Purpose. The main purpose of an overhang is to give the house protection against strong winds and heavy rain. Aside from preventing water from running over the edge of the house, snow and other debris are also caught by this extended edge.
Why do you need a roof overhang?
Roof overhangs have several important functions: they can protect exterior doors, windows, and siding from rain; they can shade windows when solar heat gain is undesirable; and they can help keep basements and crawl spaces dry.
What is the overhang on a house called?
Your roof by necessity, will often times extend over the walls of your home. This overhang can go by a few names, such as the house eaves or the rafters of your roof. The underside of this overhang, when given a finished appearance, is known as the soffit, which means “something fixed underneath”.
Do you need an overhang?
Without overhangs, rain that falls on the roof can travel down the home's exterior walls and settle on the ground right next to the home's foundation. Overhangs help keep your foundation and basement dry and free of leaks.
Why are houses built without eaves?
This helps greatly on water problems as in falling on doors and windows (reduces warping and cracking) , and when it hits the ground or a patio deck it splashes less on patio doors, foundation, and side of the house (wood lap siding). Was the no overhang new england thing a style thing or some extended frugality thing?
What is the difference between eaves and overhangs?
An eave typically has a metal edge flashing and gutter that are attached to a wood fascia trim board. Overhangs. Overhangs are extensions of the roof beyond the exterior wall (i.e., the joists, rafters, or trusses and the decking they support cantilever past the wall).
How does a large overhang make the home more efficient?
You can also make your home more efficient through its architecture. Deep roof overhangs help keep homes warm in the winter and cool during the summer, meaning your heating and air conditioning systems won't have to work as hard to maintain a pleasant temperature.
What are rights of overhang?
If a property does not have the required legal rights to 'overhang' next door, our Overhang Rights policy is an alternative to approaching the adjoining owners, to cover the buyers and their lenders against any future action that may be taken against them.
Does a house need eaves?
Eaves are important for a few reasons. Eaves encourage water to run off the side of your house rather than directly down its walls. If water is allowed to run down walls, several leakage-related problems can come about. First, leaks between the join of the roof and the walls might occur.
What is a structural overhang?
An overhanging structure is a part of a component that is not supported by a solidified material or substrate during the fabrication process.
What happens if you don't have eaves?
When there is no eavestrough, rainwater will run down the exterior of your walls and collect at the foundation of your home. As the water runs off, it will cause erosion which will subsequently weaken your foundation. Rust may also occur.
Do I need an overhang on my house?
Importance of a Roof Overhang These structures have an important function which encompasses the protection of doors, windows, siding, and walls from the rain and heat. Without the right overhang protection, sides of a home could rot from rain exposure, or your house could easily feel overheated over the summer.
What style of house has no eaves?
Many architects have designed buildings with sloping roofs without eaves, in which the archetype of the house with a gable roof takes on a simple, almost stripped, minimalist shape.
What is the overhanging edge of a roof called?
Eave: A roof edge that extends past the exterior wall line at the bottom of a slope.
What is the overhang at a gable called?
Gable Roof Parts It has two sloping sides that meet at a peak. Gable roofs contain the following parts: Ridge: The peak of your roof is the ridge. It's the highest point on a sloped roof. Eaves: The eaves are the lower edges of the roof that overhang the home's exterior walls.
What is overhang in real estate?
A wall or roof which extends beyond a lower wall.
What is a structural overhang?
An overhanging structure is a part of a component that is not supported by a solidified material or substrate during the fabrication process.
Who said you can do roof overhangs in modern design?
Martin is also correct when he says that you can do roof overhangs in modern design; Frank Lloyd Wright did it all the time. A great example is the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo. But it helps to have more than a 30' tight urban lot.
Who said every house needs roof overhangs?
In his column titled Musings of an energy nerd, Martin Holladay claims that every house needs roof overhangs. Now I happen to be a big fan of Martin's writing, and completely agree that we have much to learn from the traditional ways of building; there are reasons people built this way. I have sometimes taken such extreme traditional positions that Martin actually called called me a Luddite.
Is it a good idea to have an overhang?
Martin is right; good overhangs are absolutely the right thing to do . If you don't have a parapet and a roof deck above for the upstairs apartment. If you don't have ridiculous building regulations demanding noncombustible construction on the sides. If you don't have setback regulations limiting overhangs to uselessly small dimensions. If you don't mind cantilevered joists breaking your thermal envelope and causing discontinuities in your cladding. If you are facing south where the shading effect might make a difference.
