Question about wall height

[David.DiPietro]

Hi. We purchased the plans to build the 1 1/2 story 20x30 cabin. 

I posted this in the general forum but thought I would try here too.  We got some responses but ones that were constructed differently from the plans and we would like to know if we can adjust wall height using the same plans and techiques.

Our question is in regards to the wall height.  Does anyone know if there is any problem with going to 12 ft wall height (instead of the 10 ft that are in the plans) using 2x6s?  We would like to construct the cabin in the same manner the plans call for with 12ft instead of 10ft.  Would this work?  The first floor will be 8 ft and the additional height will be in the loft.  Thanks for any help anyone might have.  We are looking to start framing in April.

Dave

[John Raabe]

Dave:

You should have little problems going with 12' high studs, especially if you will be doing the loft for the full length of the house. The ledger and loft floor system serve to stabilize the walls.

A 12' high unsupported wall in a large open space will sometimes require additional bracing depending on local wind loads. That is why I show the 10' studs in the plans - it covers more options for laying out a cathedral ceiling in a great room.

[MountainDon]

I suppose if there was to be a loft only at one end, one half or so, and an open cathedral ceiling at the other end, one could split the walls. Ten foot at the cathedral end, and 12 foot over the loft. Just thinking out loud. 

[John Raabe]

Yes, you could step the roof down. You might even try a 9' wall in the great room. That would keep the ceiling from feeling too high, save on heat, and provide 3' for some gable end wall windows (at the roof pitch) into the loft.

[MountainDon]

It would be nice to have windows there   

I like the idea of 9 foot walls in the great room. drop the ceiling to 8 foot or a few inches less, under the loft area.

There's one thing to keep in mind about the loft. With a 12 foot side wall, and an 8 foot lower floor ceiling, you won't have a four foot inside wall in the loft. The floor joists take up space. That's sort of obvious, but then it's one of those things that may slide through the thought process.

[David.DiPietro]

Thanks for your responses.  We are planning on doing the full loft across the top.  We expect to have a lot of people around at one time so we are setting it up to be able to have a bedroom and second full bath on the second floor as mirror image of the first floor, but we didn't want a two story in order to keep the cabin look to it.  The second half of the second floor will be used as a rec room/sleeping area for the kids.  This way we could run the utilities for the bathroom on the same wall.

I hadn't thought of splitting the floor height and we like the idea of raising it to 9 ft in the great room.  This is something I will definitely give some thought to if I want extra height in the great room or kid's area instead.

Thanks so much.  Your replies have been a great help.  We are getting ready to order materials and will start framing in April.

Dave 

[Redoverfarm]

Dave I would give particular attention to your design of a "full bath" on the second floor in comparison to a "half bath"  The needed heigth for a full bath will quickly eat up the space in the loft area due to the sloping roof line.  In my cabin I started out with a nice 16X24 foot area.  Then when I moved the bath toward the middle of the room just to have a half bath (headroom) the once large area is not so large now.  Still quite liveable but not what I had originally planned.  Another thing to consider is if you are going for an open beam with 2X6 T&G you will not want to drop the plumbing down where it is normally required which will destroy your open beam concept.  I finally worked mine out that I only had to enclose 1 bay partially with a dropped ceiling which is not too noticable.  I did utilize one wall for the majority of the plumbing.