FHB Logo Facebook LinkedIn Email Pinterest Twitter X Instagram Tiktok YouTube Plus Icon Close Icon Navigation Search Icon Navigation Search Icon Arrow Down Icon Video Guide Icon Article Guide Icon Modal Close Icon Guide Search Icon Skip to content
Subscribe
Log In
  • How-To
  • Design
  • Tools & Materials
  • Restoration
  • Videos
  • Blogs
  • Forum
  • Magazine
  • Members
  • FHB House
  • Podcast
Log In

Discussion Forum

Discussion Forum

sloped/curved/sweeping roofline?

| Posted in Construction Techniques on October 8, 2008 06:19am

Hello All,

My first post even though I have the first issue of FHB.  Enjoy every issue cover to cover.

We are in the process of designing our first new house after remodeling 14 old ones.  We want a cottage style with a sloped/curved/sweeping roof line.  I have searched the knowledgebase for hours and cannot find an article on how this roof line should be constructed.  I believe I saw it in an old copy years ago.  I searched on all three descriptions (sloped/curved/sweeping roof line) and came up empty, so my first question is what is this type roof line called?

The second is where can I find an article or Taunton book that describes how it should be designed and constructed?

Google found a cedar roof manual that calls this style: 

Swept or Bell Eave, what do you think?

Thanks in Advance,

Peter


Edited 10/8/2008 11:47 am ET by pjamme

Reply
  • X
  • facebook
  • linkedin
  • pinterest
  • email
  • add to favorites Log in or Sign up to save your favorite articles

Replies

  1. User avater
    Sphere | Oct 08, 2008 06:24pm | #1

    Try searching "Pagoda" style. And "eyebrow"

    Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks

    Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations

     

    They kill Prophets, for Profits.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj_oEx4-Mc4

     

    The world of people goes up and
    down and people go up and down with
    their world; warriors have no business
    following the ups and downs of their
    fellow men.
    1. pjamme | Oct 10, 2008 05:23pm | #7

      Sphere.

      Thanks for the reply, but I was thinking of something less sweeping.  Working on an English cottage type design.

       

  2. fingersandtoes | Oct 08, 2008 06:35pm | #2

    I think the problem is that your description is far too general and covers many different styles from traditional Craftsman to Gullwing roofs. Any chance of a sketch or photo showing what you like?

    1. pjamme | Oct 10, 2008 05:29pm | #9

      Fingersandtoes,

      As I stated to Sphre above I am striving for an English cottage style.  We have a drawing from riverbend but it has a straight 12/12 peek and we wanted steeper and slightly sloped like in the attached jpegs.  Hopefully they are attached.

      1. fingersandtoes | Oct 10, 2008 06:37pm | #13

        This may not be much help as I can't remember what issue or even the year, but FHB had a feature on framing similar curved roofs. (If you have all those FHBs, it's in there somewhere!). Many of the old Craftsmen houses here in Victoria have that detail. It softens the roof profile, and although it is a bit more work is well worth the effort.

        Good luck with the house.

        1. pjamme | Oct 17, 2008 05:53pm | #25

          Fingersandtoes,

          Winter is coming, I may drag out all my old issues from the attic and go through them.  If I find what you are referring to, I'll post back.

           

          Thanks,

  3. mikeroop | Oct 09, 2008 12:29am | #3

    The roof you are describing is fairly common in our area and looks really nice if the design fits your style of house. The roof is actually concave I recently posted some pictures in the photo gallery of a concave bay window roof check them out. I will be adding more soon with the copper on.

  4. rlrefalo | Oct 09, 2008 02:19am | #4

    Are you talking about a radiused transition between a shed porch roof and the main gabled  roof ? I think they are called a catslide roof. It's framed by adding radiused rafters at the junction between the two roofs.

    Rich

    1. pjamme | Oct 10, 2008 05:34pm | #10

      rlrefalo,

      I found a drawing of a catslide and I do not believe that is what we are going for though.  Thanks for the input.

      1. rlrefalo | Oct 14, 2008 03:04pm | #21

        I googled images of catslide roofs and came up with something completely different from what I was thinking. I thought a catslide was what Dinosaur was showing in his post. .... My error, sorry.

        Rich

  5. User avater
    Dinosaur | Oct 09, 2008 03:09am | #5

    View Image

    This is a typical Québecois curved roof on a gambrel. The upper rafter and lower rafter are bridged with a curved piece called a 'coyau' in French; I have no idea what it's called in English. On this job, I designed the curve to a specific radius, but when it came time to cut it I simply eyeballed a cardboard template and then gang-cut them out of 2x12s on a bandsaw.

