How To Build A Roof Cornice

This excerpt from john carroll s the complete visual guide to building a house the taunton press 2014 uses a series of illustrations to detail the process of framing a cornice return with two different styles of roof.

How to build a roof cornice. Another option is to use a thin base of wood secured to the wall. With a crown molding cornice a decorative layer of crown molding is added to the fascia and the roof extends to meet the upper corner of the crown. Once the cornice looks complete bring it up to the wall. Using off the shelf trim from the home center and a compound miter saw anyone with simple carpentry skills can create a beautiful window or door cornice in just a few hours.

If you are using brackets slide it over the brackets and screw them together. For this option put screws on the roof of the cornice as close to the wall as possible. This would not be just any cornice though. I would make a shower cornice.

Cornices are surprisingly easy to build even the elegant ones you see in home magazines. Both designs start with structural support and then the process varies slightly for a shed capped cornice return vs. Cut one board the width of your cornice board by the height. I happened to have some fiber board in my garage that we used but i ve seen cornice boards made with any type of lighter weight wood foam board or plywood.

A cornice return is a triangular piece of material that is placed below the rake fascia on the corner of a roof. In classical architecture and even neoclassical a cornice is the uppermost horizontal area that protrudes or sticks out like moldings along the top of a wall or just below a roof line. I spent hours actually using a ruler and level instead of eyeballing it drawing the perfect greek key pattern on my new cornice. Wider box cornices typically will require additional support members.

Crown molding is not a cornice but if the molding hangs over something like a window or air vent the. Many old victorian style homes have a very elegant cornice return that has been carved and painted. In narrow box cornices of 12 inches or less the soffit board is nailed directly to the bottom side of the roof rafters. The top of the cornice can even serve as a display shelf for art or collectibles.

And then i went to carve it out. Then cut two pieces 4 by the height. 2 cut your boards. Sometimes this helps with drainage and other times the cornice return is more of a decorative piece.

It describes an area or space that overhangs something else. You can use any type of sturdy base to build your cornice board. As space is a noun cornice is also a noun. I had always wanted one so now was the perfect time.