7 Unique Roof Styles You May Not Know About

If you’re building a new home, one of the first choices you’ll get to make is picking an elevation — simply put, that means what the outside of the house looks like. Play close attention to whether those elevations come with different roof designs. If you are custom-building a home, then you will have even more say over the roof style. The style of your roof could change not only the look of your home, but its function and efficiency, too. Here’s a roundup of seven beautiful and unique roof styles you should consider for your home.

Frame Gable Roof

This classic and symmetrical shape is what we learn when we first draw a house on paper as a child. It’s the most widely used roof shape in the United States, and it easily sheds rain and snow in more wet climates. The high pitch provides ample attic space that can often be finished into additional rooms or storage spaces.

Cross Gable Roof

This roof style is similar to the basic gable, but it includes additional gabled roof sections of the home, joining the main frame at a right angle to allow for more space and more interesting design. This home also features a shed roof over the front porch.

Flat Roof

This style of roof is as it sounds—flat. There is an imperceptible pitch to allow for runoff. Though most often used in commercial building, flat roofs pop up in modern architecture, like this amazing home with a tree living through it! In addition to a cool aesthetic, the flat roof can be used as an extended outdoor living or gardening area.

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Inverted Curve Roof

A traditional curved roof slopes down toward the ground, but this hyper-modern curved roof bends up toward the sky. They’re trickier to build, but a curved roof will definitely set your house apart from the neighbors—and it can lend some subtle shape to the inside ceiling as well.

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Mansard Roof

This roof is also known as a French roof, and the sides come down and meet a low pitched roof. This style traditionally includes extra living space with dormers inserted along the roof to bring light into the uppermost living area or attic. This style can be built with future additions in mind—the dormers and finished living space can be added later.

Shed Roof

This style of roof is characterized by the asymmetrical angle of the roof running from one side of the house to the other. The design was popularized in the United States in the 60s, and it’s making a comeback with the emergence of mid-century architecture.

Salt Box Roof

This beautiful, historic roof style originated when early colonizers realized they could add space with minimal materials by building a lean-to above an existing gabled roof, creating this asymmetrical design. Characteristic of Cape Cod and early Colonial homes, this style adds extra living space while still enabling water runoff.

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