    To bend the sheathing: Kerf the top side of the plywood and don't try to bend anything heavier than ½".

    A very good alternative is to use plank roof sheathing. You likely won't be able to find 1x T&G spruce anymore, but standard square-edged or better yet radius-edged 1x4 will do fine for the curved section; you can go to 1x6 for the flats or shim the edges of ½" or ⅝" ply to fair the joint. Try to get the planks KD if you can; if not, let it sit a week or so in the sun after it's nailed on but before you black it in. If the weather is lousy, do what you gotta do, but don't put up the insulation or inside finish until the planks have at least lost most of their surface water.

    Dinosaur

    How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
    low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
    foolish men call Justice....

    1. pjamme | Oct 10, 2008 05:37pm | #11

      Dinosaur

      That looks like what I want, thanks a bunch.  Is there any literature or books describing this in detail or do you figure it out on your own?

       

      Check out my jpegs above.

       

      Québecois refers to Quebec, how interesting as my heritage is from Quebec and that area going back to the French & Indian Wars.  Must be in the blood.  I'll do more research on Québecois.

      Edited 10/10/2008 10:40 am ET by pjamme

      Edited 10/10/2008 10:43 am ET by pjamme

      1. User avater
        Dinosaur | Oct 14, 2008 07:51pm | #22

        Is there any literature or books describing this in detail or do you figure it out on your own?

        There is a ton of published material on traditional Québec architecture but most of what I was able to find quickly on the web is in French. If you can read French, try running a Google search on architecture Québecois toit galbé.

        Dinosaur

        How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....

        1. pjamme | Oct 17, 2008 05:51pm | #24

          Alas, I am ignorant in language skills also.  Fair at English and took two years of Latin, which helps somewhat with the romance languages.

          1. User avater
            Dinosaur | Oct 17, 2008 06:55pm | #26

            Well, Google will 'translate' a non-English page for you if you ask it nicely, but whether or not the result will make any sense to you is another question.

            It's not that hard to figure out on your own. Draw an elevation of the gable wall, and pencil-in a curve that looks good to your eye. Then fair that with a compass or ship's curve. Finally determine the radius (to scale) by trial and error. If you're very architecturally catholic or just plain Type-A, you'll actually lay out that radius on a big floor and cut precisely that arc when it comes time to build. Otherwise, you'll eyeball it. Remember, the original builders of these roofs were farmers and colonists; the point of putting that curve there was to accumulate a big snow drift on the roof as insulation. The fact it looks lovely was a bonus to them.

            The lower rafters in my photo are for a porch roof. If you only want a 12"-18" eaves, you don't need separate rafters; all you need are 'lookouts' or soffit joists extending from the building wall on a horizontal plane. The curved 'coyau' piece joins the rafters and these lookouts.

            Dinosaur

            How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....

        2. zift | Oct 17, 2008 10:06pm | #27

          tu penses dire un toit gablé

          1. User avater
            Dinosaur | Oct 20, 2008 04:33am | #28

            Yep; that's what it's called. Le toit galbé, c'était utilisé sur plusieurs sorts de toit, aussi: les mansardes, les gambrels, et aussi les toits à pignon bien ordinaire. S'il y avait un larmière, le courbe se situait entre les deux toits; sinon, il faisait partie de l'avant toit.

            Dinosaur

            How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not broughtlow by this? For thine evil pales before that whichfoolish men call Justice....

  6. Piffin | Oct 09, 2008 04:35am | #6

    Wopuld this be a crown up canopy type like a gothic arch or a witches hat/gullwing style as shown by Dino

     

     

    Welcome to the
    Taunton University of
    Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
     where ...
    Excellence is its own reward!

  7. jimmiem | Oct 10, 2008 05:26pm | #8

    What are the trim screws made of?

     

    1. pjamme | Oct 10, 2008 05:42pm | #12

      Jimmiem,

      Not sure what you are asking about, but you may have posted to the wrong post??

      1. jimmiem | Oct 10, 2008 07:32pm | #14

        I did get on the wrong post.  Sorry about that.

  8. JoeBartok | Oct 10, 2008 08:33pm | #15

    Circular Arc tangent to Rafter ... there is a link to an Excel worksheet at the top of the page.

