BrickIT! User Guide
Chapters
  1. Welcome and the workspace
  2. Your first wall
  3. Layers, reveals and front layers
  4. Windows and doors
  5. Cutting it out
  6. The Building and Plan windows
  7. 3D, roofs and pictures
  8. Raking courses and shaped gables
  9. Stone walls and resin printing
  10. Projects and the library

Chapter 7 · walkthrough

Raking courses and shaped gables

Turn a plain gable end into a Dutch gable with curved shoulders, a round-topped neck, a brick-on-edge coping, ball finials and carved scrolls; change it to a crow-stepped gable; then lay a band of raking courses along the verges of the other end. Every step is shown in the preview and in the 3D window.

OO · 1:76.2gable ends 60 mm wide, 36 mm to the eaves45° roofabout 15 minutes
The 3D view of a small brick building whose end wall rises above the roof as a Dutch gable: two curved shoulders each side, a round-topped neck with a round window, a brick-on-edge coping following every curve, ball finials and carved scrolls at the shoulders.
Where this chapter ends up for the Dutch gable: the roof stops behind it, and the gable stands clear above it.

1Before you start

Both cards in this chapter work on a gable wall: a panel with Gable Wall enabled (see chapter 1). Our example is a small building of four walls set up in the Building window (chapter 5) with a 45° slate roof: a front and a back 90 mm long, and two plain gable ends, Left end and Right end, 60 mm wide and 36 mm to the eaves, in Flemish bond.

Click Left end in the Layers list to make it the panel you are working on. In the left-hand column, under Gable Wall, you will now find the Shaped Gable card, and a little further down the Raking Courses card. Neither appears on a wall without a gable.

The preview of the left end wall: a plain triangular gable on a rectangular wall, all in Flemish bond.
The left end as it starts: a plain triangular gable.
The Shaped Gable card, closed, with its tick box Dutch, Flemish or stepped ringed.
The Shaped Gable card before it is ticked.
Which gables can be shaped

A shaped gable needs a plain triangular gable, the same both sides: a Simple, Triangular gable with no taper. On a semicircular, asymmetric or north-light gable the tick box is greyed out and the card says so in an amber note.

2Make a Dutch gable

  1. With Left end selected, tick Dutch, Flemish or stepped on the Shaped Gable card.
  2. The card opens with a Dutch gable already worked out: Style Shaped (Dutch, Flemish), two shoulders each side curving in, a neck 3 courses above the roof with a round top, and a coping of bricks on edge cut as a separate layer.
  3. The preview redraws the wall at once. Its outline is cut to the new shape and the brickwork fills it.
The Shaped Gable card ticked: Style Shaped (Dutch, Flemish), Shoulders each side 2, Shoulders Curving in (Dutch), Neck width 18 mm, Neck above the roof 3 courses, Neck top Round, Finial on the top None, a scroll tick box, the + Add a round window under the neck button, Coping along its top Bricks on edge, and Cut as a separate layer, glued on, ticked.
The card with its starting choices.
The preview: the gable now rises in two concave shoulders each side to a narrow neck with a round top, edged with a band of bricks on edge.
The Dutch gable in the preview.

BrickIT! works the shape out from the brick: every ledge and shoulder starts at a whole course, and every one stands at least a course above the roof line, so the whole gable is a parapet. If you later change the wall's width, height, gable or brick size, the shape is worked out again to suit.

3The shoulders

Shoulders each side sets how many curved steps the gable climbs on each side, from 1 to 3. The Shoulders list beside it sets how each one curves:

Shoulders curving in: each shoulder a hollow curve.
Curving in (Dutch): hollow curves.
S-curve shoulders: each shoulder swells out then hollows in.
S-curve (Flemish): out, then in.
Shoulders curving out: each shoulder a rounded swell.
Curving out: rounded swells.
One shoulder each side, curving in, sweeping from the eaves straight to the neck.
One shoulder each side, curving in.

