Universal Cottage picture

[Jimmy C.]

While trying to cut and paste the Universal Cottage picture into one of my foundation in the woods pictures I have come to think the house shown is only 16 ft. wide.

Is this true?  Or is it just an illusion of perception?

[Daddymem]

To me it looks short....

[John Raabe]

The house shown in the photo (http://www.jshow.com/y2k/listings/57.html) was the inspiration for the Universal Cottage but was built before the plans were drawn.

This house was spotted on a walk in Newport OR and was not itself measured.

However, a good reference dimension in that and most houses is a 36" wide front door. The windows above look also to be 36" wide (measured to the inside of the trim). If you use calipers and take this width as a multiplier you will find it is pretty close to 20' wide. The length is less certain and is unlikely to match the plans.

[Jimmy C.]

I wanted to get a feel of what it would look like.

I know it is crude. I used microsoft paint. But, I did it on break at work.

Remember, mine is 20 x 40

This will give me a little better idea of what the house will look like...    

[jraabe]

Interesting Jimmy! Let's you see what you might want to experiment with.

[Daddymem]

The house shown in the photo (http://www.jshow.com/y2k/listings/57.html) was the inspiration for the Universal Cottage but was built before the plans were drawn.

That explains alot.  We almost passed by this plan because the text and plans described three bedrooms upstairs but the picture looked like they would be cramped.  Good thing we chalked that up to a weird skew of the picture and went ahead and fooled around with it in Chief Architect to find out the bedrooms are fine in size.  Perhaps that should be mentioned in the description?
Has this been built by anyone or is Vojacek or Jimmy going to be the first?

[jraabe]

Good suggestion Daddymem!

I've made a note of that in the description. No sense in people getting confused from a picture that is not worth 1000 words.

[glenn-k]

I'm getting goosebumps, Jimmy.  Looks good.  Hurry up.

[Jimmy C.]

This will give me a little better idea of what the house will look like...    

I think I want this on the side of my house.

[John Raabe]

The Universal Cottage plans do include details for such a wrap around porch that can be added to either side and can tie into the end porch. The railing shown in my detail is a bit different but that is an easy modification.

[cedarglen]

would it be possible to make the roof on the wrap around porch flat and put sliding glass doors in  the master bedroom out to the balcony?

I bought the universal 2 story  plans two days ago, they will hopefully arrive tomorrow.

Chuck

[Daddymem]

Nice porch!  Looks like a nice shady place to spend a hot summer afternoon.  The metal glider on my grandma's screen porch would fit right in!

[ilive4u]

The Two-story 20' x 34' Universal Cottage  
john's website says:  
Attic trusses can be used for a bonus room or storage area above the second floor.

Usually I see the ones WITHOUT  the trusses you can have space to use for a bedroom or storage and that is what I want in this cottage here.

I am asking what
 
was John talking about when he says:
Attic trusses can be used for a bonus room or storage area above the second floor?

[Daddymem]

On the roof details page of the plans is a detail of what John calls an attic truss roof option.  The configuration has vertical supports leaving the center area open.

[John Raabe]

To answer the question about a flat roof deck instead of the porch roof.

It can be done but involves some tricky details for the wall connections, railings, upsizing the joists, detailing the door out to the deck, drainage, and scuppers or gutters, etc.

You could even cut in a small deck and have the roof come 1/2 way up to the railing height. That looks neat.

Lot's of possibilities. We'll probably develop details for some of this over at PlanHelp.com. (Just about to launch - testing the order processing software now.)

[Larry]

We did the same thing with a small upper deck off of the master bedroom.  It was fairly straight forward.  We kept a slight angle on the roof for drainage and the actual deck is suspended between a ledger attached to the cabin and the perimeter beam.

[John Raabe]

Another nice one from Larry.