Phone Number: 719-315-4669
TYPES OF ROOFS
The Truss Mill
There are many different types of roofs available in many different shapes and styles. They are often combined to have various different looks all together at the same time. Below are some of the most common roof types that are seen but are not limited to these. There are many more.
These roof Types are shown for reference to help provide information about the most common types of roofs.
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Pressing the image will give the name of the roof type and further below will be more information about the roof.
* These Roof Types have been Ordered below by Price. Lowest to Highest
MOST COMMON ROOF TYPES
These of the most common types of roofs here in Southern Colorado. They may be called by different names in other parts of the country but here in Colorado, this is what they are commonly called.
The outline of the roof profile in green has been added to highlight the roof profile edges.
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* These Roof Types have been Ordered below by Price. Lowest to Highest
1. GABLE ROOF
A Gable roof, the most common and affordable, is one where there is a single ridgeline or peak that is formed from two walls that are parallel with each other and have a sloping roof coming together to meet at a single point. The walls perpendicular to these have vertical slopes that continue up until they meet the roof. This is the most common roof type that can be found almost everywhere.
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They are the most affordable roofs because all of the trusses are exact copies of each other. This allows repeated members for cutting and setup not only within the truss itself but also shorter variations of the truss.
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2. TUDORÂ ROOF/ CLIPPED GABLE
A Tudor roof, is similar to a Hip roof but the end walls slope starts at a point much higher than the wall heights and slope until the meet the side walls. This run is a shorter distance and gives a look that appears like the Gable roofs peak has been clipped off. This is why a Tudor roof is sometimes referred to as a "Clipped Gable".
3. GABLE ROOF WITH PARTIAL VAULTED CEILING
A Gable roof with a partially vaulted ceiling looks the same as a Gable roof from the outside of the home. Part of the trusses then have the bottom portion of the truss, the ceiling, sloped like the shown image.
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This means that 2 different trusses that share some of the same properties make up the entire roof. Because there are 2 different trusses it raises the cost of the roof over the more common Gable roof because there are more pieces now that are different than the original truss.
4. DUTCH HIP ROOF
A Dutch Hip roof, is a roof that is very similar to a Hip roof. All the walls involved have a slope that angles up from them but 2 of the opposite walls slope only runs for a short distance and then stops and goes vertical from that point until it reaches the roof from the side walls. This vertical rise is the same as a Gable roofs end wall. A Dutch Hip roof is similar to both the Hip roof and the Gable roof and is essentially a combination of them put together in one roof.
5. MONO OR SHED ROOF
A Mono roof or sometimes referred to as a Shed roof, is similar to a Gable roof but only one side has a slope to it and continues to slope until the opposite wall or meets an ending point like an upper wall. This simple roof is often used on porches or small extended rooms.
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The main reason this truss shows up as #5 for pricing is because every member of the truss is different. This causes more labor to build the truss than the Gable. A Gable truss is symmetric so only half of the members have to be cut but then doubled to make up the opposite side of the truss.
6. HIP ROOF
A Hip roof is similar in a way to a pyramid. All the walls have a slope and the roofs all angle upwards until they meet. In the image they meet only for 3 of the sides which causes two of the slopes to meet to form a short ridgeline. This may or may not be the case. It all depends on the layout of the house.
Hip roofs are very common but also the most expensive roofs there are due to having very few repeat build trusses in them.
7. GABLE ROOF FULL VAULT
This roof is the same as the Gable roof partial vault but all trusses are now vaulted.
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This looks exactly the same as the Gable roof from the outside of the house.
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This is not typically done for an entire house but for price comparison it has been added to show how it ranks in order of price.
8. TALL HEEL GABLE ROOF (ENERGY HEEL)
A Tall Heel Gable roof looks nearly the same as a Gable roof but has a taller heel in it. This can sometimes be done to raise the peak of the roof to add a variation of the roofline but is more commonly done for insulation purposes.
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This type of roof is often called an "Energy Heel" roof.
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By adding a taller heel to a Gable roof it typically adds 4 additional webs, like the truss shown in the image, to the truss which increases the total cost of the roof.
9. GAMBREL OR BARN ROOF
A Gambrel roof or Barn Style roof, is very similar to the Gable roof. The opposite sides have a slope, but the end walls do not. The opposite sides slope for a short distance at a steeper angle and then change to a lower slope until they meet in the middle. The end walls go vertical until they reach the roof making the walls appear to be taller on the ends than on the sides.
10. TALL HEEL PARTIAL VAULT GABLE ROOF
This roof looks exactly like the Gable roof from the outside of the home but has a vaulted ceiling throughout the entire home.
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A tall heel truss is often called an "Energy Heel" which is done to increase the depth of insulation in the attic to increase the R-Value of the insulation.
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​Truss image used was for shape reference only and was not the exact truss used for pricing.
11. TALL HEEL FULL VAULTED GABLE ROOF
This roof looks exactly like the Gable roof from the outside of the home but has a vaulted ceiling throughout the entire home.
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A tall heel truss is often called an "Energy Heel" which is done to increase the depth of insulation in the attic to increase the R-Value of the insulation.
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A vault for the entire house would be a little bit out of the ordinary but was included to show how this would compare to other roofs for price.
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It is more likely that the roof would be partially gable and partially vaulted.
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Truss image used was for shape reference only and was not the exact truss used for pricing.
12. STEEP PITCH PIGGYBACK GABLE ROOF
This is one of the roofs that was done with a different pitch to show a steep pitch Gable roof with piggyback trusses. This setup has a steep pitch base truss that has a flat section on the top because it is too tall to manufacture at its full height and is split into 2 separate pieces. A bottom base and a top cap. These are put together in the field.
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The price is increased on these trusses for 2 large factors. First it has twice as many trusses being built and 2nd almost 2 times the board footage as the 1st Gable roof on this page.
TYPES OF ROOFS
There are many different types of roofs to choose from but if you go to different parts of the country or go to different countries for that matter they may be called by different names. We will be using the name of the most common roof types here in Southern Colorado but these are only for reference usage. This will help when you're trying to call the roof types by name but most roof systems today are made up of complex shapes.
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If you Google "Truss Names" you will find a ton of truss shapes with some really elaborate names but most of what you're going to find is the name of a truss webbing configuration. That only really matters if you are a truss manufacturer or a civil engineer or student and even then, it's not going to help you much today.
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When you're looking at the different types of roofs you will want to understand the difference between top chords and bottom chords. The top chords are the members of the truss that make up the top profile of the truss and the bottom chords are the members that make up the bottom profile of the truss. I'm getting into the different parts of a truss breifly so that I can help you to understand that when I talk about the different types of a roof, I'm actually talking about the different types of top chord profiles.
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For example, when I say that one type of a roof is a Gable Roof, I'm actually talking about the top chord profile only. This is what you see when you are outside of a home and see the roof but the bottom chord of the truss could have any shape to it that is possible. The roof is still a Gable Roof.
* PRICING
All of the different types of roofs on this page have been ordered by price from least cost to most.
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These were based upon a typical 2000 square foot model house with a 2 car garage with loading for Fremont County, Colorado. All trusses used the same pitch unless they were a unique truss type like the Gambrel roof and the Steep Pitch Piggyback Gable Roof.
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Note: This is a general guideline based upon our manufacturing processes at The Truss Mill. This may change based upon span, pitch, snow load, roofing material, ceiling type, building codes and many other factors that could change the designs.
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Pricing varies with all truss manufacturers because all truss manufacturers have very different equipment, design methods, manufacturing processes and overhead cost.