Gambrell Roof Construction

Gambrel style buildings give the old school look with a new strength that wasn t available in the old wood barns.

Gambrell roof construction.

Gambrel roofs are symmetrical with two slopes on each side of the roof. A gambrel or barn style roof is simply a gable roof with a change in slope partway up the roof. The gambrel only uses two roof beams along with gusset joints. Building a gambrel shed truss when you are designing your shed roof whether it be a gambrel gable or saltbox you should never have any roof pitch less than a 3 12.

Besides its unique appearance a gambrel roof also serves to maximize the usable floor space in the attic area. This gambrel roof fits in a semicircle and starts as the top half of an equal sided octagon. This means that for every 12 horizontal run you must have at least 3 of rise. Once you have the plans you can cut and construct the rafters before installing them on your structure.

If you plan on building and installing your own gambrel roof you ll have to draw out plans first to determine the proper dimensions. Since the construction is quite simple with fewer materials needed this helps to keep the cost of a roof down. The usual architectural term in eighteenth century england and north america was dutch roof the upper slope is positioned at a shallow angle while the lower slope is steep. Their shape can provide more storage without taking up more space.

Mother earth news staff these simple but elegant gambrel roof structures have been popular on hay barns for many years. To calculate a gambrel roof. Move slider or directly enter angle to alter sweep angle of lower rafters and change the shape. A gambrel or gambrel roof is a usually symmetrical two sided roof with two slopes on each side.

Here are roof construction plans to help build your own gambrel roof.