Hello All,

I will be building mostly by myself and need more than the 600 sq. ft. in the existing 20x30 plan. Would it be reasonable to think that I could essentially build the same unit twice-in-a-row, so to speak? Such that I end up with 1,200 sq. ft. total in a 20x60 footprint? I have the Universal plans already but I'm not getting any younger and my wife has difficulty with stairs (I toyed with idea of a ramp in place of stairs in the Universal but I don't have the ability to engineer that, if it's even possible.) If there are complex factors that a novice such as myself do not understand that make this not feasible then I will stick with the Universal.

Thank you!!
Dane

I suspect in 20x60 there would be a fair amount of wasted space in travel paths, either hallways or dedicated linear walkways through rooms. I think that a wider and shorter plan would probably give you more bang for the buck, something more like 28x42. Have you sketched out an agreeable layout? But to answer your question yes repeating the framing of a 20x30 would work for a 20x60.

Thanks, Don!! The idea for the floor plan is to have three 20x20 sections. I am talking very simple here, bedroom section with bathroom subsection, kitchen/dining/great room then another bedroom section. The bedrooms would probably have attic space and the central room would be open. Not the most artsy design by far, won't end up in any architectural magazines, but would sure fit the bill until the kids move out, and long after.

The golden mean (approximately equal to a 1:1.61 ratio) will generally produce a pleasing relationship of width to length. That ratio usually gives a nice balance between being too wide or being too long. And you can probably get inexpensive trusses designed to carry your loads. Try playing with floor plans that use something close to that ratio. 

Quote from: johnboy on May 19, 2018, 09:24:35 PM
The golden mean (approximately equal to a 1:1.61 ratio) will generally produce a pleasing relationship of width to length. That ratio usually gives a nice balance between being too wide or being too long. And you can probably get inexpensive trusses designed to carry your loads. Try playing with floor plans that use something close to that ratio.

So closer to 30x50 or 38x60? I would imagine that would involve internal supports of some sort or load bearing walls...

Quote from: johnboy on May 19, 2018, 09:24:35 PM
you can probably get inexpensive trusses designed to carry your loads.

Trusses can easily clear span those dimensions, it looks like the square footage just went up a good bit at those numbers. I wouldn't get too hung up on the golden mean, especially in plan view, looking down from above, it is more applicable to the elevation really, the façade, and even there it is not a hard and fast rule, simply ratios the Greek's thought were most pleasing. Applying a single story height to a 50 or 60' long building is more in line with what they were thinking about. We certainly see good looking homes that are outside of that ratio.

When an architect is faced with a long expanse like that they usually try to articulate the plan maybe by making that center section a few feet deeper and taller and bumping the roof line up over the adjoining sections, that is a very common ranch design.
Very quickly;

Or the center can turn 90 degrees and present a gable in the center of the long wall which can cover an entry and a rear porch, all just stuff to play with during the design phase.

Wow!! Thanks, Don!! That is very nice. That roof looks complicated on the second picture?

If it were mine and that center was the main "public" area I would vault that section using scissor trusses. They would be installed first and would be on 2' centers from front to back of the building and would bear on load bearing walls or beams that section off the side wings of the building. Then most likely level ceilinged common trusses over each wing and field framing from the wing roofs over the scissor trusses to form the tie in and valleys. not the simplest roof but not too complex. IMO it helps break up what otherwise is a not very attractive profile.

Quote from: Don_P on May 23, 2018, 07:48:14 PM
If it were mine and that center was the main "public" area I would vault that section using scissor trusses. They would be installed first and would be on 2' centers from front to back of the building and would bear on load bearing walls or beams that section off the side wings of the building. Then most likely level ceilinged common trusses over each wing and field framing from the wing roofs over the scissor trusses to form the tie in and valleys. not the simplest roof but not too complex. IMO it helps break up what otherwise is a not very attractive profile.

Thanks again, Don!! Those words are in English but I did not understand any of it,  Time to do more research.

First build the load bearing walls or (or beams if it is an open pass through area) to support the center scissor truss section and install those.


Then sheath the scissors and install the common trusses


then overframe the valley area (also called field framing or a California valley, you can also have the truss plant make the valley sets)


That was quick but gives an idea of the basic order of assembly.

Fantastic, thank you!!