Domestic Roof Construction

Domestic roof construction is the framing and roof covering which is found on most detached houses in cold and temperate climates. Such roofs are built with mostly timber, take a number of different shapes, and are covered with a variety of materials.

Overview
Modern timber roofs are mostly framed with pairs of common rafters or prefabricated wooden trusses fastened together with truss connector plates. Timber framed and historic buildings may be framed with principal rafters or timber roof trusses. Roofs are also designated as warm or cold roof depending on how they are designed and built with regard to thermal building insulation and ventilation. The steepness or roof pitch of a sloped roof is determined primarily by the roof covering material and aesthetic design.

Rafter Roof
A simple rafter roof consists of rafters that the rafter foot rest on horizontal wall plates on top of each wall. The top ends of the rafters often meet at a ridge beam, but may butt directly to another rafter to form a pair of rafters called a couple. Depending on the roof covering material, either horizontal laths, battens, or purlins are fixed to the rafters; or boards, plywood, or oriented strand board form the roof deck to support the roof covering. Heavier under purlins or purlin plates are used to support longer rafter spans.

Truss Roof
Pre-manufactured roof trusses come in a wide variety of styles. They are designed by the manufacturer for each specific building. Timber trusses also are built in a variety of styles using wood or metal joints. Heavy timber rafters typically spaced 240 cm (8 ft) to 370 cm (12 ft) apart are called principal rafters. Principal rafters may be mixed with common rafters or carry common purlins.

Roof Covering
The roofing material is primarily designed to shed water. The covering is also a major element of the architecture, so roofing materials come in a wide variety of colors and textures. The primary roof covering on houses in North America are asphalt shingles, but some have other types of roof shingles or metal roofs. Tile and thatch roofs are more common in Europe than North America. Some roofing materials help reduce air conditioning costs in hot climates by being designed to reflect light.