calculating roof pitch and understanding how pitch and slope are different read on.

Angle the angle of a roof is the same as the roof s slope except instead of being. Slope the slope of a roof is represented as x 12 where x is the number of inches in rise for every 12 inches of run this is very useful information for many purposes especially for roof framing the slope sometimes called pitch is calibrated on speed squares. Roof slope calculator example of use. How roof pitch is calculated.

Here s an easy safe way to determine the pitch from inside your attic. For instance a 7 12 roof pitch means that the roof rises 7 inches. It is often compared to slope but is not exactly the same. Thus a moderate 6 in 12 roof pitch means that the roof rises 6 inches vertically for every 12 horizontal inches it runs.

One method to find the pitch is to climb on the roof and measure the rise for a 12 run. After finding out your roof pitch angles you can use the calculator to perform the calculations for you instead of doing them manually. After measuring the slope estimate the roof pitch by dividing the slope by 2 if you have a simple gable roof. In the united states a run of 12 inches 1 foot is used and pitch is measured as the rise of the roof over 12 inches.

Knowing the pitch of your roof is useful when designing an addition installing skylights or cutting new rake boards. This measurement is best done on a bare roof because curled up roofing shingles will impair your measurement. Let s assume it is equal to 6 m. A roof s pitch is determined by how much it rises vertically for every foot it runs horizontally.

Measure the run length it is the horizontal distance between the roof ridge and the wall of the building. The picture below shows the pitch of a 7 12 roof slope meaning that for 12 of horizontal measurement roof run the vertical measurement roof rise is 7. To measure the roof pitch you ll need an 18 or 24 inch level a tape measure and a pencil.