A small, protruding enclosure on a roof, typically built with its own miniature gable roof. It is most commonly used to describe a gabled dormer window, but it also refers to protective covers built over roof hatches, HVAC duct penetrations, or chimney chases.
Flash the valley on that doghouse dormer carefully, they always want to leak if the step flashing isn't right.
Doghouse dormers are notorious leak points; they require meticulous integration of step flashing and apron flashing where their small walls meet the main roof deck.
Also heard as
- Doghouse dormer
Related terms
Gable roof
A roof with two sloping sides that meet at a top ridge, creating triangular end walls.
Step flashing
Overlapping L-shaped metal pieces used to seal the joint where a sloped roof meets a vertical wall.
Valley piece
A specialized roofing tile or shingle shaped to fit the internal intersection of two roof slopes.