Giving Your Roof Line Character With A Cupola

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Dana

If your roof has no character, you may consider adding a cupola. While many houses have these only for decoration, they were actually developed to safely add light, provide a place for viewing, and ventilation. So you can see that they can serve a twofold purpose.

A cupola is generally viewed as a dome built on a circular or polygonal base. When not being used as an addition to the roofline, they’re used as gazebos when built on the ground. More modern designs aren’t limited to the dome shape. It’s more common to use a straight sided polygon because it’s cheaper and easier to build. To add a cupola isn’t that hard depending on the pitch of the roof.

Giving Your Roof Line Character With A Cupola

Traditionally, cupolas have been created from wood, but now materials like polyurethane and white vinyl are used abundantly. Wooden cupolas can be shingled to match the roof and give an architectural appearance. Any type of cupola can be painted to match your home.

Some cupolas aren’t visible from inside the house while others are designed specifically to be seen from inside. This offers space and light along with giving a unique design to a home that’s typically seen only in large Greco-Roman style buildings. If a cupola isn’t used to offer a viewing point from the roof or attic, it can still provide some much needed ventilation.
One type of cupola used for viewing is called a belvedere. It’s intended to give people a place to enjoy the scenery. These are typically larger than the smaller, decorative ones most often seen. Belvederes are also called “widow walks” because there’s a romantic idea that they offer a place of solitude and peace. Smaller cupolas offer almost no viewing, but they do give more light, and are called monitors.

Choosing to add a cupola to your home is the chance to join the outside and inside parts of your home. These are excellent additions to any home seeking to enhance the outside look of it. It’s both practical and effective, as you’ll see if you choose to add one to your roof. For more fun, make it a useful one where you can enjoy early morning sunrises or evening sunsets.