ᐅ Is a roof overhang necessary to protect the facade?

Hey,

we currently need to decide whether to include roof eaves or not.

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to post the plans online, so here are the key details:
- New build
- Two floors (ground floor and upper floor)
- Gable roof
- Dormer with flat roof on one side
- Ridge height: 7.5 meters (24.6 feet)
- Eave height: 4 meters (13.1 feet)
- Location: Karlsruhe area, outskirts, near open fields
- Exterior material: standard plastered and painted

The architect does not recommend roof eaves, stating they offer no real benefit and add cost. Over the past weeks, we have looked at houses without eaves, mostly flat-roofed, since we found few gable roofs without eaves. Most of these had dirty facades with visible water stains on the walls and in some cases even water damage inside the walls. I can’t assess how these damages occurred—possibly poor workmanship during construction. After these inspections and discussions with family and friends, we are leaning towards the usual 70–80 centimeters (27.5–31.5 inches) of eaves.

What do you think is the best practice here (disregarding aesthetic preference for now)?

Thanks!

If the visual preference doesn’t matter, I would recommend at least a 50cm (20 inches) overhang, preferably between 70cm and 1m (28 inches to 3 feet). This not only protects the facade but also makes it more comfortable to stay reasonably dry around the house during rain when it’s not too windy. It also provides some shading, at least when the sun is still high in the sky. Of course, this can be seen as a disadvantage, but when the sun is high, you usually don’t want it directly inside the living area anyway due to the already excessive heat. When it’s cold, the sun is low enough that the roof overhang doesn’t really matter.

CheoRatharsair schrieb:

The architect does not propose any roof overhang since it provides no benefit and costs money. [...] After inspections and discussions with family and friends, we are leaning towards the standard 70-80 cm (28-31 inches) overhang.
What do you think is the correct practice (ignoring aesthetic preference for now)?

If aesthetic preference (which only varies with trends) is set aside, the technically appropriate dimensions remain constant. The “correct practice” is an overhang of 25 cm (10 inches) on the gable sides and 50 cm (20 inches) when viewed in the floor plan (which corresponds to about 70 cm (28 inches) measured along the rafter length at a 45° roof pitch). When the overhang exceeds 50 cm (20 inches) in the floor plan, this is often due to the distance to the building boundary.

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Some architects prefer houses without eaves. If you are not allowed to have a flat roof in a residential area, this is at least a way to show that a distinctive look was intended rather than just executed.

From what I have observed, 70-80cm (28-31 inches) is certainly not the standard; it's more like 30-50cm (12-20 inches). At a roof edge height of 4m (13 feet), you probably won't achieve any significant shading effect from the eaves. Protection from normal rain can be achieved with less. In windy conditions, even 2m (6.5 feet) won’t help.

We have now built without roof overhangs for the second time because we prefer the look. With our first house, we experienced no issues with dirty facades (we repainted after 10 years, but not because of the paint or facade condition, which still looked good). However, we chose a rather expensive facade paint, while our neighbors, who had roof overhangs, only used colored plaster, and their facade on the weather-exposed side looked terrible after 5 years.

Thank you for your responses. We will probably go with the minimum 25 cm/50 cm (10 inches/20 inches) as some have recommended here.

WilderSueden schrieb:

Protection from normal rain is already achieved with less.

What would you consider the minimum?

Costruttrice schrieb:

We have now built twice without eaves because we like the look. With our first house, we had no problems with a dirty facade (we repainted after 10 years, but the paint and facade condition were not the reason—it still looked good). However, we chose a comparatively high-quality facade paint, while our neighbors with eaves only had tinted plaster, and their facade on the weather-exposed side looked terrible after 5 years.

Was this due only to the paint, or did you do anything else that made building without eaves successful?