Types of Roofs

The type of roof of your home is one of the most important aspects of properly keeping you cool in the summer and dry in the winter; it is also one of the leading areas that allow your house to breath correctly through the use of ventilation of bathrooms, kitchen fans, and of course the attic space.

There are many types of roofs; most are chosen for the architectural look. Each style has its advantages and benefits. Here is a quick list to familiarize yourself and identify which type you may have.

Hip Roofs

A hip, or also known as a hip and ridge roof is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls. Leaving no gable end walls. Hip roofs are very common in older homes and neighborhoods such as in north, or northeast Portland.

Since there are no gables on a hip style roof, one must take extra care on the ridge portions of this design. We diligently overlap our moisture barrier at the ridges to ensure a leak-free roofing system.

Gable Style Roof

Both hip style and Gable roofs are among the most common roof designs in Portland and surrounding areas, for many reasons, one of them, as most roofing companies in Portland would agree, being that gable style roofs are the best design for cold, rainy climates like the north-west. A gable roof sheds water most efficiently into the gutter system below. The gable roof gets its name from the triangular ends called a gable wall. A gable roof consisted of two roof sections sloping in opposite directions and placed such that the highest, horizontal edges meet to form the roof ridge.

There are many variations of gable roofs; some will have dormers and valleys. On both Hip and Gable style roofs, there are multiple options when it comes to choosing a material type, slate or tile shingles, cedar shingles, or the most common, an asphalt shingle.

Choosing which type of material to use on your home often depends on man factors, for example, the architectural style of your home, the pitch of the roof, and if you live in a neighborhood that has H.O. Requirements. The most common and affordable in most cases is an asphalt shingle.

Diagram of a Gable Roof standard in Portland, Oregon

Flat Roofs

Flat roofs are most common types of roofs for commercial buildings. However, it does not say that residential homes with flat roofs don’t exist. They are much less frequent in Portland and surrounding areas.

The main reason being that flat roof design houses are not designed to shed water very well, they have a minimal slope leading to either an internal gutter system hidden in the eaves of the home, scupper drains on the edge of the house, or one or more central scupper drains depending on the structure of the home.

On a flat roof, the choices of material to be used are limited due to its low pitch or “minimal” slope at all. Flat roofs require rolled roofing such as TPO, Torch down or an EPDM membrane.