Saltbox Style Roof

We might call it the saltbox but there s no doubt this style is just perfect.

Saltbox style roof.

Salt box roofs feel like a painted gable style roof with two sides of a central ridge sloping outwards. The short side typically has a low slope while the long side has a steep slope. A saltbox house is a traditional new england style of house with a long pitched roof that slopes down to the back generally a wooden frame house. On a two story home the long side may span the height from the ridge to edge which can be one long roofing plane or divided into two.

Today there are not a lot of newly constructed homes that have this type of roof design. A salt box house defining feature is its roof. A saltbox has just one story in the back and two stories in the front. Saltbox roofs look like a patched gable style roof with two sides sloping outwards from a central ridge.

Now you will see this type of rooftop design on garages sheds and outbuildings rather than on homes. When colonial era families first developed the style though they weren t aiming for aesthetic appeal. However instead of sloping to the same length one side reaches all the way to the first. With its asymmetrical roof and restrained facade the saltbox house has become an icon of new england s coastal areas.

Rather of sloping to the same degree one side includes the entire route to the house s first floor.