Home Styles: Front Porch With Stone Hipped Roofing

Hipped Roofing

• The term “hip roof” describes an architectural style where all the broad, flat faces -- properly called the fields -- of a roof slope downward and outward toward the wall. In gable roofs, for instance, only two of the fields typically slope, with vertical wall peaks making up the ends. A hipped roof is a relatively complex design, but porches typically only have three fields, so the intricacies are minimized.

Stone Roofing

• When roofers use the term “stone roofing,” they are not talking about real stone. The phrase is used to differentiate between roofs covered with tiles made of concrete from those that use cedar shingles, rubber-roll composites and the like. Cement tiles are manufactured in a myriad different styles, shapes and colors. Finishes mixed into the wet concrete or applied after it has set and cured are often used to change the material to resemble something more expensive and less common; cement tiles that appear to be slate are a common example.

Roof Design

• On single-story buildings, the hipped roof of a porch is typically an extension of the building’s roof itself; the angle of the main roof is continued above the porch. In multi-story buildings, architects must be careful not to make the design appear “fussy;” too many different angles can clash and appear discordant. For this reason, the angles of hipped porch roof commonly mimic the angles of the main building roof.

Posts and Columns

• Hipped roofs lend themselves well to use above posts and columns. Because their gradient is normally gentle, they do not exert a great deal of downward pressure on their supports, so load-bearing walls are not typically necessary. A front porch with a hipped roof supported by ornamental columns serves all the utilitarian purposes required of it, while adding a stylish, open and welcoming aspect to the building.