12x16 Hip Roof Shed Plan

The full plan is $19.99: buy the 12×16 hip roof shed plan. To see the drawing style first, open the free 12×16 hip roof shed plan PDF.

12×16 hip roof shed plan: the numbers for a site check

With a hip roof the overhang runs on all four sides, so mark the 18′ 1 1/2″ by 14′ 1 1/2″ roof outline on your lot, not just the walls, and leave room to walk around it with a ladder. Square the 18′ x 14′ pad to matching 22′ 9 5/8″ diagonals, then square the floor frame to matching 20′ 0″ diagonals.

Why a 12×16 hip roof shed

A 12×16 shed is big enough for a riding mower, a workbench and garden tools at once, and small enough for one weekend crew of two to frame. The hip roof slopes down on all four sides, so every wall has an eave over it, every wall is the same height and there is no tall gable end to side or paint. The ridge is short, only 4′ 1 1/2″, so most of the roof is the four hip planes. A hip roof generally holds up to wind better than a gable roof, according to the Building America Solution Center guide to hip vs gable roofs.

Both sides of this shed are a multiple of 16 in, so the floor joists, the studs and the rafters all land on an even 16 in layout from the corners: the floor has 12 equal bays, and each wall is a mirror image end to end.

How the 12×16 hip roof shed goes together

The skids and rims come from single 16 ft boards, so there are no splices under this floor. The floor frame weighs about 410 lb once it is nailed and racks if you lift it, so the plan has you build it in place on the skids, square it by the diagonals and then fix it down with a framing angle at every joist-to-skid crossing (52 in all).

How the walls go up

Each wall is framed flat on the deck and raised as a bare frame, and the siding goes on after all four stand. Every wall on this size is a single lift for two people.

• Stop blocks. Nail 12″ 2×4 offcuts to the outside of the rim so the bottom plate tips against them and cannot kick out over the deck edge. Pull them before the siding goes on.
• Where to stand. The lifters stand at the top plate, one near each end, and nobody stands on the ground in front of a wall while it goes up.
• Brace first. Pick a calm day, have the braces and nails at hand, and never leave a raised wall unbraced, even for a minute. The tacked diagonal brace stays on each wall until its siding goes on.
• Square every frame. The plan prints both diagonals for each wall: 17′ 9 5/16″ for the front and back walls and 13′ 9 3/8″ for the end walls.

What is on the 12×16 hip roof shed material list

The shopping list is split by section, in the stock lengths that waste the least:

• Foundation and floor: 4 pressure-treated 4×4 skids at 16 ft, 2 pressure-treated 2×6 rims at 16 ft and 13 joists, 6 sheets of tongue and groove plywood, 52 framing angles and the 4×6 pad frame with 32 rebar stakes.
• Walls: 2×4 studs and plates, a doubled 2×8 door header, two doubled 2×6 window headers and 14 sheets of 4×8 T1-11.
• Roof framing: 10 commons, 4 hips, 32 jacks and 8 short tail jacks, the ridge, 4 rafter ties, 2 king tie pieces with a flat strap for their splice, 2 temporary ridge posts and their 4 braces.
• Roof covering: 14 sheets of OSB, 1 roll of 15 lb felt, 8 pieces of drip edge, 13 bundles of shingles including the starter and the hip and ridge caps and 2 static roof vents.
• Fascia, door, windows and trim: 1×6 fascia, 4 sheets of 1/2″ soffit plywood, 2 new T1-11 sheets for the door leaves, 6 T-strap hinges, 2 barrel bolts, 2 prefabricated windows, drip cap and 1×4 casing and corner trim.
• Ramp: 2 pressure-treated 2×10 for the stringers, 4 pressure-treated 2×6 for the 8 deck boards, a 2×4 ledger and its structural screws.
• Hardware: nails by the pound, 46 hurricane ties (skewable ones at the 4 hip corners), 4 strap ties across the corners under the hips, 6 ground anchors with straps, flashing tape, roofing cement and 5 gallons of paint.

The list also counts the temporary braces, stakes and deck cleats. The cut list gives the length and count of every part, and the cutting plan shows which board each comes from.

What you can fit in a 12×16 hip roof shed

The plan’s “What fits inside” page draws the room from above, 15′ 5″ by 11′ 5″ inside, with 7′ 7 1/2″ of clear height under the top plates.

• A 42 inch deck rider. It is drawn nose in, 4′ 7 3/16″ x 5′ 10″. With both leaves open the door is about 5′ 11 1/2″ clear, so a 42 inch deck clears each side by 8 1/8″. A 48 inch deck fits with its deflector raised, and a 54 inch deck does not.
• Bikes and a wheelbarrow. The drawing places a wheelbarrow (2′ 2″ x 5′ 0″) and two bikes with staggered handlebars (2′ 6″ x 5′ 10″).
• Shelves. Shelves 24″ deep run along the back wall, and shelves 16″ deep run along the back 6 ft of each side wall. Behind the mower there is a 3′ 6″ aisle to the back shelves.
• A bench with daylight. A bench 20″ deep sits under the right window. Each end wall has a 36″ x 36″ window near the front.
• A step up, then a ramp. The deck sits 9 3/4″ above the gravel. The ramp is 6′ 9″ wide and 3′ 6″ out at 1:6, and its top sits about 13/16″ below the deck at the door. The plan asks for 9′ 6″ clear and level in front of the wall to line a tractor up square.
• Headroom. All four walls are the same height on a hip roof. Four rafter ties cross the shed at the top of the walls, so stand long items against a wall.

