A board roof or boarded roof is a roofing method of using boards as the weather barrier on a roof. Board roofs can be applied in several ways, the basic types have the boards installed vertically and installed horizontally. ''Double board roofs'' were sometimes used on railroad cars.

Vertical board roofs

Vertical board roofs may have the boards installed in a number of ways. The ''board-on-board'' roof has two layers of vertical boards, the upper layer covering the gap between the boards in the lower layer. The lower layer may be spaced apart or installed tightly together. In any type of vertical board roof the boards may be grooved to catch runoff. The board-and-batten'' roof the upper layer are slender pieces of lumber called

batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

s. The lower layer of boards are installed tightly because the battens are narrow. Traditional roof coverings in Japan are mostly thatch, tile and wood shingle but some board roofs were used and are called yamatobuki (大和葺), the boards themselves naga-itabuki (長板葺). The framing for a vertically boarded roof needs

purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, purling, perling) is a longitudinal, horizontal, structural member in a roof. In traditional timber framing there are three basic types of purlin: purlin plate, principal purlin, and common purlin. Pu ...

s spaced evenly apart instead of

rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as wooden beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck and its associate ...

s. In parts on New England a common type of roof framing has ''common purlins'' which are boarded vertically, but evidence of these roofs having exposed boards as roofing is rare. Animal shelters may have board roofs which are a single layer with small gaps between the boards to allow light and ventilation. Any leakage is minimal and does not bother the animals. Fream, William, William Youatt, and Thomas Hartwell Horne. ''The Complete Grazier and Farmers' and Cattle-Breeders' Assistant; A Compendium of Husbandry Embracing the Breeding''. London: C. Lockwood, 1893. 667-668. Print.

Horizontal board roofs

Horizontal board roofs may be made with rectangular boards or wedge shaped boards called clapboard (architecture).

Gallery of types

File:L-Holzdach.png, Vertical board roofs with sealed joints and board-and-batten roof types File:Drake Well, June 2012.jpg, A reconstruction of the

Drake Well The Drake Well is a oil well in Cherrytree Township, Venango County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the success of which sparked the first oil boom in the United States. The well is the centerpiece of the Drake Well Museum located south of ...

has two shapes of board-on-board roofing and a horizontal board roof on the tower. File:Common purlin framing.JPG, ''Common purlin'' framing with vertical boards in New England. This method of framing may be descended from board roofs but does not mean the roofing was originally just the boards. File:Colonial Williamsburg (3204677142).jpg, Reconstruction of a log cabin with a ''clapboard roof''.

References

{{commons category, Board roofs Building Roofs Roofing materials