Roof Slope And Pitch

Understanding your roof s pitch and slope.

Roof slope and pitch.

By knowing the pitch of your roof you will know what type of products can be used and the best ways to go about applying them. Slope minimums for various roof coverings. You can assess this in two ways either as the roof pitch angles which the rafters make with the horizontal or the proportion between the run and the rise of the roof. A steep slope is any pitch above 9 12.

The pitch of the roof pertains more to the actual construction of the house whereas the slope is more relevant to the roofing of your house. Pitch is thus the ratio of the rise in inches to a 12 inch run and is often expressed using a semicolon for example 6 12. Roof pitch or slope is a measure of vertical rise to horizontal run expressed in inches per foot. Roofers express roof slope as rise or pitch measured in inches of vertical rise per foot of horizontal distance or run.

Squaring building lines example 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. This is very useful information for many purposes especially for roof framing the slope sometimes called pitch is calibrated on speed squares. See low slope roofing. If the pitch is 1 3 the slope is 8 12.

Roof pitch calculator results explained 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. Often you express roof pitch as the ratio between the rise and the run in the form of x 12. If asphalt shingles are to be installed on a low slope roof special steps are required to avoid short roof life and roof leaks. So a 3 inch rise roof also described as a 3 in 12 roof means that for every 12 or foot of horizontal distance the height of the roof increases by 3.

Remember slope is expressed as a ratio and in inches per foot. And pitch is a fraction derived by dividing the rise by the entire span. This measurement is best done on a bare roof because curled up roofing shingles will impair your measurement. Roof pitch refers to the slope which the rafter creates.

Low slope roofs are from 0 to 3 12 in pitch. Extremely sloped roofs with a pitch of 12 12 or 45 degrees are rare but not unheard of in both the mountains and the flatlands. A a roof with a 6 rise for every 12 run has a 6 per foot or 6 in 12 pitch. Steep slope roofs are more common in certain climates in europe and occasionally in the mountainous areas of the sierras.

For example a roof with a pitch of 2 12 3 12 will work best with 3 tab shingles the roofing most commonly found on homes in jacksonville.