The first consideration when planning an addition is headroom: the height of a ceiling relative to human percentages. Most building regulations specify minimum ceiling heights, but, as many people prefer ceilings that are at least eight feet (2. 5 m) high, a well-designed space will most likely satisfy or go beyond these. Making sure appropriate headroom is probably the most tough aspect of addition style, and is the primary need to begin preparing an addition from the roof down.
Begin your style thinking by attempting to visualize exactly what you think about an ideal ceiling height for your addition when finished. As mentioned, a lot of prefer a minimum eight feet, but a couple of inches less than this will still work in a pinch. It is essential to begin here, since your new ceiling will likely be hanging from the roof framing that will, in turn, connect to the existing building. If this framing attaches to an existing structure too low, your ceiling will be too low. Let's take a look at a couple basic roof frame methods to assist clarify.
Gable Dormer: When most kids in the western world draw a home, it will have a gable roof. A gable roof is an upside-down "V." A gable dormer is this same roof shape attached to an existing main building at an ideal angle. It will have a peak as does the kids's illustration, and where its roof satisfies the main roof is called a valley. As people have actually been utilizing gable dormers for centuries, you will not have to look far for an example. The primary benefit to a gable dormer when developing an addition is that the addition's ceiling height is determined by how high its peak is relative to the main structure. Normally, the higher the peak, the higher the available ceiling height.
As with any structure task, there is apparently no end to pro and cons, and compromises need be found. When utilizing a gable dormer frame for an addition, the compromise is that much of its weight will bear upon the existing or primary roof framing due to the fact that it overlaps this framing. As the main roof framing was not likely developed to support this extra weight, this primary roof frame will need to be reinforced. Naturally, there are a few more in and outs to understand about putting a lid on your addition utilizing the gable dormer approach, but in my viewpoint, this method is the slickest, and in the long term, will use much better looks than the majority of options. Due to the structural reinforcing, and other framing components required when using a gable dormer, it will likely cost more, too.
If thinking about the gable dormer technique, one thing to bear in mind is that since a sizable addition's roof dormer will conceal a significant part of the existing roof, hold back on re-roofing till the dormer remains in location. This will save burying a lot of new roofing product under the new dormer.
Shed Roof: The shed roof or shed dormer has an unfortunate name, however when artfully built, proves a cost effective roof frame for an addition, as well as an attractive one. Starting once again with that inverted "V," the shed-style addition roof is a flat aircraft state the shape of a floor tile or square cracker that meets one "leg" of the upside-down "V" someplace. "Someplace" is the personnel word because this flexible addition roof style can, when well supported, be attached anywhere on a structure from the primary roof to its outside wall. For now, let's expect the shed roof connects at the base of the inverted "V." Preferably, the roof joists your ceiling is hung from will "land" on the exterior wall plates where the main roof frame rests. This makes for easier framing.
But here's the challenging part of utilizing the shed-style. Unlike the gable method which has its drain slopes built into the style, that tile formed shed roof aircraft has to be tilted down, a minimum of a bit. How much depends upon roofing know-how and the materials selected. Using the so-called 1: 12 ratio which i think of as minimum, for every foot the roof extends from the main building, the aircraft, that tile or cracker, tilts down one inch. The tricky part is that at this ratio, every foot away from the primary building is one less inch of headroom. If the addition roof extends 12 feet (4 m) from the main structure, an eight-foot-high ceiling becomes seven with the loss of an inch every foot. This implies that landing your new addition roof on the existing outside wall frame might not offer enough headroom, even when utilizing the minimum 1: 12 pitch ratio. Try this basic formula utilizing a 2: 12 pitch ratio to see why a minimum slope is often used. Losing 2 inches of headroom per foot leads to the loss of 2 feet (60 cm) of headroom over 12 feet.
With headroom in mind, you're probably asking, "Can I raise the ceiling to obtain more headroom?" Yes, but you will at the same time be figuring out where your new shed roof aircraft satisfies existing work. If that cracker or tile airplane lands too far up the inverted "V" of the primary roof, it will put weight on existing roof framing not intended to support it. This situation, as with gable dormers, will necessitate some engineering thinking and doing, however in my viewpoint, will be worth the trouble. Shed roofs simply look better when they link to a main roof, rather than being hung from an outside wall under the eave.
Another good way to increase headroom is by decreasing the addition's floor elevation. This is more typically essential with single story buildings, but can be an obstacle even with a 2nd story addition. The problem is, of course, that by the time that shed roof is extended far from the structure and headroom is lost as per the formula, the ceiling is so low as to be impractical. In this event, about the only choice offered is to "sink" the addition a step or more to make sure appropriate headroom.
A primary advantage of the shed roof is its simplicity. It does not demand advanced carpentry skills to execute as far as roof framing goes. Instead shed-style addition roofs are challenging in that they not just need greater idea about drain and roofing materials, however ask also for factor to consider of how building loads are transferred to their structures, as these are often less obvious than with gable-style additions. A last important note about utilizing a minimal or "low-slope" roof is not just that a low-slope roof product must be utilized, but extra care is had to make sure the addition's roof membrane goes well up and under the main building's roofing product. In general, the lower the slope, the greater this under-flashing.
As always, it's better when planning a structure task to make errors on paper instead of on the job. This thinking is especially real in additions, where particular aspects of a strategy are pre-determined by an existing structure that might be expensive to alter greatly. Of course, it's also true that will generally discovers a method, so with a little "top down" thinking about addition roofs and some fundamental tools, a building's functional interior area can be significantly increased without trimming a developing down and going back to square one.
For more details about the roof for your house addition contact:
Mountain State Roofing
( 303) 816-3693