Gambrel Arch: Wednesday’s Word Of The Week
Another traditional roof shape is the Gambrel roof. We refer to a glulam arch that follows this profile as a gambrel arch. The traditional gambrel shape is actually half of a regular octagon. Think of cutting a stop sign in half along a line connecting two of the points, then laying the cut edge flat. So there is a low, steep roof plane at 67.5° and an upper roof at 22.5°, both equal length.
In practice. the angles and lengths of the two roof planes are usually varied from the traditional shape, and frequently a vertical section is included below the low roof to increase the overall head height. Gambrel roofs are another classic barn shape.
*Wednesday’s Word Of The Week is a new feature on Unalam’s Wood Times Blog. Each Wednesday our structural engineer, Rik Vandermeulen, will discuss a new term associated with glulam manufacturing. He will do this until we run out of words. If there is a timber or glulam term that you have heard of and want to know more about, let us know in the comments.
