Roofing Your House - Part 1


Roofing Your House - Part 1

One of the most important element of your house is the roof. A lot of thought and care must be given to the choice of material and also to the selection of the contractor who will install it for you (unless you are doing it yourself). The next few articles will provide you with some basic construction details about roofs, and some tips that will avoid problems later on. The first article will focus on some basics of roof construction.

Types of Roofs

The form of the roof is a direct expression of the climate of an area. Hence, it is not practical to have a flat roof in areas where there is a lot of rain or snow. Roofs can be sloped, flat or domed. Within these three broad categories, many variations are possible -- like mansard, hipped, gable etc.

  • View photographs of houses using various forms of these three kinds of roofs.
  • Here are good graphic images of the different profiles of sloped roofs. This site also provides some common terms that are used for describing roofs.
  • Roof shapes that are favorable when analysed through Feng-shui

Sloped Roofs

Sloped roofs are common in most parts of North America due to heavy snowfall. The roofs need to be sloped so that the snow cannot accumulate on the roof. A sloped roof can be a simple lean-to or a complex roof form using a combination of different shapes mentioned above. To obtain a sloped roof, two different methods can be used.

Rafters: The traditional wood framing construction method of roofing. In this technique the peak of the roof is created by a long horizontal length of heavy lumber called the hip rafter. Rafters extend downward on either side of the hip rafter to rest on the double top plates of the surrounding walls. The rafters are nailed to the double top plates atop the wall studs. To obtain added rigidity, sometimes collar beams are nailed to each end of opposing rafters.

The links provided below explain the basics of this construction method: