Traditional Roof Dormers

Gable

• Gable dormers are the most common style of dormer. They have a roof with a single ridgeline in the center and two planes that slope down from each side of the ridge. The dormer's ridge, its roof planes and its walls all intersect the slope of the building's main roof. Gable dormers were used in the 16th-century Tudor style, and they have remained popular in many architectural styles since, including Federal, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, Georgian Revival and Colonial Revival.

Hipped

• Hipped dormers are similar to gable dormers, but they have a third roof plane that slopes back from the front of the dormer to meet the central ridge of the dormer roof. This plane does not intersect the plane of the main roof. Prairie and Shingle style houses often use hipped dormers, and contemporary houses with a hipped main roof will generally have hipped roof dormers as well.

Shed

• Shed dormers have a flat roof that slopes downward from the plane of the main roof to the front of the dormer. The eave line of the dormer roof is parallel with the eave line of the main roof, meaning that both roofs slope in the same direction. However, the slope of the dormer's roof must be shallower than that of the main roof. Shed dormers provide more usable space than gable or hipped dormers. They are often used in Arts and Crafts and Colonial Revival buildings.

Eyebrow

• An eyebrow dormer features a curved roof that rises gently from the slope of the main roof, and the dormer has no distinct walls of its own. The effect of the rounded dormer window that projects modestly from the main roof is of a half-closed eye, leading to the common name of this style of dormer. These primarily decorative dormers were commonly used in the 19th-century Shingle style.