Are you looking to enhance your home’s design and fit your roof’s aesthetics but can’t decide whether to use open eaves or closed eaves?
The key difference between open eaves and closed eaves is their appearance and finishing. In open eaves, the finished underside of the roof and rafters are exposed and visible from underneath, while closed eaves have a soffit that closes and finishes the underside of the eaves, creating a smooth surface when viewed from beneath.
That’s the high-level difference, but there are several other considerations before you can make your final choice.
In this detailed comparison of open eaves vs. closed eaves, you’ll learn how they differ in appearance, finishing, vulnerability, temperature and moisture protection, durability, and more. Also, I reveal what roofing experts have to say about these two roof decorations.
So, if you need help choosing between open and closed eaves, keep reading.
What are Eaves of a Roof
Simply put, an eave is a small roof projection extending beyond the wall, either from the sides or the front. You must finish this area properly because it’s essential and decorative.
In addition, its aesthetic value can attract visitors to your home every day because, after all, everyone loves things that appeal to the eye.
If not done correctly, the house eaves area might provide a suitable habitat for birds and other animals; that’s not what you want. You could also use a fascia board at the front to enhance the aesthetic value of your eaves.
Why are Eaves Important
- Protection from weather extremes: Eaves give an appealing shade to your windows and, at the same time, helps to protect your house from the harsh summer sun. In tropical and subtropical climates, it’s advisable to have extended eaves so that you may have regulated temperature inside your house all year long.
- Long eaves mean that you can protect your furniture from direct sunlight, and that’s one of the best ways to prevent deterioration and discoloration of household essentials, especially those that sit near or on walls.
- Moisture barrier: Have you ever wondered how you can prevent rainwater and snow from damaging your house walls? Installing eaves could be the best option. This technology dries water away from the house, hence protecting the walls from mold, dew, and other problems that come with moisture leakage.
Remember, whether you choose open eaves or closed eaves, the goal is to accentuate the feel of your roof and, to some extent, the entire house.
What are Open Eaves
When you look at a roof with open eaves, there are exposed rafters on the underside. Open eave is one of the most common framing designs, and they’re a great option if you are operating on a budget. This is because they don’t require a lot of work to install.
Pros of Open Eaves
- Protect the wall from rains and snow: Installing long, wide eaves is the best way to guard your walls against damage by rains. Eaves direct water away from the house, preventing it from getting to you.
- Keep summer sun at bay: What is the better way to keep sunlight at bay than by having eaves on your house? Open-styled eaves also prevent wall discoloration because they are longer and direct sunlight away from the walls.
- Eaves provide a space under which you can plant decorative flowers. Take advantage of that space.
- Greater ventilation, even when it’s raining: Weather extremes such as heavy rains and summer heat often make it hard for me to leave the windows open. So I had to find a solution, and my roofer recommended that I use eaves when building the roof. My new house has eaves, and I can comfortably leave the windows open even when it’s raining because there’s space.
- Easy to build: Building open eaves is incredibly simple because they don’t require much work and materials. Since it’s not labor-intensive, they are the best alternative to closed eaves and box eaves.
Cons of Open Eaves
- They are costly as compared to not having them at all.
- Open eaves offer enough space for insect breeding, thanks to the exposed underside. Don’t be surprised if wasps make that area their home.
Closed Eaves
If you don’t like rafter ends exposed too much, plan to cover an additional cost to beautify your roof using closed eaves. This framing fulfills all the intended purposes of an eave. It also offers the best protection for attic storage.
A closed eave is typically an architectural style where a soffit is used to close the roof underside, so roof rafters aren’t visible. A soffit is the underside material you see on overhanging eaves.
Pros of Closed Eaves
Closed eaves offer the same benefits as open eaves, including:
- Protecting the exterior walls from adverse weather conditions like rainy summer heat decolorizing and leaving the walls ugly.
- The best option for gable roofs. To create such a roof, you need rafters or trusses and soffits to hide gable ends. The result is an elegant roof design!
- Protecting the roof underside from insect habitation. Closed eaves beat open eaves here because the former offers fully closed eaves, leaving no room for wasps and other insects to build their nests.
- Enhanced beauty. If you are focused on beauty when installing eaves, it’s important to choose closed eaves over open eaves. This is because closed eaves accentuate the underside to the maximum, something most eaves designs and framing can’t achieve.
- Better ventilation. Almost all eaves can help you achieve greater ventilation when it’s hot. Plus, just like with all other eaves, closed eaves make space for leaving the windows open when it’s raining.
Cons of Closed Eaves
- Pricier than open eaves: That closed eaves are a bit expensive. This is because they require more labor and purchasing costs than open eaves.
