First of all, Hello!!!! My name is Jeff and my wife and I have been "creeping" around the site for a while and finally decided to join so we could ask a few questions.
A little background first... My wife and I are thinking of buying the plans for the 20x34 Universal to build on 10 acres here in the Florida panhandle. We are looking for something that we can build ourselves no matter if it takes 5 or more years. The land we own is 10 acres and the whole thing is on the south slope of a ridge. Ever since we first started looking at the land to buy, I had been planning on whatever I built using a post and beam foundation so when I found this site I was in hog heaven!!! ;) Anyways my "first" question is (there will be many more to follow I'm sure,) We don't have to worry about snow here in Florida obviously, so I would like to build a standard 4 in 12 pitch roof on the house. I don't really want an attic so I would like to have the entire upstairs ceiling vaulted. Has any one else built these houses with a roof like this and is there any reason that I could not build it this way?
Hope to hear from someone soon and thanks in advance for any help on this!
Jeff:
The roof for the Universal cottage can be easily changed to a lower pitch as you suggest, but it is designed for flat bottom trusses or standard roof rafter framing. I would not suggest a vaulted ceiling to a first time builder. Especially where several bedroom and bathroom walls have to go up the meet the ceiling.
There are some recent discussions in the forum on the use and feel of vaulted spaces in homes. You might want to do a search on that term.
Keep you first home project simple and scaled right to your skills. And plan to have some local help for specific issues.
Thanks for the reply John. I most likely would not build the house with a vaulted ceiling, I like the look of exposed beams in a roof rafter ceiling, but my wife likes the vaulted ceiling and she was prodding me to ask as she was standing over my shoulder. ;) I do plan to keep this house as simple as possible because I want to build it myself. I do have a little experience building houses, my brother in-law is a licensed contractor and I have helped him frame a few homes over the years, he is also my back-up plan if I get stuck on something. I have been looking for some simple plans for a while now and I think I am ready to pull the trigger on the Universal. My biggest concern was really the ductwork for the HVAC but I think that can be solved fairly easily. I do however have one more question (for now) have the plans for the Universal been changed to 30' instead of 34'? I know it would be simple to change them to any length myself but I was wondering if the stock plans are 30' or 34'?
The Universal plan is 20' wide by 34' long.
http://www.countryplans.com/jshow.com/y2k/listings/57.html (http://www.countryplans.com/jshow.com/y2k/listings/57.html)