Basic Roof Styles

The same basic roof styles are used in building any type of residential construction. Whether you are building a dog house, shed, garage, single family home, or mansion the roof will consist of one style or a combination of several different roof types.

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Nearly all homes built in America today utilize at least one of seven basic styles.

The gable style is probably the most popular and by far the easiest to build. It is made up entirely of common rafters all cut to the same size for both sides of the roof.

There is more information on how to build this type of roof on the gable roof framing page.

Hip roofs are the second most common in North America. Harder to construct than a gable but sturdier in high wind areas. This type of roof slopes down on all four sides.

The same as a hip roof with the addition of a lower pitched eave along the outer perimeter.

Simply a hip roof placed on a square shaped building, 10' X 10', 16' X 16', and so on.

This type of roof only slopes down in one direction. It is sometimes used on a lower porch roof and ties into a wall or upper steeper roof. It is also used on smaller buildings where one wall is built taller than the opposite one to create the pitch, hence the term "shed roof".

This type of roof is just a gable built on two different height walls. Sometimes this style of roof is used to gain space to create a loft area.

Also commonly known as a "barn roof" this style is used to gain more storage area in the attic of a building.

There are advantages and disadvantages to every different type of roof, so do your research well before deciding on the style you want.

Links to Related Pages

Roof Styles to Homepage

Gable Roof Framing

Basic Roof Framing

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