Roof Cornice Return

A cornice return is a triangular piece of material that is placed below the rake fascia on the corner of a roof.

Roof cornice return. Eave returns are the decorative extension of the roof eave that wraps around the gable end of the house. Many old victorian style homes have a very elegant cornice return that has been carved and painted. If the overhang is 24 then it normally get s returned double that at the gable. This house had rotted roof rake returns.

But there are ways to ensure they are sound. Done properly this is hip cut back to the wall and the eavestrough runs all the way around back to the wall. This can be challenging because the returns are located outside the corner boards which means they require additional structural support. It is a short horizontal extension of the cornice that occurs on each side of the gable end of the building see picture of the härnösands rådhus with two of these.

This article has some good snobbish info about how cornice returns are supposed to look. They are more properly called cornice returns i think but i d rather call them eave returns. Sometimes this helps with drainage and other times the cornice return is more of a decorative piece. Also called an eave return a cornice return is a graceful way to transition the eave and the main fascia board around the gable end of a house.

The greek revival roof return s tyle emulated the temple forms of ancient greece resulting in the creation of straightforward box like buildings we see in historic towns of america.