Elegant Eaves for a Truss Roof

摘要

Even as we develop more and more standard assemblies for tight, well-insulated building envelopes, there are always some details that require extra thought and ingenuity. Roof overhangs tend to be one of these details. Not only can continuous rafter tails cause a thermal bridge, but they can create a difficult area to air-seal as well. Of course, this all depends on where you locate your air and thermal barriers.On this single-story, hip-roofed house on Cape Cod, we decided to use the eaves to add some character with exposed cedar rafter tails. Here in New England, eaves are more commonly boxed in with a fascia and soffit. So not only did we have to figure out how not to have this detail be a weak link in the building envelope, we had to figure out how to finish the overhang so the homeowners would be looking up at something more pleasing than the underside of the OSB roof sheathing.