Dormer calculator

• US 20060037279A1
• Filed: 01/26/2005
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dean Onchuck
• Original Assignee: Dean Onchuck
• Inventors: Onchuck, Dean
• Granted Patent: US 7,813,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 52/745.60
• CPC Class Codes: E04B 7/18 Special structures in or on roofs, e.g. dormer windows in connection with roof coverings E04D13/00, especially domes E04D13/03

Abstract

The present invention is a method for laying out a dormer that projects outward from a main roof and has a gable end and a dormer roof originating at a dormer point and terminating at an outer edge of the dormer roof near the gabled end. The dormer includes roof sheathing supported by dormer trusses. The dormer trusses include a gable truss and a plurality of valley trusses. The method of the present invention includes receiving a plurality of dormer inputs from a user. A plurality of layouts for the roof sheathing on the dormer roof are generated as a function of the dormer inputs. One or more layouts are then recommended to a user to reduce a quantity of roof sheathing waste.

Claims

1. A method for recommending a roof sheathing layout for a dormer projecting outward from a main roof, the dormer having a roof constructed from roof sheathing supported by dormer trusses, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of dormer inputs from a user;

generating a plurality of layouts for the roof sheathing on the dormer roof as a function of the dormer inputs; and

recommending at least one roof sheathing layout to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each roof sheathing layout includes a location for each piece of roof sheathing on the dormer roof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each roof sheathing layout indicates a cut dimension for each piece of roof sheathing.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a location of each dormer truss along the main roof as a function of the dormer inputs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dormer inputs comprise:

a dormer slope;

a main roof slope;

a gable truss height; and

a first valley truss height.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the plurality of dormer inputs further comprise a gable overhang distance.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein a plurality of roof sheathing row lengths are generated using the dormer slope, the main roof slope, and the gable truss height, the plurality of roof sheathing layouts generated as a function of the roof sheathing row lengths.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein each roof sheathing layout includes cut dimensions for each piece of roof sheathing, the cut dimensions including a top length, a bottom length, and a side width.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one roof sheathing layout is recommended as a function of a ratio of a top length of an innermost piece of roof sheathing to a length of an uncut piece of roof sheathing, the innermost piece of roof sheathing located in a roof sheathing row nearest to a dormer ridgeline.

10. A method for generating cut dimensions for pieces of roof sheathing to fit the roof sheathing onto framing of a dormer, the dormer framing projecting outward from a main roof and comprising a gable truss and a plurality of valley trusses, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of dormer inputs from a user, the dormer inputs including a gable truss height and a valley truss height;

determining a quantity of roof sheathing pieces to be installed on the dormer roof as a function of the dormer inputs;

determining the cut dimensions for each of the quantity of roof sheathing pieces, and

displaying the cut dimensions to a user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the cut dimensions comprise:

a top length for each piece of roof sheathing;

a bottom length for each piece of roof sheathing; and

a side length for each piece of roof sheathing.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the valley truss height comprises a height of a first valley truss.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the dormer inputs further comprise a main roof slope and a dormer roof slope.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the dormer inputs further comprise a gable overhang length.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of dormer inputs further comprise an uncut length and an uncut width for the roof sheathing pieces.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein a plurality of roof sheathing row lengths are generated, the cut dimensions determined as a function of the roof sheathing row lengths.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the roof sheathing row lengths are generated as a function of the dormer inputs starting with the roof sheathing row located nearest to a ridgeline of the dormer.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the roof sheathing row lengths are generated using a dormer slope, a main roof slope, and the gable truss height.

19. The method of claim 10, wherein the quantity of roof sheathing pieces to be installed and the cuts dimensions for each piece of roof sheathing are determined for a roof sheathing offset.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the quantity of roof sheathing pieces to be installed and the cuts dimensions for each piece of roof sheathing are determined for a plurality of different roof sheathing offsets.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising:

recommending one or more of the roof sheathing offsets to a user.

22. A method for determining locations of dormer trusses with respect to a main roof, the dormer trusses supporting a dormer projecting outward from the main roof along a pair of valley lines originating from a dormer point, the dormer trusses comprising a gable truss and a plurality of valley trusses, the method comprising:

receiving a plurality of dormer inputs from a user;

processing the dormer inputs to generate a gable truss spacing for spacing the gable truss from a first valley truss and a uniform valley truss spacing for spacing neighboring valley trusses from each other;

determining the locations of the dormer trusses using the gable truss spacing and the uniform valley truss spacing; and

displaying the location of each dormer truss to a user.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the location of each dormer truss comprises a location along the pair of valley lines.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the dormer inputs comprise:

a gable truss height;

a valley truss height;

a main roof slope; and

a dormer roof slope.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the gable truss spacing is the spacing between the gable truss and the first valley truss along the pair of valley lines and is determined as a function of the gable truss height, the valley truss height, the main roof slope, and the dormer roof slope.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the uniform valley truss spacing is determined along the pair of valley lines as a function of the main roof slope, the dormer roof slope, and a known uniform spacing distance for spacing neighboring valley trusses from each other along a ridgeline of the dormer

27. The method of claim 24, wherein determining the location of each dormer truss comprises:

generating a gable truss location along the pair of valley lines relative to the dormer point as a function the dormer roof slope, the main roof slope, and the valley truss height, the gable truss location separated from the dormer point along the pair of valley lines by a dormer point spacing;

generating a first valley truss location along the pair of valley lines as a function of the gable truss spacing and the gable truss location; and

generating at least one next valley truss location as a function of the uniform valley truss spacing and the first valley truss location, the next valley truss location located along the pair of valley lines closer to the dormer point relative to a preceding valley truss location; and

continuing to generate the next valley truss location until the next valley truss location is separated from the dormer point along the pair of valley lines by a distance approximately equal to the uniform valley truss spacing.