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The way your home looks from the outside is just a important as the way it looks on the inside. While only those you let into your castle will ever see the interior of your home, the exterior facade is exposed for all to see. It’s a statement you make to the rest of the world. Coordinating the exterior features of your home into a pleasant, complementary whole boosts your self-esteem and allows you to face the world with pride. Conversely, a mismatched exterior can only detract from your image and self-esteem. For those who’re new to the art of exterior design, here’s a handy guide to help you along.
PART I: BASICS: THE MAKING OF A BEAUTIFUL FACADE
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION This phrase, coined by architect Louis Sullivan, is the most basic principle of architectural design. In a nutshell, before something can look good, it must first be able to do what it was designed to. There’s nothing more out of place than a pretty home feature that doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Consider first the item’s function before you work on aesthetics. For example, if you’re installing a new garage door, you need to make sure that it functions in exactly the way you want it to. Once you’ve got that down, then you can work on customizing so it looks exactly how you envision it. BALANCE, SYMMETRY, AND PROPORTION Depending on your home’s architectural style, it will have a particular shape and profile. To best balance the look of your home’s exterior, you need to match features with that profile. Ranch-style homes, for example, are built along low, wide, horizontal lines; windows and doors that are taller than they are wide tend to stand out. In this case, either use features with different proportions, or arrange them in groups to alter the overall profile.
PART I: BASICS: THE MAKING OF A BEAUTIFUL FACADE
You also need to make sure that any new features you install are balanced symmetrically. Space features out evenly and avoid clumping them together. Combinations of several items can be used to balance out larger items. For example, if you have a large picture window on one side, you can either install a similar window on the other side, or install several smaller windows so they balance out the large one. COMBINING COLORS While bold contrasts between colors can draw the eye, too much contrast can create a sort of visual dissonance. For best results, play with shades of the same color that are close to each other on the color wheel. With two colors, the interplay between the darker and lighter shades gives you a base color and a color for the trim. A third, contrasting color can then be added to add emphasis to features you want to draw the eye to.
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How does it all work? Next up, we take a look at how all this applies to your home’s roof and siding. Stay tuned for Part II!
PART II: SOME OFF THE TOP, SOME OFF THE SIDES: ROOF AND SIDING
TYPES OF ROOFS BY PITCH The biggest catch-all category for roofs is the pitch, or slope of the roof. The value, calculated as rise over run, is expressed in terms of how many inches the roof rises for every twelve inches that the roof covers laterally. Flat roofs, despite the name, aren’t quite flat; some degree of sloping is required for water to drain and prevent it from accumulating, but anything with a slope of less than 2:12 can be called a flat roof. Flat roofs are generally easier to construct than others, and have the added benefit of being easy to walk on, but not all roofing materials are suited to a flat roof.
Conventional roofs are those which are suited to most roofing materials, with pitch ranging from 4:12 to 9:12. This is the type of roof best suited to roofing with asphalt shingles; anything steeper generally needs special materials and construction. While low-slope roofs (2:12 to 4:12) and flat roofs can be roofed with shingles and shakes, care must be taken to include a waterproof membrane under the shingles to prevent water penetration.
PART II: SOME OFF THE TOP, SOME OFF THE SIDES: ROOF AND SIDING
TYPES OF SIDING BY MATERIAL The material you choose for your siding will affect the styles in which your siding can be made. Cedar shakes and shingles all have the same basic shape; shingles, being machine-cut, are more uniform in shape. Shakes were originally hand-made, and tend to have slight variations in shape because of this. Though wood shakes can still be made by hand, small irregularities have been included in factory-made machine-cut shakes to give them that hand-made look.
Vinyl siding is rather more versatile than wood, and while it can be formed into shakes and shingles, too, it is also available in several other shapes. Vinyl can be made into lapboards, horizontal and vertical panels, fish scales, and even beaded designs. It is also available in over 300 colors, making vinyl siding very versatile, and easily matched to any home. ooooo
We’re done with the top and the sides, how about the doors and windows? More on this in part III.
PART III: THE INS AND OUTS OF DOORS AND WINDOWS
DOOR TYPES BY OPERATING MECHANISM Doors, ultimately, fall into two categories: swinging doors and sliding doors. Swinging doors are the most common type of entry door or patio door you will encounter. Typical entry and patio doors will come either prehung, that is, complete with a frame made to a standard door size, or slab, which is just a door without a frame, to be fitted to an alreadyexisting frame.
Sliding doors are rarely seen as entry doors; rather, you’ll find them most often used as patio doors; most automated garage doors are sliding doors, too. As patio doors, they’ll typically come in pairs, with one fixed door and one you can open. You can also have two (or more) sliding doors that can all be opened, giving you a wider entrance than you might get with a swinging door. WINDOW TYPES BY METHOD OF OPERATION Similar to doors, windows can be classified by how they open. Generally speaking, a window will either open on a hinge, slide on a rail, or not open at all.
PART III: THE INS AND OUTS OF DOORS AND WINDOWS
Casement windows are your most basic type of hinged window; all other types are variations on it. Casement windows open sideways, and are identified by the crank which is used to operate them. Turn a casement window sideways, and you get an awning window, which is great for allowing air in even when it’s raining while keeping the rain out. Arrange casement windows in a group of four or more, and you have a bow window, which can be used to create useable space while providing excellent lighting and ventilation. Double-hung windows are the most common type of sliding window. Opening vertically, both sashes can be opened independently; alternately, you can open just one, depending on your particular need.
Gliding windows open horizontally, and in addition to providing a great view, can be opened to allow air to circulate. When it comes to views, though, nothing can beat a picture window. The window’s ability to frame a view, along with its unprecedented ability to let in light and heat, makes up for the fact that the picture window cannot be opened.
1407 Philadelphia Pike Wilmington , DE 19809 302-798-0302 1362 Naamans Creek Road Garnet Valley, PA 19060 (610) 872-7788 www.homecraftinc.com