ROOF STYLESA roof is your building’s protection from rain, snow, animals, the sun, it keeps out the heat on hot days and it holds the warmth in when it’s
cold outside. The roof doesn’t just protect the interior of the structure but also protects the structure itself from weathering. Unless you build a domed shelter, you’ll have to choose a style of roof and framing for your structure. You’ll need to construct it so that it will be able to support it’s own weight, possibly the additional weight of accumulating snow and also to protect the interior of the structure from natural elements. Roofs are conventionally covered using a variety of materials: grasses, reeds, palm fronds, bark, tar-paper, leaves, terracotta, turf, stone, metal and tiles. The durability of roofing materials should be considered before construction because of the inaccessibility of the roof for repairing and its damage or destruction can have serious effects. The shape of roofs differs from region to region due to factors of climate and available materials for the roof structure and skin. These will be your main concerns when choosing your style of roof. The basic styles of roofs are flat, monopitched, gabled, hipped, arched and domed with many variations among these types. Pitched, gabled, hipped and skillion roofs are the most common choices for domestic roofs. Using flexible materials such as thatch can allow for roofs with organic shapes. |
|
From top-left to bottom right:
Skillion and Lean-To Roof, Open-Gable Roof, Pyramid Hip Roof, Saltbox Roof, Box-Gable Roof, M-Shaped Roof,
Flat Roof, Gambrel Roof, Mansard Roof, Butterfly Roof, Combination Roof, Dormer Roof,
Dutch-Gable Roof, Hexagonal Gazebo Roof, Jerkinhead Roof, Shed Roof, Hip and Valley Roof.
Skillion and Lean-To Roof, Open-Gable Roof, Pyramid Hip Roof, Saltbox Roof, Box-Gable Roof, M-Shaped Roof,
Flat Roof, Gambrel Roof, Mansard Roof, Butterfly Roof, Combination Roof, Dormer Roof,
Dutch-Gable Roof, Hexagonal Gazebo Roof, Jerkinhead Roof, Shed Roof, Hip and Valley Roof.
NOTES:
- The optimum roof style is a simple gable for a cold climate or a hipped roof for a warm. Simple Gables are easy to vent and they don’t have any valleys or hips. Rain and snow can easily run off of them which is good. It’s easier to provide shade on all four sides of a structure by using a Hipped Roof.
- The more intersecting planes a roof has, the more difficult it will be to frame, to keep watertight and also to vent. Every crevice in your roof will provide a place for debris to accumulate and moisture to settle so it would be best to try to minimize crevices in your roof design.
- Make overhangs generous in any climate; by having a sturdy and abundant overhang, windows will be shaded in warmer climates and walls will be kept dry.