Expert: Stephen Major (Owner--Major Design Group) - 2/10/2012

Question
I want to enclose a current covered patio which has a hip roof.  My problem is the room, if I use the current roof, the room is too small. I would like to add 2 or 3 feet to the roof in order to make the room larger, and would prefer to keep the hip roof. We do have an architectural committee and if I change the appearence of the roof it may slow down the approval process. Can I add on to the end of the hip roof by extending the ridge board, or do I need to take the entire roof off? What are my options if the budget is a factor?

Answer
John,

Extending a hip roof is fairly straightforward.  The shingles (or whatever roofing materials you have) should be stripped off to expose the sheathing and framing.  Then, supporting posts/beam or a supporting wall will need to be constructed at the extended location bearing point.  The post or wall footings/foundation will need to be done correctly (per code as a minimum) to support the load.  The new portion of the hip roof can then be built "over" the existing roof surface.  This is a job for an experienced builder with hip roof framing skills.  A novice framer will likely either botch the job or will end up doing it over (and maybe over) again to get it correct.

Since this work requires structural changes, a building permit is usually required.

Removing the entire roof is a more expensive option, and probably unnecessary.  Let me know if you have any questions.  If you could upload a couple of photos of your patio, I can probably give you more site-specific advice.