Adding a Bedroom

[cmsilvay]

John we purchased and built (still finishing) a little house kit last year we went with the 14' and made it 30 feet long.I would like to know if we could add on to the side creating an "L" shape. My user name was CRE90602 last year but i lost my password. THnx

[John Raabe]

Sure, you could use the basic floor plan and pier layouts of any of the 3 plans in the Little House plans kit and just tie the two gables together with a cricket built on top of the old roof. Somewhere else on the forum is a discussion and diagram that will help you with the pier and beam layouts. I'll see if I can find it, or maybe someone else will remember the link.

Actually, using the Little House pier foundation details with the overhanging beam will make it easy for you to just butt the beams together and use a metal right angle connector. Not much weight will be transfered and the two beams will be stabilized and locked together. The two buildings are each virtually self supporting.

John

PS - go here for the lost password: http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1187644189/0#0

[MountainDon]

just tie the two gables together with a cricket built on top of the old roof.

Hey, I've done just that but never knew the name of what I did!

[John Raabe]

You probably didn't rub your legs together fast enough.

Sorry  :-?

(Is Glennitus contagious? Can you catch it over the Internet?)

[cmsilvay]

That is what i was think i still have the plans(i think) for the peir layout I was going to go with a low pitch 4/12 roof (cheaper and easier) making the tie in was my main concern i have now idea what a crickect is of tho the library i guess

[glenn kangiser]

Very good, Grasshopper Cricket John.  :-?

The student becomes the master.



Note - if it doesn't look like a cricket it must have been named cricket by someone who thought it did. :-/

[TisaWee Farm]

That brings up another question (hope you don't think I'm ransacking your thread....)
When you tie in the two buildings, do you have to put a special header over the opening??  If the opening is 8' wide, for instance?  Or do you just treat that like a normal big door?

[John Raabe]

You will treat it like a big normal door in a bearing wall. Thus it will need a header as the roof rafters are still falling on the header.

With an 8' opening in a roof bearing sidewall you can use a double 2x10 header - or a 6x8 or 4x10 exposed beam. You can set this up higher than a normal header for a taller opening if you want.

[highlight]Thank you Glenn for that full visual history of crickets. [/highlight]

I wonder if there are other names for this little patch of roof that ties the two gables together? Builders have been known to make up names that then become regional nomenclature, and finally, somebody writes it down in a book. If you can get three builders together from three regions of the country, you will find there are lots of things they work with that have more than one name. This can lead to some interesting discussions 8-).

Besides, I only know that name because I heard it from a builder who might have been guessing himself.

[glenn kangiser]

My pleasure, John.  Hated to leave any unanswered questions.

[hobbiest]

In my experience, a cricket is a small roof built to divert water/snow/debris, that is placed against a chimney, or where a roofline would drain into a wall, etc.  What you are describing is what I know as a California overframe, or CA valley.  Not saying you are wrong, as these are all different depending on the carpenter, but these additional terms may help to describe the process to another builder when asking for advice.  This ofcourse assumes that he uses the same terms.