bought my plans - i'm so excited!!! 20x32 1.5 story lakehouse, and a few ?s

[ceabrm]

we bought a teeny tiny lot on the chowan river in coastal n.c. about an hour from our house. received the plans for the 1.5 story 20x30, bought home designer 9.07 (not the most fun ever, btw), made changes to the basic plan, came up with a plan i (think!) i love, but have a few problems.

namely, i can't seem to figure out how to add a screened in porch on the full gable end. i've noticed most folks opt to use the long side of the house for their porch, but our lot doesn't have the room (we'll build with 1 gable facing the river, 1 facing the street).

second issue is after i added a stairwell to the loft, the top of the handrails (like the rails were actually a wall) in the loft went through the roof. lowered the sidewalls to 36", and lost the rest of my ceiling.

oh yeah...and um...well, i sorta knocked my house off its foundation and can't seem to put it back 

(not quite sure how i insert pix, but they are viewable if the link below formats correctly)

http://www.justforbabygifts.com/lakehouse1.JPG
http://www.justforbabygifts.com/lakehouse2.JPG

[Redoverfarm]

There are two ways to include the porch on the gable end. First being to extend the roof line to the porch depth, side the top portion and put a ceiling in it.  Second would be to place a shed roof just below the window on the gable end.  The second would be more likely since you have a upstairs window.

[considerations]

"i added a stairwell to the loft, the top of the handrails (like the rails were actually a wall) in the loft went through the roof. lowered the sidewalls to 36", and lost the rest of my ceiling. oh yeah...and um...well, i sorta knocked my house off its foundation and can't seem to put it back "

I'm so glad you wrote this after just wrestling with software....instead of the actual build! 

More than once I've had to back track because Step 4 was fatally affected by my decision during Step 1.....fortunately not concerning anything in the cabin...but the outbuildings I practiced on are a forensic history of my learning (to plan ahead) process. 

[ceabrm]

thanks so much for your replies.

john, i've tried to put a shed roof under the windows; used 3 rail-walls for the 3 sides of the porch. chose the space, and chose "roof over this room" under the structure tab -- no roof.

tried giving the side porch walls full gable and the long side shed roof, still no roof. when i tried to "build roof", the entire roof is rebuilt (and it isn't pretty). when i tried naming the space Porch, i get a wacky u-shaped roof. i know i must be missing something really simple and it's driving me crazy!

[rick91351]

Some times a person just has to tape some Vellun paper to a board.  Then attack it with a tee square, triangles, 0.5 mechanical pencil and a good gum eraser.  To me it saves a lot of time and opens a lot of new ideas.   

[Don_P]

I agree with Rick, the software is a tool, if it isn't working use a tool that does work for you. Pencils are easy to use.

Before you get too far along go sit down with the local building official for a discussion with what you have and thoughts about what you want to do. Coastal NC can have some pretty strict requirements.

[ceabrm]

already have. met with the cama folks (coastal area management, bldg inspector, health inspector, local builder, etc); this structure is probably the simplest house one could build. four corners, single plan roof, rectangular foundation. the only code issue i might have is the size of the ridge beam and where the ridge boards would go since i want an open ceiling throughout without collar ties, and want to stay away from roof trusses.

i'm sure there's a way for me to generate the shed roof i want over the porch; and i'm sure it's just operator error that's stopping me from creating it ;-)

met with a couple of locals when i cleared and graded the lot. and if i had any experience at all, i might not have done either, but rather only lopped down the trees in the way of the footprint and waited to grade til after the build...

[ceabrm]