When you look at a roof, what do you see? Chances are, if you’re like any other homeowner without professional roofing experience, you probably see the basics: shingles, gutters, chimneys and the like. However, if you’re a roofing professional, your scope of vision is much more refined, allowing you to see the specialized components of every roof and their objectives. Here are a few parts of roof structures in Thousand Oaks, CA that you may never have known even existed if you’re a regular homeowner:
Hips: Roof hips are essentially the corners of a roof that connect planes together. For example, if your roof has four sides, at each point that those planes collide, there’s a hip. Hips are usually marked by a layer of shingles or other roofing materials that are curved over to connect the two planes together. Think of a roof hip as the convergent point for the different faces of a roof. Roof hips are important because they allow your roof to protect your home against the elements, even at a point where there would normally be exposure.
Drip Edge: No roof structure in Thousand Oaks, CA would be complete without a drip edge. This facet of your roof does exactly what it’s named for: overhangs the structure of your home in order to allow water and other precipitation to drip off, away from your siding. Drip edges are often paired with gutters, allowing you to control the flow of water as it’s funneled away from your roof.
Soffits: A soffit is the gap between a roofline and a home’s siding and can be used to complement a roof in a variety of ways. In some home constructions, soffits can be used to help improve the ventilation of a home, while in others, they’re used more for support. Soffits are often called “eaves” in relation to a home.
Fascia: Often found in the same location as the soffits or eaves of a home, fascia is an architectural facet that allows for gutters to be mounted. Often times, fascia boards are connected directly to the inner rafters of a roof, making them extensions of the core structure of many roofs.
Vents: When you’re surveying your home’s roofing plane and shingles, you may notice a metallic grate here and there. This is generally a vent and is used… well, for venting. Roof vents allow airflow in and out of your home, alleviating the possibility for condensation and moisture buildup in hard to reach areas of your roof. Vents also promote heat exchange, which can reduce other attic hazards that can develop through improper ventilation.
Gable: Is there an overhang that marks the entrance to your home? Does this overhang have two converging sides that meet in the center, sometimes with a vent marking the meeting point? If this describes part of your roof, you probably have a gable. A gable is generally considered part of the roof, even if it’s small, because it connects to the rest of the structure and shares all of the same components.