Just to the right of this large bump out is a very small bump out for a kitchen area window seat. At the front of the house is a bump out which is covered with a 4:12 shed roof. Our house (sketch shown below) combines just two basic roof types, gable roofs and shed roofs. For this tutorial, we'll discuss house design for simple types of roofs and combinations of these common types. Naturally house exteriors can get a lot more complicated than the examples above. Identify the various roof types and how and where they inter-connect. Examine the basic house shapes used for each home type below. In the case of a modern house with strong lines, the front door could be in an indent of the home without affecting the roof line.īy combining the basic building block shapes, many more complex home types can be created without making the house too difficult or expensive to build. But even in this case it is desirable to have some kind of shelter over the front door. Some very modern houses may however be striving for these boxy lines. This brings a bit of relief to the hard lines of a simple box shape. This variation can be something as simple as having a roofed porch that protrudes from the front of the house for the front door. For a very small home this may work beautifully but many homes can look too boxy without at least some simple variations in the roof. Typically, the least expensive exterior house designs to build are the ones which incorporate one single roof type. Any roof with a slope of 2:12 or less is usually called a flat roof. To allow for drainage on a “flat” roof, there is typically a slight slope in one direction. In North America the slope is generally expressed as the rise in ratio to 12 inches, so the second number is always 12.Įven a flat roof is rarely completely flat. One house could have a gable roof of 3:12 (barely sloped) another could have a gable slope of 14:12 (very steeply sloped). So a roof that rises four inches over a horizontal distance of 12 inches would be described as a 4:12 roof (simply pronounced “four twelve”). Roof slope is expressed as a ratio of rise over run or, in other words, the vertical rise of the roof over a given horizontal distance. With all of these types of roof, the pitch can vary widely. A shed roof can protrude from the side of another house shape or out through the roof to provide a shed dormer.
A simple gable roof can have a dormer or two. Keep in mind that these basic building block shapes can be combined in many ways. By sticking to variations of the different roof types, your home construction will be far easier to finance.īelow are several of the most basic house shapes. If you are just starting out, go to the Design Your Own Home tutorial introduction or see our tutorial site map.Īlthough you could design absolutely any exterior house design imaginable, it may take some wizardry and a great deal of expense to frame and roof a fanciful design. This module (Exterior House Designs) assumes that you have completed the previous modules.
This is module 6 of the Design Your Own House tutorial. We will also discuss basic residential structural design and planning for utilities and services. Types of homes and in particular roof types should be considered before you firm up the walls of your indoor spaces diagrams.
Exterior House Designs Module 6: Design Your Own Home Tutorialīefore continuing on with designing floor plans, we'll need to take a quick look at the various exterior house designs.