We go back to two shoulders, curving in, for the rest of the walkthrough.

4The neck and its top

The neck is the upright part at the top. Neck width (mm) is its width - between a tenth and three fifths of the wall's width (18 mm on our 60 mm wall to start with) - and Neck above the roof (courses) is how far it rises above the ridge line, from 0 to 12 courses. Neck top finishes it:

The neck with a round top.
Round
The neck with a shallow segmental top.
Segmental
The neck with a triangular pediment top.
Pediment
The neck with a flat top.
Flat

The coping follows whichever top you choose. We keep Round.

5A coping along the top

Coping along its top caps the gable's whole top edge, round every curve: Bricks on edge (half a brick deep, radiating round the curves, mitred at each corner), Stone, or None.

Close-up of a shoulder with a coping of bricks on edge, the joints radiating round the curve.
Bricks on edge.
Close-up of a shoulder with a stone coping in long curved pieces.
Stone.

With Cut as a separate layer, glued on ticked (the default), the coping is cut as its own part on the Detail Layer sheet, and the wall is engraved with its outline so you know where to glue it. Untick it and the coping's joints are simply engraved flush on the wall.

The coping part of the card: Coping along its top, Bricks on edge; Cut as a separate layer, glued on, ticked; and a note on where the part goes.
The Detail Layer (relief) card in the right-hand column, with Raking and copings ticked (1) and its summary 1 part: 1 gable coping piece (2).
1

On the Detail Layer (relief) card in the right-hand column, Raking & copings includes the coping on the detail sheet.

2

The card counts it: 1 part: 1 gable coping piece. Detail SVG and Detail DXF export the sheet, with the coping's joints engraved on the part. See chapter 4.

6Finials, scrolls and a round window

The middle of the card dresses the gable up:

The ornaments part of the card: Finial on the top Ball (1), A smaller one on every shoulder ticked (2), A carved scroll at the foot of every shoulder ticked (3), and the + Add a round window under the neck button (4), now greyed out with the note No room for one: another window is in the way.
The preview: a ball finial on the top and on each shoulder, a scroll at the foot of each shoulder, and a round window W1 in the neck.
1

Finial on the top: Ball, Obelisk or Urn. It is cut with the wall's outline, standing on the coping, and is stone in the 3D view.

2

A smaller one on every shoulder puts a smaller finial on each ledge (it appears once a top finial is chosen). Ledges too short to take one are left without, and the card says so.

3

A carved scroll at the foot of every shoulder: a round stone with a spiral engraved on it, where each shoulder's curve rises from its ledge, tucked under the coping. Each scroll is a piece on the Detail Layer sheet; the wall is engraved with its outline to place it by, and its courses stop round it.

4

+ Add a round window under the neck adds a round window with a brick ring, centred in the gable and placed clear of the roof inside. It is an ordinary window (here W1), so you can change it on the Windows & Doors card. Once it is there the button is greyed out: No room for one: another window is in the way.

Close-up of the left shoulders: a ball finial on a ledge, and a scroll with its spiral engraved, tucked under the coping at the foot of each shoulder.
Close up: the finials and the scrolls, their spirals engraved.

7Heights and warnings

At the foot of the card a summary gives the gable's highest point - finials included - from the bottom of the wall and above the eaves. Use it to check against your drawings.

The summary line: Its top 83.1 mm high, 47.1 mm above the eaves.

When a choice can't be built as asked, an amber note says why. Here we widened the neck to 36 mm, which leaves the ledges too short to take a scroll:

The summary now reads Its top 92.1 mm high, 56.1 mm above the eaves, with an amber note: Some ledges are too short for a scroll: they are left without.

Other notes you may see: the neck too wide for its shoulders, or the gable too narrow for the number of steps. Each tells you what to change. We put the neck back to 18 mm.