How the 12×16 hip roof is framed: ridge, commons, hips and jacks

The plan frames the roof in a fixed order and says who stands where:

1. Ridge on posts. The 2×6 ridge, 4′ 1 1/2″ long, sits on two temporary 2×4 posts, 10′ 7 5/16″ long, each about 12″ in from a ridge end and braced to the floor both ways. Its top is 3′ 2 5/16″ above the top plates. Two people set it, each on an 8 ft step ladder on the deck beside a post, no higher than the third step from the top. The ridge weighs about 8 lb.
2. Commons in pairs. Cut one pattern 2×4 common (board 7′ 10 13/16″), with a 2 1/2″ seat. That notch is 32% of the depth, under the one-third limit, so do not deepen it. Cut 10: 8 for the front and back walls and 2 king commons that butt the ridge ends. Set the pairs at both ridge ends first and check the ridge for level and center. For each pair, one person on the step ladder beside the ridge nails the top while the other, on a second step ladder at the wall, sets the seat on the plate and nails it. The plate is 7′ 10 1/2″ above the deck, past a standing reach, so the seat is never nailed from the deck.
3. Rafter ties and a king tie. A 12 ft rafter tie goes on the plates beside every common pair. A 2×4 king tie in two pieces runs from king to king on top of the rafter ties, its splice held by a flat strap, so the end walls cannot spread.
4. Four hips. Each 2×6 hip (board 10′ 6 13/16″) runs at 45 degrees in plan from a wall corner to the ridge end, sloping 19.5 degrees. Its heel is cut 3 7/16″ deep, 59% of its depth, because it sits right over the corner on the lapped plates and carries no bending there. A strap tie across the plates, a skewable hurricane tie and toe-nails hold it. Do not cut it deeper than drawn. Each hip weighs about 21 lb and goes up with two people.
5. Jacks last. 32 jacks in four lengths, centered 1′ 4″, 2′ 8″, 4′ 0″ and 5′ 4″ from each corner, plus 8 short tail jacks, each with a 45 degree side cut. Each jack is 1′ 5 7/8″ longer than the one before. They come in two hands, so cut half of each length each way, and nail them in pairs on both sides of a hip so it stays straight. Then take out the posts.

The hips are one size deeper than the commons so the jacks bear on their full face.

Roof vents and the soffit gap

A hip roof has no gable wall for a high vent, so the plan lets air in through a 1/4″ screened gap along the soffit on all four walls and out through two static roof vents high on the back slope. Buy vents rated 60 sq in net free area or more each. One goes in the bay centered 6′ 8″ from the left end wall and one in the bay centered 9′ 4″ from it, each with its hole center 2′ 0″ down the slope from the top of the ridge. The bay is 1′ 2 1/2″ clear, so no rafter is cut, and a 1/4″ locator hole drilled from inside marks each center through the felt.

The plan prints the arithmetic. A common attic rule of thumb, not a shed requirement, asks for the floor area divided by 150: 192 / 150 is 1.28 sq ft, or 184 sq in. The two roof vents give 120 sq in high. The soffit gap gives 84 sq in low after the insect screen. That is 204 sq in in all, which meets the rule of thumb in total; the low side is 8.2 sq in short and the high side is met. A wider gap lets in more air and more weather. This suits unheated storage; if you plan to heat or insulate the shed, ask your local permit office what it wants.

Free 12×16 hip roof shed plan PDF vs the full plan

The free PDF is an 8-page streamlined version: the build stages (site and foundation, floor, walls, roof, trim and paint) with 3D views. It has no material list, no cut list and no measurements. The full plan adds every step, the roof framing plan with every rafter center, the hip and jack cut details, the sheathing piece map for each roof plane, the vent layout, the ramp, the “What fits inside” page and the complete shopping and cut lists. Before it went on sale every measurement was cross-checked, 98 checks in all: the framing closes, the roof geometry works, sheets and shingles cover every surface, no two framing members overlap, and the drawings, tables and lists agree.

Before you build a 12×16 hip roof shed

• Permits. At 192 sq ft and almost 12 ft tall, this shed can run into size, height or setback limits, and rules vary by town and HOA. Check your local permit office before you buy lumber.
• Snow and wind. The plan uses common small-shed framing. In heavy snow or high-wind areas you may need closer rafter spacing, larger rafters or more anchoring; ask your local permit office for your loads. The plan has you set 6 screw-in ground anchors with straps once the roof is on, before you fill the shed.
• Safety. Plan for a helper on every wall raise and every roof lift. Stand each ladder on firm, flat footing, keep three points of contact, tie the extension ladder to the building, and stay 10 ft from overhead power lines.
• Skids. Use ground-contact rated pressure-treated 4x4s (UC4A or higher), set crown up, and keep 6″ or more between the siding and the soil.
• Materials. Store lumber flat and covered, since wet wood decays faster (USDA Forest Products Laboratory Wood Handbook). Check the stamp on each OSB sheet for its span rating (APA: OSB).

Tools and ladders the plan lists

Beyond a circular saw with a rip guide, drill/driver and framing hammer, the list adds a miter saw for the door braces and trim, a reciprocating saw for flush cuts, a jigsaw and a 1/4″ bit for the roof vent holes and their locator holes, a 3 lb sledge for the pad frame stakes and a hand tamper for the pad. Two 8 ft step ladders reach the ridge, and a 16 ft extension ladder covers roof work from the eave, about 8′ 8″ up.

Related plans

• Same size with a gable roof: the 12×16 gable shed plan, or a single slope: the 12×16 lean-to shed plan.
• 2 ft shallower: the 10×16 hip roof shed plan. 4 ft wider: the 12×20 hip roof shed plan.
• Bigger still: the 16×20 hip roof shed plan.
• Choosing a base first? Read the shed foundation guide.
• Every hip roof shed plan in one place.