OUTSIDE ROOF FINISH Finish at the Eaves. The point, or rather the line, in which the sloping roof meets the vertical wall is called the "eaves" and this point must always be finished in some way. This finish, however, may be varied to almost any extent, and it may be very simple, so as to barely fulfill the necessary requirements, or it may be very elaborate and ornamental as well as practically useful.
Gutters. Practical considerations require that at the eaves some kind of a gutter must be provided, to catch the water which falls on the roof and streams off from it. This gutter, of whatever kind, must be supported far enough away from the straight vertical wall of the building so that the water dripping from it in the case of a possible overflow will fall free of the walls and not injure them. Usually, the gutter ought not to be nearer to the wall than one foot.
There are a number of different kinds of gutters in use, and per haps it will be as well to describe some of them at this time, as they form a part of the cave finish. The simplest kind is made of wood, and is generally kept in stock in several different sizes by lumber dealers. It is of the general shape shown in section in Fig. 2S0, and the most common sizes are 4X6, 5X7, and 5 XS inches. They are usually made of white pine, but may better be made of cypress or redwood.
Spruce is hardly durable enough for use as a material for gutters. Besides the wood gutter just described, there are in use a number of different forms of metal gutters, some of which are carried in stock by dealers in roof supplies and others which must be made to order by the roofer for each particular job. The metal gutters are made of galvanized iron, copper, or of a tin lining in a wood form. Any wood gutter may be improved by lining it with tin or zinc, and there should always be a piece of one of these metals used to cover the joint between the two pieces of a wood gutter where they meet. Wood gutters can be had only in lengths of about 16 feet at the most, so usually there must be some joints to be covered with metal. The simplest metal gutter takes the form of a trough, as shown in Fig. 281, and is fastened in place by hangers placed at frequent intervals or by brackets which answer the same purpose. Either the hangers or the brackets may he
spiked to the ends of the rafters, and thus a cheap and simple gutter may be obtained.
Open Cornice. The most simple way of sup porting the gutter is to let the main rafters of the roof framing extend out over the wall as far as necessary and cut a rabbet in the end of each of them into which the gutter will fit. In this case the wood gutter should be used. It is fastened into the notches left in the ends of the rafters, as shown in Fig. 282. In this figure, A is the gutter, B is the rafter, C is the studding of the building, D is the plate with the rafters cut over it and the ceiling joists E resting on top of it, F is the outside boarding, which may be covered with clapboards or shingles, and G is the roof boarding, which may be covered with shingles or slates.
In one respect the construction shown in this figure is faulty, because the gutter being placed in the position shown, snow sliding off the roof would catch the outer edge of it and perhaps tear it off. The gutter should, wherever possible, be placed low enough so that the line of the finished roof, 11 in the figure, will clear the edge of it. In order to improve the appearance of the eaves it is well to place a hoard .1 along the edge of the rafters so as to hide them and present a plain surface to the eye and to finish the joint between this board and the under side of the glitter with a small bed 11101(1411g K. Under neath the rafters where they cross the plate and come through the outside boarding is placed a board L which forms a stop for the sid ing or shingles, and another board should be inserted between this and the under side of the roof boarding, as shown at M. It is also a good plan to cover the ends of the ceiling joists with a strip of board ing to keep the wind out of the roof space. This is shown at 0. The finish shown in Fig. 2S2 is of the simplest and barest kind and can be used only for buildings of an unimportant character such as stables and outhouses or for cheap country houses.