Roof Gable Cornice Return

Heres some terminology for you click to enlarge.

Roof gable cornice return.

A cornice return is an architectural detail that occurs where the horizontal cornice of a roof connects to the rake of a gable. The cornice height should be 1 15 to 1 18 the building height. Gable cornice returns and gable cornice strips often go overlooked. Pop the soffit nailer and roof top nailer lines completely through the gable and make sure that the return fascia boards line up perfectly to the other side.

Avoid coronas that are overly tall in the range of 8 in. If properly estimated a pair of gable cornice returns will add an additional 260 to your xactimate sheet. In my experience gable cornice returns and cornice strips are two special roof components that are among the most frequently missed items by both roofers and adjusters. The corona height start with a corona between 4 in.

The return box measures 36 x24 so that 18 is towards the facia and 18 is against the side wall. That leads to materials and labor getting omitted from the adjusters estimates. It is a short horizontal extension of the cornice that occurs on each side of the gable end of the building see picture of the härnösands rådhus with two of these. This can be challenging because the returns are located outside the corner boards which means they require additional structural support.

They are more properly called cornice returns i think but i d rather call them eave returns. Eave return design begins with the following simple proportion. While this height works for a hip roof or eave with an angled soffit it will be too heavy for a boxed eave return on a gable end. The cornice return s roof is spec d as hip no porkchops.

Most greek revival buildings have substantial cornices that extended into gable ends as returns below picture. For these get left out of adjusters roof diagrams and or satellite imagery reports. Eave returns are the decorative extension of the roof eave that wraps around the gable end of the house. It will be wrapped by a 1x6 facia and either shingled like the roof 3 tab or covered with copper tbd.

String line the fascias works for me. This house had rotted roof rake returns. When that happens the surface areas linear footages etc. Also called an eave return a cornice return is a graceful way to transition the eave and the main fascia board around the gable end of a house.

The following user says thank you to birch for this useful post. This article has some good snobbish info about how cornice returns are supposed to look. Setting out a simple boxed eave return. On masonry buildings the frieze is often omitted pg.