1. Roof pitch?

 

What roof pitch should I use? What pitch is right for the "style" of the home I want? Ok both these ideas are related and hotly debated among Clients and Professional Builders. Everyone has their reasons for preferring one thing or the other. But I would like to look at these questions from the point of view of an axiom that is unbiased. And that is the axiom "I don't have a complaint about it" or "no one had a complaint about it”. Let Us tackle actual roof pitch first. We will discuss "style" or "type of architecture" in another topic because it does affect roof pitch choice.

 

Ok, if we are talking about a small one-story home. It will have a small volume or footprint. Say a home with a 30' x 40' footprint overall outside dimensions. This type of home will have an undesirable Volume if you put a low pitch roof on it. In home building circles the line is draw from low to high roof pitches at 8:12. Any pitch above 8:12 is considered high and will cost more to build and for materials. Anything below 8:12 is considered low. They will have less material and cost less to build. Common roof shingles can only be installed on roof pitches above 3:12. Roof pitches below 3:12 will be another topic. So, to round out this specific area, a small one-story home (small volume) will need a roof pitch around 8:12 but not lower than 6:12 to have a desirable (overall volume) curb appeal. "No one will complain" about the volume of this home if you apply this rule. No one will say it looks to flat and small.

 

Now let us look at a bigger home. A one-story home with a large footprint. Let Us consider a home with the overall outside dimensions of 90' x 70'. A home this size will only need a pitch of 6:12 for the overall footprint. In fact, the overall volume can be quite massive on a home this size. And that correlates to cost and curb appeal. The volume created with these dimensions will make your home look substantial and therefore desirable. But you may want to bump up some of the front facing features to 8:12 or more. Because the first rule applies to these smaller areas within your larger home.  dgdfgdf

 

 

2. Home style vs Roof pitch?

 

More Gems of knowledge from our Sage coming soon .................