Whats the deal with hip roofs

[theory2code2practice]

I'm sure this topic comes up quite a lot. I have seen soooooo many hip roofs framed. We all know about the lateral thrust at the corners/lower support if there is nothing holding up the edge of the ridge or if the roof is framed with trusses. So why in the world are these roofs still standing for years? some of them I've seen don't even have hanger for the jack rafters, they are just toe nailed into the end of the ridge beam or an angle. I theorize that the sheathing provides some kind of support. But in theory if nothing hold up the ridge beams then the thrust in jack rafters can be quite high. I've seen older framing books show tension rings around the lower framing, or trusses,..... all this to say.... what's the deal with these hip roofs that are clearly not being structurally analyzed. Thoughts anyone?

 

[TRAK.Structural]

There is another tension tie that is relied on we used to call a "hog trough". It is centered on each span of CJs and we extended it to the wall the hip jacks that were parallel to the ridge sat on. It provided some tension tie ability.

I've seen those a bunch but never knew what they were for, thanks for the insight. Are they typically fastened to each crossing CJ or just to the end walls/hip jacks?

 

[XR250]

I've seen those a bunch but never knew what they were for, thanks for the insight. Are they typically fastened to each crossing CJ or just to the end walls/hip jacks?

We call them "rat runs" around here. I don't really count on them for anything