54 



The Country House 



with straight bridging (see Fig. 4), or better, by giving it a little incline, so 

 that it may be drawn tighter. This last method has a tendency to adjust itself 



to the shrinkage of the studding, even 

 if loosened, which advantage the straight 

 bridging has not. The weight of the 

 brick stops helps to assist this (see Fig. 5). 

 The roof, which ordinarily is, and 

 should be, very simple, often offers some 

 quite complex problems in framing. 

 In fact it is, perhaps, in this last form 

 the most difficult framing problem. We 

 shall deal with the simple problem alone, 

 even to the exclusion of the dormer, 

 which is but a small edition of the main 



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The origin of the pitch roof is very 



old; it was used by the early Greeks 

 and Romans entirely. It slopes or 

 pitches away from the ridge towa id the 

 two opposite sides, forming a triangular 

 wall surface, called the gable, at either 

 end. When this gable is detached from 

 the main wall, as is the case in Greek 

 and Roman temples, by the horizontal 

 return of the lower members of the corn- 

 ice, it is called a pediment, and includes 

 the whole triangular motive. 



The roof as we know it is framed 

 with rafters, notched into the plates and 

 meeting at the ridge on either side of a 

 ridge pole. The common rafter is of 2 x 9 stock; it is not advisable to make 

 it smaller in a main roof, although the small dormer rafters are often made of 

 2x4 stock. To keep the rafters from kicking out at the bottom, tie or collar 

 beams are run from each rafter to the one opposite and secured by spikes. 1 hus 

 the tendency to force the outer wall outward is obviated. Ordinarily the collar 

 beams are likewise the ceiling timbers of the attic rooms. When the attic-floor 

 timbers are set on the plate they make an additional tie. 



With an irregular plan we generally find the main roof intersected by a lesser 

 roof at right angles; the line of this intersection is called the valley. In fram- 

 ing, one valley rafter is carried to the main ridge and the other intersects it at the 

 height of the ridge of the smaller roof. The valley rafter should be heavier 

 than the common rafter. W T ith the ordinary 2x9, it should be 2x 12; if a 

 larger roof, 3x12 or 14. In the latter case the common rafter is likely to be 

 strengthened also. 



The hip roof, like the pitch roof, is composed of straight planes from the 

 ridge to the eaves, only that instead of pitching two ways it pitches (in a square 



Showing rough stone and shingle in combination 