- High maintenance costs. The more aspects you have in your roofing, the higher the maintenance costs. With closed eaves, you might need to fix broken soffit vents occasionally, or else animals and insects will find a home there.
Open Eaves vs. Closed Eaves – In-Depth Comparison
As you can see, both open eaves and closed eaves seem to serve the same purpose. However, it’s essential to delve deep into their strengths because that’s the tiebreaker.
Temperature Regulation
One of the primary roles of eaves is to provide shade to your house, especially on the windows. In addition, since both open and closed eaves extend beyond the walls, they offer great protection from harsh temperatures. As such, they enable you to navigate even the hottest summer comfortably.
Remember, they are useful not only in summers but across the year. House temperature regulation aside, having eaves may also mean that your furniture won’t be easily decolorized as they’re far from direct sunlight.
Verdict: Both win
Moisture Protection
When you build a house, you want it to last longer. Due to water leakage, you don’t want the walls to grow mold or the color to fade away in a few months.
Whether you choose open eaves or closed eaves, rest assured that they will drive water away from the walls. This enhances durability and alleviates the risk of damages due to leakage.
Verdict: Both win
Vulnerability
In residential and commercial construction, the under eave area is one of the most vulnerable spots. For example, if a nearby siding catches fire, a closed eave is likely to suffer more damage than an open eave because of the soffits.
Verdict: Open eaves win
Decoration
One of the top features of eaves is the ability to refine the architectural feel of a house. If you look at any modern house, you realize that things like eaves are a major focus for many people. With that in mind, choosing closed eaves over open eaves is a good idea.
Here’s the thing: open eaves leave the roof underside open and somehow ugly. The look may even get uglier in the event of insect and animal habitation.
On the other hand, closed eaves allow you to seal all the “ugly” spaces, and they may even inspire you to continue decorating both the sides and the front (north).
Verdict: Closed eaves wins
Color Options
Eaves naturally appeal to the eye, and choosing the best color combinations can boost this appeal. Closed eaves offer a wide variety of colors to choose from, which allows you to pick as many favorite colors as possible. The reason for this is that these eaves cover the underside of a roof, and everyone can easily spot the colors from far or when they look up. Unfortunately, finding all your suitable colors in open eaves is not easy.
Verdict: Closed eaves are the best in terms of colors
Durability
Durability is a factor you can’t afford to overlook when choosing the best roofing materials. You don’t want to buy stuff that will break a few months down the line. That’s why people with durability in mind often opt for open eaves instead of closed eaves.
You might need to regularly acquire new closed eaves because of their always changing aesthetic value. You have to keep adopting the newest styles in the market, which is necessarily not the case with open eaves.
Verdict: open eaves last longer
Maintenance
Unlike open eaves, closed eaves require regular maintenance, thanks to delicate materials used in setting them up. For example, you’ll occasionally need to fix broken vents; otherwise, need, and hornets might find a new home there. So, the soffit must be well sealed and kept clean all the time.
Verdict: Open eaves have little or no maintenance costs, so they win.
Stand Out Features
When selecting eaves for your roof framing, you must pay attention to the features. Certain features, like color, will make your house stand out from the rest. When you look at either open eaves or closed eaves, be careful about durability, appearance, maintenance, and such.
Since most people use open eaves, be unique and choose a perfect color blend in closed eaves. These eaves often come in many colors, so take advantage of that.
Open eaves seem to have a longer lifespan than closed eaves. An eave is a good deal if it’s great and doesn’t have to be replaced every year. For me, durability is what matters more than anything else. I hate to think that a person might have to keep fixing broken soffit, but unfortunately, that’s something to expect if you opt for closed eaves.
Overall, both eaves offer weather protection for the walls, and they all enhance the beauty of your home.
Open Eaves vs. Closed Eaves Conclusion
I hope this comparison will end the open eaves vs. closed eaves debate. But, most importantly, understand that your choice entirely depends on what you want as an individual and that different people have different tastes.
Open-styled eaves don’t have soffit panels, and they make good homes for hornets, wasps, bees, and other animals because of the long roof overhang.
On the other hand, closed eaves have a soffit material, and therefore the roof is sealed on the underside, effectively blocking animal habitation. However, these eaves need regular cleaning and maintenance for the best results.
Chose open eaves if
- You want weather protection.
- You want greater ventilation.
- You want a little beauty.
- You want little or no maintenance costs.
- You want relatively affordable eaves.
- You want durability
- You want protected space for animals to build their nests.
Choose closed eaves if
- You want a better alternative to open eaves
- You want a wide range of colors to choose from
- You want enhanced beauty in your house
- You want to protect your roof underside from animal habitation
- You’re building a gable roof
- You can manage the maintenance costs
- You want an excellent moisture barrier