Old timer showed me a square trick on a roofer's house last month

I was framing up a porch addition in Portland when this 70 year old retired carpenter walks by and says "your speed square can do more than you think." He showed me how to lay out a hip rafter angle without any math, just by flipping the square and it saved me 20 minutes of trig. Anyone else have some old school method that blew your mind?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmap161d ago

Actually that trick works for common rafters, not hips.

betty_park621d ago

That trick works for anything with the same pitch if you adjust the framing square right. Hips just need the shorter offset but the basic math is the same.