Replies

1. 
   DavidThomas | Apr 28, 2002 11:42pm | #1

   "A Mansard roof . . . pleasing to the eye". Seems oximoronic to discuss aesthetics with what was originally a tax dodge, IMO. But good look in your search.

   David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska
1. 
   PaulC67 | Apr 29, 2002 03:10am | #3

   Well, I don't think it will qualify as a tax dodge with KPB.

   Paul, Homer, Alaska  Overlooking Kachemak Bay.

1. 
   DavidThomas | Apr 29, 2002 09:48pm | #7

   Pablo: No, The Kenai Peninsula Borough doesn't measure the distance from ground to roofline as was done centuries ago. They don't even count windows to determine one's tax assessment. (Third oldest chemist shop in London is still in my family and has several windows bricked up from tax era).

   I'll admit that the palace of the Louvre (designed by Pierre Lescot) looks prety good - that's where François Mansart got the idea. Like a "Dutch barn" roof, it occasionally looks good but looks so bad as a college dorm or duplex, I find most Mansard roofs off-putting. But if you're going to the trouble of researching proportions and dimensions, you'll probably build one of the better looking ones.

   David Thomas   Overlooking Cook Inlet in Kenai, Alaska

2. 
   Piffin | Apr 29, 2002 03:19am | #4

   http://www.google.com/search?q=Italianate+%2B+Mansard&hl=en&sa=n&oq=Italianete+%2B+Mansard

   I wonder if you are thinking about the Gambrel roofs as a tax dodge. The mansards were part of a very elaborate style that didn't go with poverty. Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   JDRHI | Apr 29, 2002 03:00am | #2

    Regardless of its original design purposes, when done properly a Mansard roof gives a home character missing in a simple Gable or most certainly Hip style roofs.

    I can`t help with proportional specs but FHB had an article on framing not TOO long ago. Try searching the site for back issues.

    Best of luck! ....and post a pic here when you`re done!

   Jay 

   J. D. Reynolds

   Home Improvements

   "DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"

3. 
   TamiSoph | Apr 29, 2002 04:24am | #5

   Pablo-

   I am looking for the same information.  Construction details for a concave (often called a bellcast) mansard roof for a home I am building in North Carolina.  A search of the web has only yielded pictures and architectural descriptions.  If you or anyone else finds this information I would appreciate them posting it.  Thanks in advance for the help.

4. 
   tuffy | Apr 29, 2002 11:28am | #6

   I've never seen anything about deriving specific proportions for mansards--I'd guess it was mostly always based on builders' conventions, copied out of pattern books, or just plain done off the cuff.

   If you want specific framing details, and some examples of actual dimensions and proportions used historically, the best (maybe only) place to look is in the reprints of the old pattern books.  Try these titles (use interlibrary loan if you don't want to purchase them):

   Designs for Street Fronts, Suburban Houses and Cottages

   A Victorian Housebuilder’s Guide: Woodward’s National Architect of 1869

   Bicknell’s Victorian Buildings

   Cottage Architecture of Victorian America

   I've been through the original printings of all of these, and I believe they all have useful information on mansards.
   

1. 
   TamiSoph | Apr 30, 2002 01:03am | #8

   Thanks for the recommendations.  Do you know which of these books has information about the bellcast (concave) mansard roof?  I have "Bicknell's Victorian Buildings" but it only contains information on a standard mansard roof. 

   Oops.  Scratch that.   I have "Victorian City and Country Houses" by Geo. E. Woodward.  Has stuff on mansard roofs, just not bellcast roofs.

   Edited 4/30/2002 10:26:58 AM ET by Tami

5. 
   BossHog | Apr 30, 2002 01:35am | #9

   Can't help with proportions, but do have a suggestion for a "construction detail".

   I did some trusses in that shape once. We basically built a mono truss with the bottom and top chords running through. Then we plated a 2X12 into the truss parallel to the top chord. The 2X12 had already been ripped into the concave shape by a wood shop.

   Really slick, but you have to find a truss manufacturer willing to work with you, and the project has to be big enough to make it worth the setup time.

   Redneck Extraordinaire

1. 
   joeh | Apr 30, 2002 05:53am | #10

   Don't any of you guys subscribe to "Fine Homebuilding" ?  September 2001 #141 page 76 is the detail of how to bell that roof.  It's the lower pitch of a Gambrel roof, but the detail is the same.  Joe H

   It's the one with the guy building a shower on the cover.

1. 
   TamiSoph | Apr 30, 2002 05:28pm | #11

   Thanks Joe.  Sometimes you don't notice something until you need it.