Building With Style: Supporting a Big Rake Overhang

I am a great fan of large roof overhangs. They protect the house walls, keep rainwater away from the foundations, eliminate the need for gutters, and allow you to keep casement windows and sliding doors open during summer rainstorms. Large overhangs are also a key design element in those useful and handsome styles that stem from the Craftsman tradition. However, large overhangs present critical structural problems, which are made more complicated when the roof is insulated rather than the attic floor. I usually insulate my houses at the roof plane because this creates useful insulated space throughout the upper level, avoids unsatisfactory (and often incomplete) insulation conditions at kneewalls, and allows me to create cathedral ceilings. Structure versus fresh air. The problem stems