12×20 Hip Roof Garden Barn Plans

About This Design

Twenty feet of barn is a lot of building to put in a backyard, and the hip roof is how you keep it from taking over. Because all four planes slope down to a low, level eave — and because the ridge on this 12×20 runs a full eight feet before the hips turn the corners — the roofline stays long and horizontal instead of stacking a tall gable end at each end of the run. The effect is a genuinely large, 240-square-foot structure that reads low and quiet from every side of the yard.

The front wall carries a five-foot double door that opens the whole bay for a mower fleet, a compact tractor, or sheet goods, and a window on each side wall lights the deep interior. The gentler 5/12 pitch suits the length — steep enough to shed cleanly, low enough to hold the calm profile a hip is chosen for.

The plans carry the full four-sided roof across that span: the eight-foot ridge, four corner hips, and the long runs of jack rafters, each length and cheek angle dimensioned into a complete cut list and BOM.

Key Features

• Long low hip roof keeps a 240 sq ft barn sitting quietly
• Eight-foot ridge with four corner hips over the 12×20 run
• 60″ double door opens the full front bay for machines
• Side windows light the deep 20-foot interior
• 5/12 pitch suits the length — clean shed, calm profile
• Ridge, hips, and long jack runs fully dimensioned

Build Notes

This is the largest hip in the collection, so treat the roof as a production run. Stand four level-height walls — the front one framing the 60-inch double-door opening on a doubled header and jack-and-king pairs, dimensioned for a true pair of leaves. Get that wall plumb and straight; it carries the doors and one long side of the roof.

Set the eight-foot ridge to its dimensioned length and height on props, lock it with king commons, then hang the four hip rafters to the corners. The jacks come in long, decreasing runs along the twenty-foot sides — the schedule gives each length and the repeated cheek angle, so you work down a stack of numbers rather than measuring in place. Sheathe the big planes in full sheets toward the hips.

The floor is built for load: 2×6 joists at 16 on center over four or more skid runs, doubled under the door threshold where wheels cross.

Best For

The quiet property barn: a zero-turn plus a push mower and attachments, a compact tractor, or a workshop with seasonal overflow, all through a double door that makes moving machines easy. The long low hip roofline is the reason to choose it over a gable barn — 240 square feet that serves like a barn but does not stand in the yard like one.