Free roofing calculator

Roof Pitch Calculator

Convert rise/run into pitch, angle, slope percentage and pitch multiplier. Optional projected footprint gives a simple surface-area estimate without pretending to model a complex roof.

Calculate roof pitch

Add simple projected footprint

Optional. This estimates surface area only for roof planes that share the same pitch and excludes overhangs, dormers, valleys and other complex geometry.

Roof pitch formulas

pitch X:12 = rise ÷ run × 12

slope % = rise ÷ run × 100

angle = arctan(rise ÷ run)

pitch multiplier = √(1 + (rise ÷ run)²)

Example: a 6:12 roof

A 6:12 roof rises 6 units for every 12 units of horizontal run. That is a 50% slope, about 26.57°, with a pitch multiplier of about 1.118.

About the optional roof-area estimate

The calculator multiplies the horizontal projected footprint by the pitch multiplier. This is appropriate only when the roof planes share the same pitch and the footprint adequately represents the horizontal projection. Overhangs, dormers, valleys and mixed pitches require separate geometry.

Using the result correctly

Pitch, slope percentage and angle are different ways to describe the same rise-to-run relationship. The multiplier can help convert a simple horizontal projection into sloped length or area, but complex roofs with hips, valleys, dormers or unequal slopes require separate geometry rather than one whole-roof multiplier.

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