Hexagonal and polygonal roofs
Six or more planes meeting at a point, over a bay window, a turret or a gazebo. Small in area, disproportionate in difficulty.
- Typical pitch
- Often steep, 8:12 and up
- How often we see it
- Rare
Pitch ranges are trade convention, not code. Code sets minimum slope by material, not by roof shape.
Is this your roof?
- More than four roof planes converging on a single peak.
- Usually sits over a projecting bay or a tower element.
- The footprint below is a polygon rather than a rectangle.
In Johnson County
We see these mostly on older housing stock around Prairie Village, Mission Hills and the older parts of Overland Park, usually over a bay or a corner turret. The common problem is not the roof itself but that it gets skipped: a crew does the main roof, quietly leaves the turret, and the homeowner ends up with a five-year-old roof and a twenty-five-year-old turret leaking into the bay window below.
What you can put on it
Slope decides this before preference does. Set yours and see what the code allows, then check the notes for this shape.
6:12about 27° from horizontal
ConventionalEvery common material is in play
Shingles, metal, tile or shake, each still subject to its own manufacturer minimum. Walkable for a roofer, standard labor rate, and where most Kansas City homes sit. This range is trade convention rather than a code band.
Trade convention, not code
At this slope
- Asphalt shingles
- Standing seam metal
- TPO / EPDM membrane
- Modified bitumen
- Wood shake
- Tile
Membrane drops out at 4:12 and above because nobody specifies it there, not because the code forbids it. Shake and tile carry manufacturer minimums of their own, so treat these as a starting point rather than an approval.
Asphalt shingles
WorkableDoable, but every course on every plane is cut on both sides. Waste is high and the work is slow.
Standing seam metal
Specialist onlyEach panel is tapered and fabricated to its plane. Beautiful, and expensive.
Synthetic slate or shake
WorkableSmaller units follow the geometry more forgivingly than large-format materials do.
What we check first
The failure points specific to this shape, marked on the roof and listed in the order a roofer looks at them.
- The peak cap or finial.
- Every hip line, of which there are many for the area covered.
- The junction where the polygonal roof meets the main wall or roof.
- Whether it was actually included last time the house was re-roofed.
What moves the price
Square footage is a poor predictor on its own. These are the things that actually change the number on this shape.
- Very high waste factor: more cuts per square foot than any other common shape.
- Labor dominates the cost, not material, because of the number of hip lines.
- The peak needs a fabricated cap or finial.
- Small area means the per-square price looks alarming even when the total is modest.
Common questions
Why will nobody quote my turret roof?
Because the labor is hard to price and easy to lose money on. A hexagonal turret has more hip lines and more cuts per square foot than any other shape on a house, and the area is small, so the per-square number looks unreasonable next to the main roof. Crews that do not do them regularly would rather skip it. We quote them.
Can a bay window roof be done separately from the main roof?
Yes, and sometimes that is the right call if the main roof has years left. Be aware that the junction where the bay roof meets the wall is the critical detail, so whoever does it needs to open up and re-flash that junction rather than just shingle over to it.
How much does a hexagonal roof cost to replace?
It depends far more on the number of planes and the peak detail than on square footage, and it is genuinely quoted job by job. Expect the per-square cost to be well above your main roof. The total is usually still modest because the area is small, but the ratio surprises people, so it is worth explaining up front.
More answers on the roofing questions page, or see every roof shape side by side.
Often confused with
Conical turret
A cone over a round tower. Continuous curvature in one direction, which means every course is a slightly different length.
Pyramid hip
A hip roof with no ridge at all: four planes rising to meet at a single peak. Most often seen on square outbuildings, garages, gazebos and porticos.
Geodesic dome
A shell of triangular facets forming a dome. There is no continuous roof plane and no eave, which rules out most conventional roofing logic.
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