Installing Hip and Ridge Caps

INTRO TO INSTALLING HIP AND RIDGE CAPS

In this video I’m going to show you how to install ridge caps on your shingle roof. Hip and ridge caps get installed over your hips and ridge, as the name implies. Essentially it gets installed on all shingle roofs. We recommend using the same brand as what you use for your shingles. So as you guys know, we’re Owens Corning Platinum contractors, and generally we like to use Owens Corning DecoRidge. Now Rapid Ridge is also a very similar product, and the reason we really like it is the edges of it are rounded off. So instead of having a cut edge, there’s a little loop here. What that helps with is shingle blow-off. So really, the biggest thing we’re worried about before installing ridge and hip caps is for the hip caps and the ridge caps not to blow off. Because they’re only nailed at the back and they stand a little bit high,
blow off is a big concern. So we use specific nails made just for hip and ridge caps to ensure that they stay on there as long as the roof is in place. Another thing about these Decoridge and Rapid Ridge in my opinion that it looks very nice and appealing. It has a higher profile that really makes the roof pop, and outlines all the edges of the roof.

HIP CAP INSTALLATION

So we’re gonna start installing our hip caps right now. But now we’ve already installed our first piece. We made a separate video on this, as it’s a little bit different than what the manufacturer suggests. It’s essentially the same process. The only thing that we do is we cut these corners, roll them in, so that we’re fitting the profile of this roof. I think this looks nicer than having it kind of stick out and having these corners bulge out. So I prefer installing it this way. Now continuing up we’re just going to continue, it’s pretty easy, one goes on top of the other, just like any other shingle or water shedding system. You know, we install the lower ones first and go up from there. Now on these, we want to always follow manufacturer specifications on the specific area that we want to nail in.

Now for these ridge caps, the manufacturer calls out for eight and a half inches up from the edge, and half inch to three quarters of an inch in. That pretty much lands us right here at these adhesive tabs. I like to use these adhesive tabs as a reference. So I’ll nail pretty much right here at this corner on each adhesive tab, and move up. Now some people do chalk lines. Depending on how long your hip is, you may want to chalk a line on this side on one side, just to keep it straight. For this demonstration, I don’t think it’s necessary. And for the overlap, it’s important to know that you’re pretty much coming an eighth of an inch past this cut right here on your lower shingle. So we’re going to line that up, make sure that the center of our hip is aligned. And install nails as specified in the locations I talked about. What these adhesive tabs are going to do is make sure that the hips don’t lift up due to wind.

RIDGE CAP INSTALLATION

Alright, we’re now ready to install the ridge caps on the ridge. On this roof, we already have a ridge vent installed, so you can disregard this ridge vent if you don’t have it. Whether or not your roof has a ridge vent doesn’t matter. Your ridge caps get installed the same way. We’re gonna start installing from the rake side and move towards the field of the roof. One thing to be careful, if your area has consistent winds flowing in the same direction, you want to make sure that you’re installing against the wind. And I’m going to show you what I mean. Let’s say your wind is flowing in this direction. It’s ideal not to have your ridge caps installed in the direction I have it holding right now, because it can easily pick up the edge of the ridge cap and blow it off. Ideally if your wind is blowing this way, your ridge caps would be installed like this. So just like the scales of a fish, water and air flow off in a consistent pattern. However you’re not always able to do that because you have to start at the rake side and work your way in. So just depending on the installation, how your roof is built, you might have ridge caps installed from both sides.

When we start off at the rake end, what we want to do is install our first ridge cap, nail it down at the edge of the roof right here. We’re going to cut this off. This is going to be scrap. But then what this is going to do is allow that first piece to sit on these adhesive tabs, and it’s also going to allow it to sit in the correct direction. So again we’re going to nail this down, cut it, then start.