8See it in 3D

Click 🧱 3D on the preview's toolbar. The gable is drawn in its true shape, its coping standing proud as the glued-on layer will, the finials and scrolls in stone. Because the shaped gable stands above the roof all round, the roof stops at its inner face, and it gets no coping or bargeboard from the roof settings.

The 3D window: the Dutch gable seen from the end, the slate roof sloping away behind it and stopping against its back.
The 3D window (labels turned off), turned round to look at the left end.

The shape carries through everything else the wall makes: Export SVG and DXF, Print 1:1, the resin print and the core on the carcass sheets all follow it. Close the 3D window with its × button.

9A crow-stepped gable

  1. On the same wall, change Style to Crow-stepped. The shoulder and neck boxes give way to Steps each side (2 to 8; 4 to start with) and Top step (courses), how far the top step stands above the roof (1 to 12).
  2. Untick A carved scroll at the foot of every shoulder. Scrolls are for shoulders, and a stepped gable has none: an amber note says so, and the box stays on the card until you untick it. Change back to Dutch or Flemish later and you can tick it again.
  3. We set Finial on the top back to None. With a finial, A smaller one on every step puts one on each step.
The Shaped Gable card set to Crow-stepped: Steps each side 4, Top step 3 courses, Finial None, the round window button greyed out, Coping Bricks on edge as a separate layer, and the summary Its top 69 mm high, 33 mm above the eaves.
The preview: the gable rises in four square steps each side to a top step, each step capped with bricks on edge; the round window W1 sits under the top step.

The steps are whole half-bricks wide and whole courses high. The coping now caps each step. The round window we added stays, as it is an ordinary opening.

The 3D view of the crow-stepped gable, the roof behind it.
The crow-stepped gable in 3D, each step capped.

10Raking courses on a plain gable

Raking courses are a band of brick laid parallel to the slopes of a gable, as on many Belgian and Dutch gables; the wall's level courses stop against them, and the two sides meet in a mitre at the apex.

  1. Click Right end in the Layers list.
  2. Find the Raking Courses card in the left-hand column and tick Along the verges.
The Raking Courses card, not yet ticked, with Along the verges ringed.
The Raking Courses card ticked: Courses deep 3, Bond Flemish, Foot Cut square to the slope, Cut as a separate layer ticked, and a note on the Detail Layer sheet.
The preview: the right end's triangular gable with a band of three courses running up both slopes, mitred at the apex.
Three courses along each verge, mitred at the apex.

The bricks are set out from the apex, so the cut bricks either side match, and there are no slivers against the ends or the mitre. A sloping top line (a pediment, say) takes raking courses too, and so does a front layer glued on a wall.

11Depth, bond and foot

Courses deep is how wide the band is, from 1 to 12 courses. Bond is Stretcher, English or Flemish; it starts as the wall's own bond when that is one of the three, otherwise stretcher.

Raking courses in stretcher bond along a slope.
Stretcher
Raking courses in English bond along a slope: a course of headers, then a course of stretchers.
English
Raking courses in Flemish bond along a slope: headers and stretchers in turn.
Flemish

Foot chooses how the band ends at the eaves. Here with five courses:

The foot of a five-course band cut square to the slope.
Cut square to the slope
The foot of a five-course band cut level, in line with the eaves.
Cut level with the eaves

If a band can't be fitted as asked, an amber note on the card says why.

12Glued on or flush, and in 3D

With Cut as a separate layer ticked (the default), the band is cut as its own part, Raking courses, on the Detail Layer sheet with its courses engraved, and the wall engraves the band's outline so you can glue it in place. The Detail Layer (relief) card then counts 1 raking course band. Untick it and the courses are engraved flush on the wall instead. The preview draws the courses either way.

The 3D view of the right end: the band of raking courses standing proud along both verges under the roof's edge, mitred at the apex; the crow-stepped left end shows beyond the roof.
In 3D the separate layer stands a board's thickness proud of the wall, its courses shown on its face.
Tip

Print 1:1 and the resin print always show the band's courses, whichever you choose.

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