Building Construction III

Roofs

Sloping
Flat Roofs
Roofs

Vernacular R.C.C Single Double Triple

Flat roofs Roofs Roofs Roofs roofs
 Sloping
Roofs

Single roof
Double roof Triple roof

Lean to Close Collar beam Mansard Complex

Couple roof King post Queen post
roof couple roof roof roof truss
Technical terms in Pitched roofs
Timber: A squared off piece of wood that is used structurally
Post: The primary vertical timbers in a timber frame.
Beam: The primary horizontal support timbers in a timber frame
Rafters: Pieces of timber which extend from Eaves to Ridge.
Types
1. Common rafters: Intermediate rafters which give support to
roof covering
2. Principal Rafters: Inclined members of truss
3. Hip rafters: Rafters provided at the junction of two roof slopes
4. Jack rafters: any rafter shorter than common rafter

Barge boards: These are the wooden planks or boards fixed on the gable end of roof

Gable: the triangular upper part of a wall formed at the end of a pitched roof

Hip: The angle formed at the intersection of two roof slopes

Valley: when two roof surfaces meet together and form an internal angle
 Ridge ( ridge board / ridge piece):
A wooden piece provided at the ridge line of a
sloping roof

Purlins: A horizontal members placed horizontally on

principal rafters to carry the common rafters and
spans the distance between gable ends

Battens: These are the thin strips of wood fixed on the rafters. They support roof ceiling

Cleats: These are small blocks of wood which are fixed on the trusses to prevent the sliding of
purlins

Pitch: the inclination of sides of a roof to the horizontal plane (degrees)

Eaves: The lower edges of a roof which are resting upon or beyond support walls
 Span ( clear span): horizontal distance
between the internal faces of walls or
supports

Effective span: horizontal distance between

the centers of wall / support

Wall plates: These are the long wooden members embedded on top of walls to receive common
rafters. They connect the walls to the roof.

Verge: The edge of a gable running between the eaves and ridge

Truss: The framework usually of triangles and designed to support roof covering or ceiling
over rooms
 Single roofs

Single roofs are those which consist of only rafter and supported ridge. such kind of
roofs is used when the span is limited to 5m only. If span exceeds the element does
take up the load, while to counter the load high durable materials and techniques
should be used.
Lean to roof
Lean to roof has slope on one side is generally used to cover veranadaha. One the wall plate common rafters are
placed at certain distance and on top of that battens are placed. the spanning capacity of this roof is 2.5m to 3m. It
has slope of max. 30 degree.

rafters
Tie beam
Wall plate

Column
Couple roof
This kind of roof is formed by couple of rafters fastened to the ridge
piece. This roof is not in practice because of load it has tendency to
spread out .thus it is used only for span less 3.6m

ridge

Roof
covering

Rafter
Closed Couple roof
This kind of roof is formed by couple of rafters fastened to the ridge piece. The only difference is that it has tie beam, due to it doesn’t
spread out .thus it is used only for span less 4.5mthe tie beam is of wood or steel.

covering
rafters

Wall plate

Tie beam
Collar beam roof
.
It is same kind of roof with couple close roof, the only difference is the collar beam is place between rafter and not
having direct connection with wall. So load is transfer through the collar to wall and prevent the rafter to bend. The
spanning capacity is 5m.

Collar beam

rafters

Roof covering
Scissor roof
This kind of roof is called scissor roof because rafter cross each other and support the roof. The spanning capacity of roof
is 6m to 7m.
Thank you