What is the best overhang width for a roof?
After playing around with solar studies in the computer program and tracing the path of the sun with our GPS location we found that the optimal overhang width – that would give complete shading in the summer, ultimate solar gain in the winter, and still looking badass – was a 48″ overhang. Most roofs in this part of the country are 12-20″ wide so 48″ is quite a statement. I loved that fact that it balanced the aesthetics with the practicality of overhangs.
What is the importance of the roof?
The importance of the roof and the cruel truth of overhangs. The roof is what really gives a house it’s personality. Christopher Alexander writes in the Pattern Language No. 117: “The roof plays a primal role in our lives. The most primitive buildings are nothing but a roof.
What type of house had little overhangs?
the early new england homes had little overhangs mostly due to their construction.. they were hewn , usually oak framed, and the common rafters had no birds mouth.. just a seat cut , fully seated on the plate , probably a 6x8..
How long should an overhang be on a house?
I prefer overhangs. In general, about 18 " is the standard, along wth a nice return. Where I've seen it make the biggest functional difference is the life of the paiint/stain on the siding and exterior trim.
How much does it cost to have an overhang on a house in CT?
The reason most builders here in CT don't do overhangs? Cost. And that's from the mouths of the architects and builders. I figure the cost of a standard overhang at $70 a linear foot of roof edge per 12" of overhang. If the house had a 24" overhang and the total perimeter of a simple gable roof measured 200 feet (50 feet long gutter times two, 25' up the rake times four), the estimated cost of the overhang woud be 2 feet times $70 times 200 feet = $2800.
Why didn't Cape Cod have roof overhangs?
It was always my understanding that the "Cape Cod", one of the styles typical to New England, didn't have roof overhangs so that the wind wouldn't have the overhang there as a handle to help tear the roofs off the houses.
What causes uplift in high wind?
Most uplift in high wind situations comes from the "airplane wing effect" of the wind passing over the top of the house.
Why are there no gutters in New England?
The reason that many New England homes are/were designed with minimal or no overhang and no gutters is that they contribute to ice damming. Snow melt over the conditioned space of the house re-freezes at the overhang. Eventually the water can no longer flow down and backs up under the roofing.
Why would a stickframe have a larger overhang?
It seems a larger overhang would be desirable to keep the water runoff as far away from the foundation as possible . Looks like shortsightedness from a practical point of view not to have larger overhangs. But that's never stopped anyone before. Actually in that point of view the whole idea of stickframe above ground and exposed openly to the elements could be debatable as a practical form of homebuilding also.
Why are roof overhangs important?
Roof overhangs have several important functions: they can protect exterior doors, windows, and siding from rain; they can shade windows when solar heat gain is undesirable; and they can help keep basements and crawl spaces dry.
What is roof overhang?
Roof overhangs protect siding, doors, and windows from rot and water entry. Swiss builders have understood the advantages of wide roof overhangs for hundreds of years. Many residential designers pay too little attention to roof overhangs. Roof overhangs have several important functions: they can protect exterior doors, windows, ...
Why does grass not grow so well?
1. Grass does not grow so well when close to the house since rain does not reach the lawn under the eaves. Because its dry and weed prone, watering is needed if you want grass but then watering that defeats the purpose of the overhands intended to keep water away. I have 24” and 36” perimeter gravel borders over weed barrier fabric and galvanized hardware cloth to keep out critters (it’s a country home and ground hogs compulsively nest next to buildings) which means less work to keep grass there.
How does turbulence affect a building?
5. Wide eaves and gable end turbulence affects the microclimate and increases the possibility of capturing and holding pollutants and airborne particulate. It adds a design element to the building and how they affect stacks, chimney performance, etc.
Can a gable roof be too wide?
It’s also possible (although much rarer) for roof overhangs to be too wide. A typical gable roof has two kinds of roof overhangs: eave overhangs and rake overhangs. Because it’s easier to frame a wide eave overhang than a wide rake overhang, problems from stingy overhangs are more common at rakes than eaves.
Can you shade a window with a blocking obstacle?
It is very easy to shade a window with a direct blocking obstacle, but unless the view through the window is seriously uninspiring ( aka side wall of your 20ft far neighbor :p ) , unobstructed sight and indirect light input should be a priority.
Can I build a small roof above a door?
It should be possible to build a small roof to provide weather protection above the door in the photo. I can't comment on whether you can afford to pay for the work, however. If you would like to know what the work would cost, call up a few contractors and ask.
