Shed Roof on 20 x 30

[Tennessee Pride(Guest)]

Hello Everyone,

Hope all is going well. I have just completed getting my 20 x 30 in the dry and am able to lock it up. This was a major milestone for me and my family. I basically followed the plans that I purchased from this site with the exception of using 12' walls instead of the 10' walls in the plan. The roof pitch to the cabin is 12/12 with a 16 inch overhang. I am now in the process of deciding how I will built the porches for this cabin. I plan on having a small front porch as detailed in the cabin plans and would also like to have a screened in porch on the back side of the cabin (I have a set of french doors leading nowhere currently).  My plan was to construct a 14' deep by 18' wide porch with a shed roof. When I started putting the design down on paper I realized that I may have issues with the roof pitch. The cabin is on piers and approximately 4' off the ground. If I drop the deck to the porch 1' below the sub-floor of the cabin (requiring a step down onto porch) I come up with a pitch of around 3/12. This seems to be very flat. The cabin is located in East Tennessee with little snow loading issues. Does anyone have any suggestions, recommendations, or general observations on a 3/12 roof or possibly a better alternative. The dimesion for the porch is based on the wood I have currently (plenty of 2x12x14'). Thanks in advance.

[John Raabe]

A 3:12 pitch will look rather low, especially compared to the 12:12 but there is no special problem with keeping it waterproof. Almost all roofing materials can handle that slope.

You might also look at doing a hip roof where the sides come up the sidewall as well. These often look better at lower pitches than sheds.

[JRR]

I currently installing a metal roof over a porch.  Slope is approx 3/12 ... maybe even a bit less.  It looks much better "in the real" than it did on paper.  And I'm amazed at how a tool, such as a drill, will slide down this roof faster than this fat man can move.

[Tennessee Pride(Guest)]

Thanks for the advice and tips. I wish now that I would have incorporated a hip roof into the main roof. But since I already have the main roof finsihed I guess I will add a shed roof with the 3/12 pitch and a step down onto the porch. It is funny how an issue like this is not fully revealed until the end of the project.

[Amanda_931]

There are or were a lot of houses around here--smallish rectangle, gable end facing the road, shed roof porch(es) on front (and back, although a lot of time that one has been turned into an addition.

But the hipness (to coin a word) is just on the porch roof, if it exists at all.

There is also a fairly frequent problem of the framing for that roof being light enough that the roof sags a bit or a lot.