    Joe Bartok
    1. pjamme | Oct 13, 2008 01:02am | #20

      Joe,

      great info, I shall surely peruse it to its' fullest

  9. frenchy | Oct 10, 2008 09:50pm | #16

    You might want to go to 94941.1 and look at that roof.  the edges are radiused in order to get an English thatch weave look.

    1. pjamme | Oct 13, 2008 12:46am | #17

      Frency,

      I am ignorant I guess.  What do you mean by 94941.1?

      Is that a message number?  I did a search on th site andd came up blank.

      Edited 10/12/2008 5:49 pm ET by pjamme

      1. frenchy | Oct 13, 2008 12:49am | #18

        Look over to the left.   In the advanced search you scroll down a bit and there's where you enter that number.

        1. pjamme | Oct 13, 2008 01:01am | #19

          Found it, thanks.  Great looking house.  I'll check out the jpegs.

          1. frenchy | Oct 14, 2008 08:13pm | #23

            Is that what you're thinking of? 

  10. sheaker | Jan 24, 2016 02:15pm | #29

    pjamme,

    in 2008 you had a discussion on a sloped, curved roof design with Dinasour. I am interested in the same style of roof design and would enjoy any information or pics or links to the 94941.1 drawing referenced in the post. I can find the advanced search window..

    sheaker

  11. sheaker | Jan 24, 2016 02:16pm | #30

    pjamme,

    in 2008 you had a discussion on a sloped, curved roof design with Dinasour. I am interested in the same style of roof design and would enjoy any information or pics or links to the 94941.1 drawing referenced in the post. I can find the advanced search window..

    sheaker

  12. sheaker | Jan 24, 2016 02:16pm | #31

    pjamme,

    in 2008 you had a discussion on a sloped, curved roof design with Dinasour. I am interested in the same style of roof design and would enjoy any information or pics or links to the 94941.1 drawing referenced in the post. I can find the advanced search window..

    sheaker

  13. Geoffrey | Jan 24, 2016 11:06pm | #32

    Bow roof style

    Peter,

     Maybe this will start you in the right direction.

    bow roof style - Bing images

    Geoff

Log in or create an account to post a comment.

Sign up Log in

Become a member and get full access to FineHomebuilding.com

Video Shorts

Categories

  • Business
  • Code Questions
  • Construction Techniques
  • Energy, Heating & Insulation
  • General Discussion
  • Help/Work Wanted
  • Photo Gallery
  • Reader Classified
  • Tools for Home Building

Discussion Forum

Recent Posts and Replies

  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |
  • |
View More Create Post

Up Next

Video Shorts

Featured Story

FHB Summit 2025 — Design, Build, Business

Join some of the most experienced and recognized building professionals for two days of presentations, panel discussions, networking, and more.

Featured Video

How to Install Cable Rail Around Wood-Post Corners

Use these tips to keep cables tight and straight for a professional-looking deck-railing job.

Related Stories

  • Podcast Episode 686: Brick Steps, Ground-Source Heat Pumps, and Greenhouses in Nova Scotia
  • FHB Podcast Segment: Efficient HVAC for a New Build
  • Affordable Scans, Accurate Plans
  • FHB Summit 2025 — Design, Build, Business

Highlights

Fine Homebuilding All Access
Fine Homebuilding Podcast
Tool Tech
Plus, get an extra 20% off with code GIFT20

"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.

Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox

Signing you up...

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
See all newsletters
See all newsletters

Fine Homebuilding Magazine

  • Issue 331 - June 2025
    • A More Resilient Roof
    • Tool Test: You Need a Drywall Sander
    • Ducted vs. Ductless Heat Pumps
  • Issue 330 - April/May 2025
    • Deck Details for Durability
    • FAQs on HPWHs
    • 10 Tips for a Long-Lasting Paint Job
  • Issue 329 - Feb/Mar 2025
    • Smart Foundation for a Small Addition
    • A Kominka Comes West
    • Making Small Kitchens Work
  • Issue 328 - Dec/Jan 2024
    • How a Pro Replaces Columns
    • Passive House 3.0
    • Tool Test: Compact Line Lasers
  • Issue 327 - November 2024
    • Repairing Damaged Walls and Ceilings
    • Plumbing Protection
    • Talking Shop

Fine Home Building

Newsletter Sign-up

  • Fine Homebuilding

    Home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox.

  • Green Building Advisor

    Building science and energy efficiency advice, plus special offers, in your inbox.

