For thousands of years man has been decorating his fort, i.
e.
, his home, in various ways.
Culture, history, geographical location, weather and even modern technology, a lot of things have helped shape the single possession that a man cannot live without, that his is home! The most important aspect of a home apart from the walls is obviously the roof which ensures that the inhabitants are protected from the elements of nature.
Roofs are of various styles.
Depending upon the country and the culture, there can be hundreds of different styles.
However we have discussed only the most popular American roofing styles here.
Flat Roof - as the name suggests they are essentially and nearly horizontal to the ground and are slated slightly to allow the water to run off the roof.
Flat roofs are effective in areas where ice does not form and there is nothing to prevent the drainage of water.
If ice forms these roof are easily susceptible to damages and leaks.
Shed Roof - a step away of a common gable design, a shed type roof has a wedge shaped design which allows for a more contemporary looking style.
It uses a plane angled roof to build the shed.
They are very effective in both rainy and snowy conditions and on first looks appear as a log houses usually built on the hills.
Gable - A gable actually refers to the triangular shaped wall area immediately under a shaded area of the roof.
The size of the gable of course depends upon the size of the area of the wall that it covers.
Saltbox - a style that is a reminder of the colonial days.
Originally during the colonial days, houses with more than one storey were taxed higher.
So to avoid the tax people used build their roofs like this.
This structure was built with the back of the house having an extended portion of the roof slanting down all the way to about less than 6' of the ground.
Gambrel - a roof that has two slopes instead of one.
The first slope is shallow and the second one is rather steep.
This allows for terrace rooms to have a longer head clearance.
Hip - A hip roof is one which is constructed on a rectangular wall and is usually a more difficult construction type.
This style basically is a construction which has two pyramid shaped sides and two trapezoids.
They meet at the central point.
Each roof side is a gentle slope which allows water to run off quickly.
These are just some of the roof types, you may want to consider while getting one for your home!