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Window types by shape (C) Carson Dunlop Associates Picture Dictionary of Building Roof Dormers

Photo & sketch dictionary of types of roof dormers:

How to recognize residential building roof dormer shapes & types as a guide to building architectural styles.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Roof Dormer Types - Photo Guide

Readers should see the additional photo and drawing guides to building architectural styles in the links listed at page top or at the MORE READING links at the bottom of this article see ARCHITECTURE & BUILDING COMPONENT ID for illustrations of building architectural types, roof shapes, dormers, windows, and other architectural features.

Also see AGE of a BUILDING, HOW to DETERMINE as well as individual building component links listed at the ARTICLE INDEX the bottom of this article . Our page top photo shows an unusual placement for a rooftop dormer, along the roof hip in a Port Jervis NY home.

Carson Dunlop Associates' sketch (below in the left column of the roof dormer design table) identifies common window dormers by shape, clockwise from top right corner of the illustration we show in the table below: hipped dormer, shed dormer, flat dormer, segmental dormer, eyebrow dormer, NY, inset dormer, arched dormer, and gable dormer shapes and windows.

Common Window Dormers by Shape

Dormer Photos

Keyed to Sketches at left, taken clockwise from top right corner.

Dormer Name

Roof Dormer Details

Window types by shape (C) Carson Dunlop Associates
Curved dormer Boston MA (C) Daniel Friedman Arched Dormers Arched roof dormers, left, Boston MA
Compound dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Compound Dormers Compound dormer joins two gable dormers with a flat roofed dormer between them, Hudson Valley, NY
Eyebrow dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Eyebrow Dormers

Eyebrow window-dormers, left, Mt. Kisco, NY.

Also see Quick Guide to Eyebrow Dormer Windows

Flat roofed dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Flat-roofed Dormers Flat roofed dormer, left, Hudson Valley, NY
Gable dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Gable Dormers Gable dormer, left Poughkeepsie, NY, and Port Jervis, NY
Hip dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Hipped Dormers Hip dormer, left, Port Jervis, NY,
Inset Dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Inset Dormers Inset Dormer photos: left, Portland ME, and Molde, Norway
Curved dormer Boston MA (C) Daniel Friedman Segmental Dormers Segmented roof dormers, left, Vermont, and segmented dormers in Boston MA (compare with Arched dormers)
Shed dormer (C) Daniel Friedman Shed Dormers Shed dormer, left, Molde, Norway,
Roof skylights, Molde, Norway (C) Daniel Friedman Skylights Skylights are not dormers. Left, triple skylights in a glazed-clay tile roof in Molde, Norway. Bubble-type roof skylights were notorious leakers. See SKYLIGHT LEAK DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR for details.

For information about window types, selection, installation, inspection, and repair, see:

A Quick Guide to Eyebrow Dormer Windows

Eyebrow window types (C) Daniel Friedman Eyebrow window types (C) Daniel Friedman

Our sketch and photo (above) show what an eyebrow window looks like.

Below: Real estate agents, home inspectors, as well as building owners have often referred to the small second floor or attic-level windows on antique colonial homes as "eyebrow" windows. They are not.

Seneca Howland House Pleasant Valley New York in 1982 during renovations and repairs (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.com

Our 1982 photo of windows on the attic-floor levels of both the main and an early rear-addition to the Seneca Howland house in Pleasant Valley NY. These are not eyebrow windows but they do illustrate a common low-profile window used on many Colonial homes in North America.

Scarcity of glass for Colonial homes as well as simply a the presence of a very short attic kneewall were probably the deciding factor in the construction of these "short" or small windows.

More about this historic Pleasant Valley New York home is

at SENECA HOWLAND HOUSE

At FIELD GUIDES TO NORTH AMERICAN HOUSE ARCHITECTURE

we list (and you can buy at Amazon) books we have found particularly helpful in identifying architectural styles, including: as this more extensive list of architectural styles: Folk Houses, Native American Houses (U.S.), Pre-Railroad houses, National Architectural Styles (U.S.), Colonial Houses (1600-1820), Postmedieval English, Dutch Colonial, French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Georgian, Adam, Early Classical Revival, Romantic Houses (1820-1880), Greek Revival style architecture, Gothic Revival style architecture, Italianate style architecture, Exotic Revivals style architecture, Octagon houses, Victorian style architecture Houses (1860-1900), Second Empire style architecture, Stick style architecture, Queen Anne style architecture, Shingle style architecture, Richardsonian Romanesque style architecture, Folk Victorian style architecture, Eclectic Houses (1880-1940), Anglo-American style architecture, English style architecture, and French Period Houses, Colonial Revival style architecture, Neoclassical style architecture, Tudor style architecture, Chateauesque style architecture, Beaux Arts style architecture, French Eclectic style architecture, Mediterranean Period Houses style architecture, Italian Renaissance style architecture, Mission style architecture, Spanish Eclectic style architecture, Monterey style architecture, Pueblo Revival style architecture, Modern Houses including Prairie style architecture, Craftsman style architecture, Modernistic style architecture, International style architecture, and American Houses Since 1940: Modern style architecture & Neoeclectic style architecture as well as unusual houses such as Mongolian Cloud (photo, Kuehn) houses and Underground Houses (photo, Roy).


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ROOF DORMER TYPES InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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