Roofing Terms & Definitions

Area Divider

A flashed assembly usually extending above the surface of the roof that is anchored to the roof deck. It is used to relieve thermal stresses in a roof system where an expansion joint is not required, or to separate large roof areas.

Asphalt Shingles

Composition roof shingles made from asphalt-impregnated felt covered with mineral granules.

Barrel Roof

A roof configuration with a partial cylindrical shape to it.

Built Up Roof

Roof composed of multiple layers of asphalt felt laminated with coal tar, pitch or asphalt with a top layer of crushed slag or gravel. Normally issued on flat roofs or those with very slight slope.

Butterfly Roof

A roof assembly which pitches sharply from either side toward the center.

Dormer Rafter

Roof rafters, which frame the dormer roof.

Dutch Hip Roof

Roof with the upper gable ends of the roof being built with a short hip section.

Flashing

Metal strips, used to prevent water seepage, and installed around chimney, vents, windows, doors, and skylights, along seams in the roof and beneath shingles. The purpose of flashing is to prevent the penetration of water as well as to provide a drainage passageway between joints, most commonly the joint between a roof and a wall.

Gable

A triangular-shaped portion of the end wall of a building directly under the sloping roof and above the Eave line.

Gambrel

A roof that has two different pitches.

Hip

The angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.

Pavilion Roof

Hip roof with the length of both hips being equal.

Pyramid Roof

Roof having four triangular sides forming a point at the top of a pyramid. A pyramid roof is primarily used for steeples on top of churches or certain public buildings.

Re-roofing

The procedure of installing a new roof system.

Ridge Shingles

Shingles used to cover the horizontal external angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.

Roof Deck

That component in building construction, which forms a platform on which the remainder of the B.U.R.M. components are placed.

Roof Run

The vertical rise of a roof over a certain horizontal distance (run).

Roof Sheathing

Flat boards which are nailed to the rafters on the top of a house, to which tar paper and then shingles are attached.

Roof Truss

A triangular structure used to support a roof. Multiple trusses are used to assemble the framework for a roof.

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