A
gablet roof (in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
) or
Dutch gable (America and Australasia) is a roof with a small gable at the top of a
hipped roofHipped roof can refer to:*A hip roof, a type of roof where all sides are sloped*A tented roof, a conical style of roof seen in Russian architecture...
. The term
Dutch gableA Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...
is also used to mean a gable with parapets.
A drawback of a
hip roofA hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on rectangular houses will have two triangular...
is its reduced available attic space for a given roof pitch. compared to simple
gableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns...
roofs. In Mediterranean climates with lower snow loads, high roof pitches look out-of-place, making
hip roofA hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on rectangular houses will have two triangular...
s impractical.
A
gablet roof (in
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
) or
Dutch gable (America and Australasia) is a roof with a small gable at the top of a
hipped roofHipped roof can refer to:*A hip roof, a type of roof where all sides are sloped*A tented roof, a conical style of roof seen in Russian architecture...
. The term
Dutch gableA Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...
is also used to mean a gable with parapets.
A drawback of a
hip roofA hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on rectangular houses will have two triangular...
is its reduced available attic space for a given roof pitch. compared to simple
gableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns...
roofs. In Mediterranean climates with lower snow loads, high roof pitches look out-of-place, making
hip roofA hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on rectangular houses will have two triangular...
s impractical. Yet simple
gableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns...
roofs are also problematic, since there are important advantages to having lower eaves that overhang the perimeter of the house, such as reduced
solar gainSolar gain refers to the increase in temperature in a space, object or structure that results from solar radiation...
of the structure during the hot summer months, and a significant rain "shadow" on the perimeter of the house. This rain "shadow" greatly reduces the moisture content of the soil, thus inhibiting both foundation decay, and subterranean termites which are common in these areas.
These advantages of the gablet roofline offset the additional framing complexity (which is minor in areas that have low snow loads anyway). A gablet roof combines the benefits of both the
gableA gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns...
and the
hip roofA hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on rectangular houses will have two triangular...
while adding additional architectural interest.
See also
- Half-hip or Dutch hip roof, which also combines elements of the hip and gable, but with the gable below the hip.