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Alean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing structures open on one or more sides, generally used asshelters, are colloquially referred to aslean-tos in spite of being unattached to anything.
A lean-to addition is an appendix to an existing structure constructed to fulfill a new need. Sometimes, it covers an external staircase, as in a 15th-century addition against one of the walls of the large chapter room ofMeaux Cathedral. Other uses include protecting entrances, or establishing covered markets outside existing buildings.[1]
A lean-to is originally defined as a structure in which therafters lean against another building or wall, also referred to in prior times as a penthouse.[2] These structures characteristically haveshed roofs, also referred to as "skillions", or "outshots" and "catslides" when the shed's roof is a direct extension of a larger structure's.
A lean-toshelter is a simplified free-standing version of awilderness hut with three solid walls and a single- or, in the case of anAdirondack lean-to, offset-pitched gable roof. The open side is commonly oriented away from the prevailing weather. Often it is made of rough logs or unfinished wood and used forcamping.
This style of lean-to is popular in Finland and Scandinavia, and known as alaavu in Finnish,gapskjul orslogbod in Swedish, andgapahuk in Norwegian.
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