Minecraft Roof Generator

How pitch works in Minecraft

Pitch is how many blocks a roof rises for every block it runs across, written rise : run. The pattern of blocks in each column fixes the slope, and this generator offers the three standard patterns: Shallow (1:2), Standard (1:1) and Steep (2:1). The angles in the table are our own, computed from the rise and run with the arctangent.

The wiki's roof-pitch advice names 63.4°, 45° and 22.5° as the easy angles, built from double blocks, steps and alternating upper and lower slabs (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof construction guidelines § Roof pitch, retrieved 2026-10-03).

One number differs. The wiki gives 22.5° for the alternating-slab roof. The slope that pattern actually produces is 1 block up for every 2 along, and atan(½) = 26.6°. A 22.5° slope would be a rise of 0.414 per block, which no slab pattern makes. We print 26.6° as our computed figure and say here that the wiki gives 22.5°. The wiki's 63.4° for double blocks matches atan(2).

Other pitches are not in this release: that covers the wiki's repeating slab, upside-down stair and stair pattern that rises 5 for every 7 along (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof construction guidelines § Roof pitch, retrieved 2026-10-03), a 3:4 pitch and a degrees input.

How the counts are computed

This is a model of a roof's geometry, not a recording of the game. Every count, height and layer number on this page comes from the rules below, applied cell by cell. Where our figure and the wiki's differ, the page says so.

• Span and length. The span S is the building width W plus an eave overhang O on each side: S = W + 2 × O. The roof length Lr is the building length L plus a gable-end overhang E at each end: Lr = L + 2 × E, with E defaulting to 0.
• Inset distance d. Every roof cell has an inset distance d from the edge it drains to. Gable: d = min(x, S−1−x). Hip: d = min(x, S−1−x, z, Lr−1−z), which is the ring index counted from the outer edge. Shed: d = x, with the eave at x = 0.
• Pitch decides what sits in a cell at inset d. A shell roof is the surface cells only.
  • 1:2 (shallow): one slab at layer ⌊d/2⌋, a bottom slab if d is even and a top slab if d is odd.
  • 1:1 (standard): one stair at layer d, facing downhill. Ridge cells get one bottom slab instead. A ridge is a one-wide centre line, which exists only when S is odd; on a hip roof it is every cell where the current ring is one wide in either direction.
  • 2:1 (steep): two full blocks per cell, at layers 2d and 2d+1. The upper one may be swapped for a stair for a smoother line; the count is unchanged.
• Peak height. The top surface of the highest block, measured from the underside of the eave layer, which is layer 0. Slab tops fall on x.5.
• Solid fill. The empty cells strictly below the roof surface inside each column. It is what switching from shell to solid adds.
• Not counted. Walls, gable-end walls and interior floors. They are the building, not the roof.

Convention choices that change the numbers

• Ridge as a bottom slab. Building the ridge as a full block instead adds 0.5 to the peak and leaves the count the same.
• Eave overhang inside the span. The overhang is part of S, not an extra on top of it.
• Hip corners. Which way a stair faces at a hip corner does not change the count: each corner cell is one stair.
• Hip and shed length. The gable-end overhang E exists for gable roofs only. On a hip roof the overhang O is applied on all four sides, so Lr = L + 2 × O. A shed roof uses Lr = L.

Gable roof blocks per block of length

A gable slopes down to two eaves. Table G gives the counts for one block of roof length; multiply by Lr to get the whole roof. Fill is the solid-roof extra.

n = ⌊S/2⌋ 1:1 → odd S: S−1 stairs + 1 ridge slab; even S: S stairs. Peak S/2. Fill n² (odd S) or n(n−1) (even S). 2:1 → 2S blocks. Peak S+1 (odd S) or S (even S). 1:2 → S slabs. Peak (⌊(S−1)/2⌋ + 1) / 2.

Sanity check against the wiki: its roof-scale advice says a building 20 wide with a single 45° gable roof has a roof 10 to 11 blocks high (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof construction guidelines § Roof scale, retrieved 2026-10-03). The S = 20 row above, at 1:1, gives a peak of 10.0.

The wiki also says the simple gable design is not suited to widths over about 12 (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof types § Gable roof, retrieved 2026-10-03). The table runs to S = 25 because the counts stay exact; at 1:1 the peak keeps climbing with the span, reaching 12.5 at S = 25.

Hip and pyramid roof block counts

A hip roof slopes on all sides, and a square footprint gives a pyramid (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof types § Hipped roof, retrieved 2026-10-03). Table H gives whole-roof totals at 1:1 for S up to Lr. Each cell reads stairs / ridge slabs / peak / solid fill. The first column is the pyramid, where Lr = S.

Ring y (y = 0 … ⌊S/2⌋−1) has 2(S−2y) + 2(Lr−2y) − 4 stairs. Ridge slabs = Lr − S + 1 if S is odd, else 0. Peak = S/2. Solid fill = Σ over y of (S−2y−2)(Lr−2y−2).

