Framing a bump-out?

[MushCreek]

I'm hoping for something prescriptive here. I want to have a shallow (18") bump-out in my new house, and didn't want to involve the foundation. The thing is- it will span 11'. I'm assuming that with a bump-out that shallow, I should be able to simply cantilever the floor joists. If it makes any difference, the floor joists will be spanning 15'3" from the inside edge of the foundation to a center carrier beam. In other words, the house is 32' wide.

What I'm more concerned about is the roof. The bump-out will be under the eave, so it is load-bearing. This is in SC, with a moderate snow-load of 10-15 lbs/sq/ft. Can I just treat the bump-out as a large window opening, with an appropriate sized header? If so, how do I calculate the size of the header, and then convince my inspector that it is sufficient? Can I get there with 2X's, or should I plan on an LVL or some other engineered product?

Of course, I could always omit the bump-out, but what would be the fun in that?

[Don_P]

Sure, check out table R502.3.3(1) and read the footnotes. It'll support the roof and floor easily, you could support the roof on a header back over the foundation if you want to but it can bear out on the end of the cantilever.