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Your roof does more than protect you from the elements outside—its shape defines the style of your home and is one of its most distinctive features. While shape and roofing materials both affect your building costs, it’s the construction underneath that affects your home’s energy performance and storm resilience. Here’s what to look for:
Stitt homes use energy-heel trusses (a.k.a. raised-heel trusses) instead of site-built rafters to create the shape of your roof and transfer its weight to supporting walls. Energy heel trusses create extra space over the top of your exterior walls letting insulation completely cover the top plate. This prevents temperature extremes in the corner where your wall and ceiling meet and prevents ice dams that can damage your energy envelope.
Trusses are perfect for today’s open floor plans because they’re engineered to span greater distances than rafters. They’re also constructed with smaller pieces of wood, which makes them more resource efficient. Built in a controlled environment, trusses are consistent in size and quality saving time and labor on site.
When the sky turns dark and the wind begins to bend trees and send debris scuttering across the ground, you want to know your roof is firmly attached to your walls. That’s why we use metal connectors for roof-to-wall connections. Metal rafter ties, straps, and anchor screws replace the common practice of toe-nailing and provide greater resistance to wind uplift. Recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), metal connectors help you build better now so you’re prepared for stronger, more frequent future storms.
Eaves are created by roof trusses that extend beyond your walls, and they help define the style of your home. Overhangs are created by walkways, decks and other structural extensions over windows or doors. Both are multi-functional:
A passive solar home relies on appropriately-sized overhangs to let the winter sun in to warm your living spaces yet keep the direct summer sun out. Based on your home’s orientation, seasonal sun angles, and wall and window heights, we’ll design eaves and overhangs that are effective and enhance your home’s style.
Moderating the temperature of your attic and roof deck saves energy and helps extend the life of your shingles. Stitt homes combine our Ice House Roof™ with continuous soffit and ridge venting to exhaust heat before it can be absorbed into your attic. This system uses natural convention to eliminate the need for gable vents and attic fans. Aesthetically pleasing, hidden soffit vents and color-coordinated ridge vents are unobtrusive and quietly effective.