Are block gables on dormers necessary?

lalababa

Question for builders and engineers. All the simple shaped Aframe dormers that I've seen have block cavity walls up to the apex on the gables. Wouldn't it be cheaper/ better insulation oppertuinity to have a timber framed upper gable with vertical slate?
Or would it be bad building practice RE strength and load bearing weakening the roof? Would it be style wise unpopular etc.??

Calahonda52

So something like a Mansard or Gambrel type roof, or even a vertical version of a hip roof?

Metric Tensor

It's perfectly possible from a structural point of view OP and can be used quite effectively for gables in usual places where there is limited support underneath. You've possibly seen a few a not realised what they are because they can often be finished in fibre cement board and rendered to match the underlying blockwork.

Weather proofing the design requires attention to detail but is not super difficult either.

A down side is that it would further complicate air tightness detailing - that is already difficult in a dormer in the first place!!

Poor Uncle Tom

You can build an entire timber frame house you know, not just the gables...

lalababa

I'd be talking about a timber framed gable starting at 1st floor. Would this be quicker / cheaper to construct. The aesthetic of clean lines and appearing 'normal' could as one of the posters said be easily accomplished. How much would it save etc. And would it be worth it?

Poor Uncle Tom

It would probably cost more, not less, tbh.

Calahonda52

lalababa wrote: »

I'd be talking about a timber framed gable starting at 1st floor. Would this be quicker / cheaper to construct. The aesthetic of clean lines and appearing 'normal' could as one of the posters said be easily accomplished. How much would it save etc. And would it be worth it?

TF is only cheaper when semi-massed produced in a factory setting, anything else will be more expensive than blocks, especially on site, trying to meet Part L