builders cottage roof

[Mike Teskey]

For my builders cottage (12x16 to be under the permit threshold), I can go as high as 10' high but the CCR's in my area require at least a 4 in 12 roof pitch.  I am thinking about asking for a variance for a 3 in 12 or 2 in 12 roof, then putting on a pitched shed roof instead of a gable.  

If I do this, with say a 2 in 12 pitch, will I make all walls 8 feet in height (tie them together) and then just build up the high wall with a continuous beam (that seems a bit much) or a short (2 feet) crib wall on top of one wall ?  Or do I build one wall 10 feet high, the opposite wall 8 feet and use some combination of Simpson ties to secure the non-bearing sides?

Am I making sense?

Thanks,
Mike

[jraabe]

If you do a shed roof I would build the tall wall from full height studs to a double top plate. I would then build the other three walls to 8' or whatever your bottom of the shed roof will be. Tie these together with the overlapping plates. On the sides you can infill studs after the end rafters are up.

But it can also be done as you suggest with all walls at 8' and then a pony wall on the high side. The full height wall will be stiffer however.

[Amanda_931]

The kind of roofing recommended varies with the pitch.  Manufacturers mostly don't recommend shingles or metal roofing below somewhere around 3 (or 3 1/2 or 4) in 12 (although the mini-storages use some kind of expensive, I assume, metal stuff and very low pitches).

John used roll roofing for the original Little House, and that does go lower.  Done the way he suggests--with an extra plate or two on one side.

The rubber (EDPM?) or roll-on roofs just have to slope at all.  You don't want to think about hot asphalt built-up roofs for a small house.

Snow load varies by roof pitch as well.  If that's an issue.

I don't get terrified at 3 or 3 1/2 in twelve.  Patched a couple of those roofs.  And I am the notoriously height-phobic person here.