Rule of thumb: each extra block of length adds 2⌊S/2⌋ stairs, and one ridge slab when S is odd. Hip roofs at 1:2 and 2:1, and any size outside the table, come from the generator above.

Width, overhang and ridge height

The 1:1 peak is half the span, so the ridge height is (W + 2 × O) / 2. Table R lists it for building widths 3 to 25 and eave overhangs 0 to 3.

The other two pitches: 1:2 peaks at (⌊(S−1)/2⌋ + 1) / 2 and 2:1 peaks at S+1 for odd S or S for even S, with S = W + 2 × O.

Odd against even: an odd span gives a one-wide ridge line, one slab per block of length. An even span gives two stair rows meeting at the top. The wiki's advice is to make the whole building an odd number of blocks wide when the roof must peak over a central feature of odd width, such as a door (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof construction guidelines § Roof pitch, retrieved 2026-10-03).

Shed roofs

A shed roof is a single slope: S columns with d = x, the eave at x = 0 and the high edge at x = S−1. Per row of length, 1:1 takes S stairs, peaks at S and has a solid fill of S(S−1)/2; 1:2 takes ⌈S/2⌉ bottom and ⌊S/2⌋ top slabs and peaks at S/2; 2:1 takes 2S blocks and peaks at 2S. There is no table for it; pick Shed in the generator.

Tower, cone and dome roofs

A conical roof of base diameter D at 1:1 is a stack of circle outlines with diameters D, D−2, D−4 and so on down to 1 or 2, one layer each, so it has ⌈D/2⌉ layers. At 1:2 each diameter is used for two layers. The outlines themselves are on the Minecraft Circle Generator, which is where to get them. A domed roof is a sphere cap: use the dome mode of the Minecraft Sphere Generator.

What this generator does not do

It does not plan saltbox or A-frame roofs, mansard or gambrel roofs, flat-top roofs, curved, barrel, dome or cone roofs (see the section above for those), custom pitches, L-shaped plans, schematic export, a 3D view or block palettes. On mansards, the wiki says a building needs to be roughly 16×20 before a mansard looks right (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof types § Mansard roof, retrieved 2026-10-03).

Frequently asked questions

Should I build with stairs or slabs?

It depends on the pitch you want, because the block pattern sets the slope: stairs for 1:1 (45°), alternating slabs for 1:2 (26.6°), two full blocks for 2:1 (63.4°). For what the game stores, Java slabs have a type of bottom, top or double, and Bedrock slabs have a vertical_half of bottom or top (minecraft.wiki, Quartz Slab § Block states, retrieved 2026-10-03).

Why do odd widths peak cleanly?

An odd span has a single centre column, so the top is a one-wide line that takes one slab per block of length, and the 1:1 peak lands on a half height such as 5.5. An even span has two stair rows meeting at the top and peaks on a whole number. See the odd-against-even note under Table R for the wiki's advice on door-centred roofs.

Does a hip corner need a special block?

In the count, a hip corner is one stair block, however it faces. Both editions carry a corner shape in their stair block states: Java stairs have facing, half (bottom or top) and shape (straight, inner_left, inner_right, outer_left, outer_right), and Bedrock stairs have upside_down_bit, weirdo_direction and a corner state (none, inner_left, inner_right, outer_left, outer_right) (minecraft.wiki, Quartz Stairs § Block states, retrieved 2026-10-03). Where roofs meet at an angle, the wiki's angled-buildings tutorial notes that corner stairs, upside-down stairs or full blocks can mostly avoid holes at the join (minecraft.wiki, Tutorial:Roof construction guidelines § Angled buildings, retrieved 2026-10-03).

Does the overhang count in the span?

In this model, yes: S = W + 2 × O. A building 9 wide with a 1-block eave overhang is an 11-span roof, and at 1:1 its peak is 5.5, not 4.5. This is a convention, not a game rule; entering the larger width with O = 0 gives the same numbers.

How many layers will my roof have?

Layer 0 is the eave layer. Let d_max be the largest inset distance: ⌊(S−1)/2⌋ for a gable or a hip roof with S no longer than Lr, and S−1 for a shed. The shell has ⌊d_max/2⌋ + 1 layers at 1:2, d_max + 1 at 1:1 and 2 × d_max + 2 at 2:1. For S = 11 that is 3, 6 and 12 layers, and the counts panel shows the figure for your roof.

Sources

Minecraft Wiki (minecraft.wiki), retrieved 2026-10-03: “Tutorial:Roof construction guidelines” — sections Roof pitch, Roof scale and Angled buildings; “Tutorial:Roof types” — sections Gable roof, Hipped roof and Mansard roof; “Quartz Stairs” — Block states; “Quartz Slab” — Block states. The wiki's wording is paraphrased, not copied.

All block counts, peak heights and angles on this page are computed from the roof geometry model described above.