There are basically two types of roof overhangs mainly used by people. First, it is eave overhangs, and the next is rake overhangs. Both of which are used in abundance, but aside from those two, you can still meet various overhangs, despite being used only for specific needs. Learn below for more details about overhangs.
Different Types of Roof Overhangs
To be simply put, overhangs are defined as the roof extension beyond the exterior wall. Typically, overhangs protect the house from excessive sunlight during the hottest moment of the day or the summer.
Aside from that, overhangs are also used to protect the house from rains that may ‘smack’ the siding, door, or windows. Although it cannot protect it whole, the effect is minimized.
Let’s dig in to learn what kind of overhang roof design you can find in public houses. As said earlier, you will have these two commonly found: eave and rake overhangs.
The difference between each type of overhang can be seen below.
- Eave overhangs
Eaves are the type of overhangs placed at the edge of the downslope of a roof (typically on a pitched roof). Since it is placed at the lower edge of a roof, this kind of overhang follows the size of the roof length.
- Rake overhangs
Rake overhangs are mainly found only in a gable roof. It is defined as an overhang that can easily be found on the face side of the gable roof. Given it is located on the ‘face’ of a gable roof, you can say that the shape of rake overhangs is often triangular.
What is the difference?
Both are overhangs, but the benefits are pretty different. In eave overhangs, it is often used in the side of a house. Therefore, it is often used to protect the door, wall side, and windows from the sun strike, win, rains, and snow — literally anything weather-related. Given this function, the size is typically wider than the rake counterpart.
Even so, the making of eave overhangs should not be conducted thoughtlessly. It is said that the wider the eaves are, then you need to support the soffit from beneath. That will require you more work to do and more money to spend.
On the contrary, rake overhangs don’t take many roles in protecting the house from rain, sun, etc. Why so? This is because the overhang isn’t that wide. Plus, typically, the face size of a gable doesn’t have a window, door, or anything, especially if the gable is on the backside of the house.
Even so, it doesn’t mean these two are the only types of roof overhangs. Awnings, retractable awnings, canopy, and pergola can also be included in a set of overhangs—despite these being not in one entity with the roof itself.
The use of these roof overhangs on houses depends on how bad you need it. It is a good thing to purchase any of these overhangs and includes them in your house in a specific case. Otherwise, it can ruin your house by adding things to maintain. Plus, it takes space, too.
So, that sums up the information about types of roof overhangs. I hope you find it helpful to understand the types of overhangs.
