House design- Style versus efficiency

[MushCreek]

This is just something to discuss in general. The design I would LIKE to build is a cross gable of about 1200 sq ft. Basically, it's a 16X40 at right angles to another 16X40. I have a list of advantages to this style. It will be a lot easier for a guy working alone much of the time, because each component is much smaller. The floor joists are spanning only 16' (actually, more like 15') so they don't have to be huge, and there are no girders or beams required. What I like most, though, is that all of the major rooms have 3 outside walls, which means lots of windows and cross-ventilation. Being as we have our windows open between 55 and 85 degrees, ventilation is important. We have views in all directions, so I like to see out.

Now- the down side (there's always a down side). It's a more complicated design, with 4 roof valleys. It's inefficient as far as materials- 160 linear feet of wall and foundation, versus a theoretical 138 linear feet for a square house of the same size. There are 12 corners versus 4 for a square or rectangle. Even if I do all of the work myself, which I may, the materials will be more. Lastly, I'm worried about heating and A/C. We're going to be building near the SC mountains, which is a very mild climate. Probably 6 months of the year will be no heating or A/C. Winters are mild, not getting very much below freezing. Summers are very hot and humid, and I expect a solid 3 months of A/C. I'd like to believe that with a good tight house and modern insulation, there won't be that much difference in utility bills. The cross gable certainly has a lot more style- a square or rectangle is pretty dull. What do you think?

[ScottA]

There are millions of ways to build a house. Some are more interesting to look at and live in than others. My personal preference is for more angles, nooks and cranies to add visual intrest. This, as you said, makes the house harder to build. Try to visualize what the house will look like, how you will live in it etc. Then build the house in your mind board by board. If you are happy with both then go for it.

More outside walls and windows will cost more to heat and cool though with only 1200sf it won't be all that bad. Do you really need all those extra windows? I've found a fan placed in one window will ventilate my house pretty well.

[kalstar]

I too like the angles, are you planning to build the frame yourself or sub it out?

[davidj]

I'm just getting to the end of the framing for our simple 20x30.  Here's a first-timers view on this stuff...

For the footings, corners were a bit more work.  For the block foundation walls, again corners were definitely more work than straight lines, but openings were just as bad.  For the wall framing, corners were no effort.  However, as a complete amateur, I found gable ends very time consuming - both the wall framing and the roof framing. Even with 12:12, the angled framing always seems way more fiddly than it should be. And sorting out stuff like the lookouts etc. for the gable end overhang sucked up a huge number of hours - e.g. 28 of the 2x4 notches cut whilst 15' off the ground is hard work.  I'm still fighting with the hip roof on the porch, and I'm guessing valleys are equally painful the first time.  As an  example of why hips are hard: if you get a measurement out by 1" on a square wall and it's obvious what you've done, get it out by 1" on a hip rafter and you've no idea what you did wrong - did you calculate the angle wrong, did you multiply wrong?  All that being said, even the fiddly stuff gets way easier the 2nd or 3rd time, so if all of your gables and valleys are very similar then it won't be nearly as bad.

Being near the ground (or having good scaffolding) makes a huge difference to ease of construction. Even the difference between 16' and 20' is really noticable (your feet will be at 10' rather than 14' so it's almost 50% more work and time to get up there).  I plan to never build a structure with 20' walls ever again!

If you're building to a reasonably tight energy code then heat loss through the longer walls is probably less of an issue - it seems most of the energy loss is through doors and windows (and the roof, if you under-insulate) - not so much goes through the wall.  And cost-wise, walls are also pretty cheap - roof and floor cost way more (at least on my project) and again they're based on sq. ft., not shape (indeed a square shape costs more!).  And again, it seems to me that most of the money gets sucked into the windows and doors (even headers get expensive in heavy snow country).

All in all, a couple of intersecting smaller rectangles seems like a good trade off, especially if you can repeat framing patterns so you can learn from your mistakes!

[MushCreek]

I'll be doing nearly everything myself, including the foundation if I go with ICF. As the old saying goes, this isn't my first rodeo. Although I've never built an entire house from the ground up, I've done all of the various steps over the years, except for the ICF. I'm not worried about compound angles and such, since I have drawing software that will calculate out all of the dimensions to 4 decimal places. It's actually intended for machining, but it doesn't care what I'm drawing. I'm planning on a one story house, with a possibility of going 1-1/2 stories on one of the gables. That, coupled with a gable width of only 16' results in fairly low peaks, although the one on the downhill side of the house will be an additional 9 or 10' off the ground.

Building a house like this also results in small wall sections- the widest will be 16'. I like to frame and sheath the wall sections on the deck, then use wall jacks to put them up. I did a barn once by putting hinges on the bottom plate before assembling the walls. That keeps the bottom in place as you stand it up. Once the wall is secured, you move the hinges to the next panel to be built.

Luckily, the county I'm building in has no plans review, so I can change my mind right up until construction starts (actually, that may be a bad thing!). Once I know what my budget will be, I'll hopefully be down to picking one of two designs.

[CREATIVE1]

We're in the process of building the L-shaped Victoria, 16 feet wide and 14 feet wide on the wing.  We're building it with experienced friends, some paid, some free, and it's taking much longer than they anticipated because of the valleys and also two dormers and a two story window seat bumpout.  If you provide your own labor or can get away with some low cost helpers, I think the extra work and materials are worth it.  In my case, though, we fit the house to an existing property with a 45 foot long two story barn and a poorly placed septic system, so this plan was the only way we could fit in a house that wasn't overwhelmed with a larger structure.  I also wanted two huge banks of south facing windows for passive solar.  But under other circumstances, I would've gone with a big rectangle with some embellishments. 

[davidj]

Building a house like this also results in small wall sections- the widest will be 16'. I like to frame and sheath the wall sections on the deck, then use wall jacks to put them up. I did a barn once by putting hinges on the bottom plate before assembling the walls. That keeps the bottom in place as you stand it up. Once the wall is secured, you move the hinges to the next panel to be built.

We used the trick the PEG (I think) suggested for raising the bigger walls - just toe nail the bottom plate into the subfloor every few feet.  It helps to get the nail to go right through the corner of the bottom plate, and of course you need to do it before sheathing.  Given the leverage, you don't even notice the extra work of bending a few gun nails.

[upa]

I did a barn once by putting hinges on the bottom plate before assembling the walls. That keeps the bottom in place as you stand it up. Once the wall is secured, you move the hinges to the next panel to be built.

We used the trick the PEG (I think) suggested for raising the bigger walls - just toe nail the bottom plate into the subfloor every few feet.  It helps to get the nail to go right through the corner of the bottom plate, and of course you need to do it before sheathing.  Given the leverage, you don't even notice the extra work of bending a few gun nails.

Boy, I love all the tips on this forum. Wish I read some of the before I put up my walls, Oh, well maybe next building?