Roof Styles:



Gable roof: The triangular section of a wall formed by the end of a pointed (gabled) roof.

 

Gambrel Roof: A roof with 2 slopes on each side, the lower slope having the steeper pitch. Often found in colonial revival houses in the "Dutch" style.



Hip Roof: A roof with slopes on all 4 sides. The "hips"are the lines formed when the slopes meet at the corners.



Saltbox Roof: A frame house with two stories in front and one in back, having a pitched roof with unequal sides, being short and high in front and long and low in back.



Mansard Roof: a roof that has four sloping sides, each of which becomes steeper halfway down.

Housing Characteristics

Bay Window: A set of 2 or more windows that protrude out from the wall. The window is moved away form the wall to provide more light and wider views.

Casement Window: A window that opens by swinging inward or outward much like a door. Casement windows are usually vertical in shape but are often grouped in bands.

Clapboard: Also known as weatherboard or siding. Long narrow boards overlapped to cover the outer walls. Used in Colonial style frame houses.

Dormer: The setting for a vertical window in a roof. Called a gable dormer if it has its own gable of a shed dormer if a flat roof. Most often found in upstairs bedrooms.

 Eaves: the portion of the roof that projects beyond the wall.



Fanlight: A semicircular of arched window above a door 


Palladian Window: A three part window featuring a large arched center and flanking rectangular sidelights.



Pediment: A triangular crown used over door, windows, or porches. A classical style.



Portico: A large porch usually with a pedimented roof supported by classical columns or pillars.


Rafter: A roof beam sloping from the ridge to the wall.


Sidelights: Windows on either side of a door.


Turret: A small tower, often at the corner of a building. common in a Queen Anne styles among others.