  • Old House Journal

    Repair, renovation, and restoration tips, plus special offers, in your inbox.

Signing you up...

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
See all newsletters

Follow

  • Fine Homebuilding

    Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.

    Start Free Trial Now
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • X
    • LinkedIn
  • GBA Prime

    Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.

    Start Free Trial Now
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • Old House Journal

    Learn how to restore, repair, update, and decorate your home.

    Subscribe Now
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • X
  • Fine Homebuilding

    Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.

    Start Free Trial Now
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • X
    • LinkedIn
  • GBA Prime

    Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.

    Start Free Trial Now
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
  • Old House Journal

    Learn how to restore, repair, update, and decorate your home.

    Subscribe Now
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • X

Membership & Magazine

  • Online Archive
  • Start Free Trial
  • Magazine Subscription
  • Magazine Renewal
  • Gift a Subscription
  • Customer Support
  • Privacy Preferences
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Terms of Use
  • Site Map
  • Do not sell or share my information
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • California Privacy Rights

© 2025 Active Interest Media. All rights reserved.

Fine Homebuilding receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.

  • Home Group
  • Antique Trader
  • Arts & Crafts Homes
  • Bank Note Reporter
  • Cabin Life
  • Cuisine at Home
  • Fine Gardening
  • Fine Woodworking
  • Green Building Advisor
  • Garden Gate
  • Horticulture
  • Keep Craft Alive
  • Log Home Living
  • Military Trader/Vehicles
  • Numismatic News
  • Numismaster
  • Old Cars Weekly
  • Old House Journal
  • Period Homes
  • Popular Woodworking
  • Script
  • ShopNotes
  • Sports Collectors Digest
  • Threads
  • Timber Home Living
  • Traditional Building
  • Woodsmith
  • World Coin News
  • Writer's Digest
Active Interest Media logo
X
X
This is a dialog window which overlays the main content of the page. The modal window is a 'site map' of the most critical areas of the site. Pressing the Escape (ESC) button will close the modal and bring you back to where you were on the page.

Main Menu

  • How-To
  • Design
  • Tools & Materials
  • Video
  • Blogs
  • Forum
  • Project Guides
  • Reader Projects
  • Magazine
  • Members
  • FHB House

Podcasts

  • FHB Podcast
  • ProTalk

Webinars

  • Upcoming and On-Demand

Podcasts

  • FHB Podcast
  • ProTalk

Webinars

  • Upcoming and On-Demand

Popular Topics

  • Kitchens
  • Business
  • Bedrooms
  • Roofs
  • Architecture and Design
  • Green Building
  • Decks
  • Framing
  • Safety
  • Remodeling
  • Bathrooms
  • Windows
  • Tilework
  • Ceilings
  • HVAC

Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues
  • Magazine Index
  • Subscribe
  • Online Archive
  • Author Guidelines

All Access

  • Member Home
  • Start Free Trial
  • Gift Membership

Online Learning

  • Courses
  • Project Guides
  • Reader Projects
  • Podcast

More

  • FHB Ambassadors
  • FHB House
  • Customer Support

Account

  • Log In
  • Join

Newsletter

Get home building tips, offers, and expert advice in your inbox

Signing you up...

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
See all newsletters
See all newsletters

Follow

  • X
  • YouTube
  • instagram
  • facebook
  • pinterest
  • Tiktok

Join All Access

Become a member and get instant access to thousands of videos, how-tos, tool reviews, and design features.

Start Your Free Trial

Subscribe

FHB Magazine

Start your subscription today and save up to 70%

Subscribe

Enjoy unlimited access to Fine Homebuilding. Join Now

Already a member? Log in

We hope you’ve enjoyed your free articles. To keep reading, become a member today.

Get complete site access to expert advice, how-to videos, Code Check, and more, plus the print magazine.

Start your FREE trial

Already a member? Log in

Privacy Policy Update

We use cookies, pixels, script and other tracking technologies to analyze and improve our service, to improve and personalize content, and for advertising to you. We also share information about your use of our site with third-party social media, advertising and analytics partners. You can view our Privacy Policy here and our Terms of Use here.

Cookies

Analytics

These cookies help us track site metrics to improve our sites and provide a better user experience.

Advertising/Social Media

These cookies are used to serve advertisements aligned with your interests.

Essential

These cookies are required to provide basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website.

Delete My Data

Delete all cookies and associated data