Gambrel Vs Mansard Roof

Similar to mansard the lower side of the gambrel roof has an almost vertical steep slope while the upper slope is much lower.

Gambrel vs mansard roof.

The difference between the two is that the gambrel only has two sides while the mansard has four. A gambrel or barn roof is much like mansard in a sense that it has two different slopes. In the united states second empire or mansard was a victorian style popular from the 1860s through the 1880s. A mansard is a gable or hipped roof each of which was nodded.

However a gambrel roof only has 2 sides while a mansard roof has 4 sides. The sides can either be flat or curved depending on the style. A mansard roof also known as a french roof is a four sided roof with a double slope on each side that meet forming a low pitched roof. For this reason older buildings were often remodeled with mansard roofs.

Both mansard and gambrel roofs fall under the general classification of curb roofs a pitched roof that slopes away from the ridge in two successive planes. A gambrel roof overhangs the façade whereas a mansard normally does not. A gambrel roof has two sides with two slopes and the bottom slope is much steeper than the upper slope. The term gambrel is nowhere to be found nor can i find a translation for in in a dutch dictionary however on one site which details a wide variety of roof shapes we find the following entry for mansard dak dak like the german dach meaning roof.

It is very similar to the gambrel roof style but this style utilizes all four sides of the house. When it comes to technical terms you can call a mansard roof to be a four sided hip style gambrel roof. However the mansard is a curb hip roof with slopes on all sides of the building and the gambrel is a curb gable roof with slopes on only two sides. The lower side of the roof will have a steep slope almost vertical while the upper side of the roof will have a much lower slope.

Here s how to think about the two different slopes. Mansard roofs were considered especially practical because they allowed usable living quarters to be placed in the attic. The lower slope is much steeper than the upper. If you are not familiar with a gambrel roof then let us first explain its architecture in brief.

The cross section of a gambrel roof is similar to that of a mansard roof but a gambrel has vertical gable ends instead of being hipped at the four corners of the building. Similar to mansard the lower side of the gambrel roof has an almost vertical steep slope while the upper slope is much lower. The hip roof style features straight gentle slopes extending downwards on all four sides to the walls. You can consider gambrel roof to be a modified version of a gable roof.

The difference between the two is that the gambrel only has two sides while the mansard has four.