In the midst of my showing schedule a few Saturdays ago, I found myself in line (in LINE!) for an open house, with the perfect opportunity to discuss dormers and none of my own clients around to hear me while I held our place in the queue.
(Lines, truly. Are casual searchers using open houses as a stand-in for brunch, or have we hit spring market early? It's looking like the latter, but stay tuned.)
I digress. Just a few days ago a client asked, "What makes it a dormer and not just a roof?" and the answer is, it's a bit of both. Let's talk about dormers:
These are called gabled dormers - they're shaped like small houses, perched on the side of a roof. In this case, the dormers on the front and sides of the house brought light and height into a slope-ceilinged suite upstairs.
On the right, we have a dormer which carried the roofing shingles (asphalt) up the sides (“cheeks”) of the dormer itself. But asphalt shingles aren't meant for siding; they don't adhere properly, and their lifespan is not great as a result.
On the left, the equivalent dormer was clad (sided) in more of the same painted cedar shingles on the rest of the house siding: these are meant for siding, and as long as they're flashed correctly to meet with the roofing shingles, this is better (if more expensive in the short term).
Dormers are, at the end of the day, a hole cut in your roof. They're cheaper and easier than changing an entire roof line to get more space and light, but they're a complication. And they come in all shapes and sizes! Gabled dormers and shed dormers (better for larger renovations) are the classics, but you'll also see eyebrow, flat, hipped, and inset dormers from time to time.
Dormers are used to get just a bit more space or light in an application where clearance is tight on the upper floor - think over stairs, in an attic bedroom with sloped ceilings, or to make space for a bathroom addition, all without changing the primary roof line or the footprint of the house.
Flashing (material installed anywhere a vertical penetration meets the roof plane, or roof planes meet each other) helps prevent leaks, but these complications are often the weak point in a roof surface and the first spot you're likely to notice a problem with water. Flashing can be lead (as chimney flashing) or copper, aluminum, or galvanized steel around dormers or skylights, or between adjoining roof planes.
And this gem, in Revere, is the strangest dormer I’ve ever seen - but they certainly maximized their ocean view:
Also a quick note on those open house queues: we're heading into a season with more listing inventory, but also more buyer demand. Don't limit your showing options to open houses! Reach out to an agent, develop a relationship, and work to schedule private showings where possible, to limit your time spent standing in line.
Lines mean controlled flow through the space, but if you want a less hectic setting to evaluate a potential future home, private showings are the way to go when they're possible. Keep in mind that with many sellers working from home, and with all sorts of precautions in play, it's not always feasible - but it's always worth asking.
Stay warm, stay well,
Kate