Roofing Glossary
These are some common roofing terms used by professionals:
- Building paper
- Heavy-duty paper used in walls or roofs to prevent dampness
- Cornice
- Horizontal projection under the roof's overhang
- Dormer
- The projecting frame of a recess in a sloping roof
- Eaves
- The part of the roof that extends beyond the house or building walls
- Flashing
- A non-reactive metal that's used to prevent leaks around angles or junctions in roofs and exterior walls
- Gable
- The triangular part of a wall under the inverted "v" of the roofline
- Gambrel roof
- A roof with two pitches, designed to provide more space on upper floors - steeper on its lower slope, flatter toward the ridge.
- Gutter
- A trough at the eaves that channels and drains rain water
- Hip
- The external angle of two slopes on a roof
- Hip roof
- A roof with three or four sides that slant upward
- Pitch
- The steepness or angle of a roof
- Rafter
- One of many structural roof beams that span from an exterior wall to a center ridge beam or ridge board
- Sheathing
- The undercoating (usually made of material or board) that covers the outside wall or roof before installing the finished siding or roof covering
- Soffit
- The visible underside of such structures as staircases, cornices, beams, a roof overhang or eave
- Valley
- The lowest part between two connecting roof slopes
- Verge
- The edge of tiles, slates or shingles, projecting over the gable of a roof
