How to Build a Roof in South Norfolk

Now we can look at how to build a roof

The foundation and the walls are up. All that remains is to build a roof over the top.

How to Build a Roof using  Engineers

Engineers will come up with just the right roof truss design to meet your needs. You have to:

• Show them your house plans.
• Tell them the roof pitch.
• Say it's a hip roof  roof?
• Say whether you need an attic.

I used a company some miles from Norwich but distance is usually no object for roofing companies.

With this information you can place your order. And expect a lorry load of roof trusses a few days or weeks later. Depending on the supplier's order book.

And it is very easy to supply this information because you will know the answers. After speaking with your planning officer at the beginning of the project.

House Plans

How to Build a Roof
To Match Next Door.

If you are building near existing houses your roof may have to look similar to theirs.

The local planning department will want a say in what roof pitch you should use because this effects how well the houses in the street go together.

Your roofing home design requires using the same roof pitch - which is the angle between the sloping roof and the horizontal. 

We Used A Shallow Pitch

If the pitches are wildly different the buildings – although interesting – tend to fight each other. If they are the same or similar the houses look more harmonious.

We used a pitch of 30 degrees, which is quite shallow. Ok for storage space but not so comfortable as an office or bedroom.

Although the angle of the roof usually has to be similar to the surrounding houses the roof colour does not have to be the same.

In fact we were strongly encouraged to make the roof tiles darker – better still black. This was purely the taste of the planner. Another planner we spoke to questioned the use of black tiles. You are able to question planners’ decisions as long as you are reasonable.

The point is that just copying existing colours was not a good option. Existing roofs were weathered, so the slightly darker colour has to be taken into account.

While you are learning how to build a roof a little ABC on roof design is useful.

To draw the hip roof is quite easy. And I'll use my own roof as an example.

When you look at the plan view of this roof you will see a basic rectangle shape with two extensions added on.

This is the roof layout for my four bedroom detached house. 

Drawing the roof in stages makes it easier to understand. All you need is a pencil, rubber, ruler and a sheet of paper. Make all your lines faint because you may well need to rub them out later.

Let’s start with a basic rectangle 6”x 5” to represent the roof shape. Don’t worry about the extensions yet.

Using the shorter ends, construct four squares - in this case two on the left hand side and two on the right hand side. Draw diagonals inside each square as shown to form two large triangles. If you join the top points of the triangles with a straight line this becomes the ridge.

Rub out all construction lines and you get a shape that looks like the back of an envelope. It’s worthwhile mentioning that you have bisected 90 degrees in each corner into two 45-degree angles. It gives a regular shape to the whole roof - regardless of the roof pitch. You will use this idea for the extensions now.

Draw the front and rear extensions. Draw two squares on each extension as shown. In fact you are repeating what you did before.

It's easy to draw two squares on the rear (top) extension because of its large size. The front (bottom) extension is much smaller so to achieve the two squares you have to go inside the basic roof rectangle. The important thing is to get the 45-degree angles.

Extend the front and rear ridges to meet the hip lines of the main roof. Now is the time to erase the construction lines to get the final hip roof shape. Show the valleys using twin broken lines.

No attic roof unfortunately!

I have a great attachment to attic rooms. They are an additional living space but the shallow pitch does not allow enough room to stand up in.

This roof framing design is relatively complex.

 How to Build a Roof > BuildTu Home