Let me run something by you all

[bruceinky]

I had plans to build a 24 by 32 foot house/cabin. I was going to run an 8 foot wide deck the full 32 foot length of the house and put a shed roof over it  so I would have a big patio/deck facing the lake.

This is going to be on a block foundation, dug into a hill so that I'd have a basement.

Why not just extend the foundation another 8 feet out and build my deck/patio as a 'permanent' part of the house? I was going to buy 24' span scissor trusses but I could extend that to 32' and take it out right over the patio.

What do you all think of this? With it being a sturdy part of the house, I could even tile the deck/patio and maybe eventually turn it into a patio room.

Any ideas? Stuff I'm not thinking about?

[John Raabe]

I wouldn't take an outside deck and enclose it inside the house unless it was conditioned space and protected from the weather.

A porch needs to be set lower than the interior floor and it is normally set up for drainage and uses all rot resistant materials so that water both drains away and will not attack the structure.

Outside spaces above living space always fail at some point and then causes premature remodeling.  If you have this as the whole structure of the floor it will be difficult to repair.

[bruceinky]

thanks for the fast response. I'll heed your advice and just go with the orginal plan.

[mark chenail]

I dont mean to disagree with what John says but I think maybe he has misunderstood Bruce's intention. It sounds to me as if Bruce wants to build an old fashioned open loggia over a closed basement. The main house roof extends over the loggia and the overhang protects the flooring.  I dont think Bruce meant to build a spaced deck floor. This is a pretty common form in Italian farmhouses and all over the Southern  United States, particularly in areas prone to flood.  The lower floor is enclosed and used for storage  and services and the living spaces with a broad loggia or veranda are on the second floor.  If this arrangement is built into the side of a hill, you get a pretty grand house  on the down hill side.    Heres a couple of pics that sort of illustrate what I mean.  Of course I couldnt find the perfect pic when I needed it.

http://courses.temple.edu/neighbor/CreoleCottage-nice.jpg

Thats a creole cottage, a bit bigger than you intend but the lower veranda could easily be part of the enclosed lower story and the whole thing built into the hill slope.

http://toscanaferien.ch/GiusternaEngl.htm

An italian version of the same idea.

I think its a great idea myself, depending on your climate.

Mark

[bruceinky]

I dont mean to disagree with what John says but I think maybe he has misunderstood Bruce's intention. It sounds to me as if Bruce wants to build an old fashioned open loggia over a closed basement. The main house roof extends over the loggia and the overhang protects the flooring.  I dont think Bruce meant to build a spaced deck floor. This is a pretty common form in Italian farmhouses and all over the Southern  United States, particularly in areas prone to flood.  The lower floor is enclosed and used for storage  and services and the living spaces with a broad loggia or veranda are on the second floor.  If this arrangement is built into the side of a hill, you get a pretty grand house  on the down hill side.    Heres a couple of pics that sort of illustrate what I mean.  Of course I couldnt find the perfect pic when I needed it.

http://courses.temple.edu/neighbor/CreoleCottage-nice.jpg

Thats a creole cottage, a bit bigger than you intend but the lower veranda could easily be part of the enclosed lower story and the whole thing built into the hill slope.

http://toscanaferien.ch/GiusternaEngl.htm

An italian version of the same idea.

I think its a great idea myself, depending on your climate.

Mark

Yes, you're on the right track there. The main roof extends over the porch/veranda, and instead of railings, I'd 'finish' up to about  the about the 4' level.

[mark chenail]

Yes  you could  do solid railings but i wouldnt go quite that high, might be a bit confining physically and visually.  And dont forget to put in scupper holes at the bottom so that any water that does get to the porch can run off.  Also makes it easier to sweep the dust off the decking.  The solid rails would make it possible for you to put up glazing in the cold weather to create a sun room.  I certainly think its a workable idea.  The veranda on the high side will  catch the summer breezes and the half buried rooms in the lower level will be cool in summer and warm in winter. Good luck with it.

[John Raabe]

The only thing I might suggest is if you do an outside porch or deck (open to rain, snow and weather), then have a beam or wall under the main house/porch wall so that the porch flooring can be set lower and the joists, sheathing and waterproofing replaced without having to the tear into the main part of the house.

You can cetainly do an old style porch with a very slight slope to scuppers and do a solid wood floor over membrane waterproofing that will still allow for basement storage below.

All this is more important the more sever the weather.

[Bellla]

John,

     After using our property for a few years we have decided that we need a shed area and a "screen porch" type area that would have a low loft over the screen porch area.  The upper floor of the creole cottage on the link above is close enough to what I was picturing (except the roof we would build would be a gabeled roof and there would not be a basement or lower floor).  

If we wanted to do that with a 12x16 version of your 12x18 plans (or a 10x20 version of your 10x14 plans) could we go with an 8' screen porch area with a gravel over dirt floor?  (As we are building on a slight downhill slope and the screened area would be on the down hill side that would also solve the water runoff problem).  If so - how would we need to support the extended roof area over the screened area (where the loft would be)?  Would we need extra bracing in the screened area because there would not be plywood walls?   Am I pushing the limits of the little house plans?

Bellla

[Amanda_931]

Earthen floor would be nicer than a gravel one?

(tamp the ahem, thingy out of the gravel, then add an inch or so of clay/sand--or clay/sand/sawdust, well pounded in. (preferably with something in the way of edges and forms, and with something--board, brick, tile, rubber doormat, etc. at the wear points, finish with linseed oil)

Assuming that thingy is a generic four-letter word, that is.

[Bellla]

Amanda,

    An earthen floor would be nice but this is really going to be more of a storage area and the gravel would probably be sufficient.

Thanks for the suggestion though!  I've got a few other structures in mind and that might be an idea to consider for one of them.

Bellla