Popular Roof Types
October 28, 2009 by Customer Care
Popular Roof Types in Des Moines, by Des Moines Real Estate Experts RE/MAX Real Estate Concepts
You can tell a lot about the architectural style of a house by its roofline. The three most common types of roof design are flat, gable and hip. Many different architectural styles incorporate these rooflines such as the Art Deco, Cape Cod, and Regency style designs.
Flat Roofs
A flat roof meets the walls of a house at a horizontal angle. There are two sub-types of flat roofs. The first flat roof sub-type incorporates eaves into the structure. Eaves are the part of a roofline that hangs out beyond the point where the roof meets the walls. The second flat roof sub-type incorporates a parapet with the roof. A parapet is a low structure around the edge of the roof that acts as a protective barrier. A parapet looks like a box frame around the edge of the top of the house.
Gable Roofs
A gabled roof gets its name from the triangle pieces that are formed at the ends of the house from the edges of two sloping rooflines. The two halves of the roof come together at the midline of the house and span the length of the home. Imagine the home is a rectangle – two walls will look like vertical rectangles, and two walls will look like rectangles with a triangle on top. A side gable house has these on either end of the home. Usually with a side gable house you only see one slope of the roof from the street and do not see the gable end of the house. Many ranch homes are designed in this manner. Other styles of architecture also incorporate gable roofs. Many split level homes combine perpendicular gable rooflines to create interest and functionality.
Hip Roofs
Hipped roofs are a little more complicated than the flat and gable type of roof. Unlike the gable roof which has at least two vertical sides, the hip roof has a slope to every side. The angle or pitch of the roofline is usually gentler than the gable style of roof. When a hip roof is used to cover a square building, each slope of the roof comes up to meet in a point. This style is called a pyramid hip roof.
There are many variations of these popular rooflines, as well as other designs.
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Filed under Des Moines Real Estate Blog
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