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.

This structure is more like a tent. A gambrel or barn roof is much like mansard in a sense that it has two different slopes. A gambrel roof overhangs the façade whereas a mansard normally does not. The lower slope is much steeper than the upper.

A mansard is a gable or hipped roof each of which was nodded. The sides can either be flat or curved depending on the style. Gambrels are not only seen on top of barns farm houses and log cabins. The difference between the two is that the gambrel only has two sides while the mansard has four.

You can consider gambrel roof to be a modified version of a gable roof. The hip roof style features straight gentle slopes extending downwards on all four sides to the walls. 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. Similar to mansard the lower side of the gambrel roof has an almost vertical steep slope while the upper slope is much lower.

If you are not familiar with a gambrel roof then let us first explain its architecture in brief. In the united states second empire or mansard was a victorian style popular from the 1860s through the 1880s. 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. A gambrel roof has two sides with two slopes and the bottom slope is much steeper than the upper slope.

However a gambrel roof only has 2 sides while a mansard roof has 4 sides. Here s how to think about the two different slopes. Simply put the mansard roof also known as the french roof or curb roof is a hybrid between a gambrel roof and a hip roof. Mansard roofs were considered especially practical because they allowed usable living quarters to be placed in the attic.

For this reason older buildings were often remodeled with mansard roofs. 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 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. The difference between the two is that the gambrel only has two sides while the mansard has four.

When it comes to technical terms you can call a mansard roof to be a four sided hip style gambrel roof.