Add-on question

[akemt]

So, I love the little house idea but being a sahm and soon-to-be homeschooling mom of 3 with #4 on the way in an area that requires indoor play most of the year (Bagh), I need a bigger house.  Still, our goal is to be loan-free so we'd have to build in phases.  I would rather have whatever we build finished and paid for each year as we go than start a 1200sq ft place and not get it finished, kwim?  I've been playing with floorplans and ideas where we start out small with lofts/half story upper and then add on.  Start with a one-wall kitchen, then expand the kitchen and make the "living/dining" into just dining after we've added on a new living area.

Here's the idea I'd love suggestions, experience, comments on:

Do something along the lines of a 16 x 36 with a 4' exterior loft wall on one side and a 8-12' loft wall on the other.  Shed roof style.  Then, we can double the size later by adding another 16 x 36 along the long wall with the same exact dimensions, just mirror reversed so that the two shed roofs match up to make one gabled roof.  Make sense?  We could off-set the heights a bit and get the whole celestory window thing going on, but that sounds complicated.  I know we'd end up with a doubled interior wall when it was finished, but does that matter aside from a bit of extra cost?

Anyone done this before?  Any potential issues you can think of?  It just seems like a much simpler roof plan than adding on in right angles, etc.

Thanks,
Catherine

[MountainDon]

I don't know anyone who has set out to build as you describe with this in mind. However I know plwnty who have added on. So have we.

My first thought is that there is no real need to build a double interior wall. Additions can be added on with three walls, the fourth being the existing wall. What was the exterior becomes and new interior. This should be all the easier with proper planning because you already know what you want to end up with.

How many years would you anticipate between the two builds? One reason I ask is there's no guarantee that the roofing material you choose for the first half will still be available some time down the road. Just a thought.

Depending on your choice of exterior wall finish that should be easier to match at a later time.

In most places this would be the only way to accomplish the end result of a larger home eventually. That's because places with codes, inspections, etc. will not issue a certificate of occupancy on a partially finished building.

[akemt]

For one, we aren't doing it for resale so if our roof shingles are "grey" on one side and "charcoal" on the other, I could care less.  I'm hoping it'd just be a year, maybe two between builds (depends on other bills, etc),  The reason I say two interior walls is because of the hassel of breaking open the exhisting wall/roof and tieing into it to support the roof joists.  Maybe it isn't more difficult, but I've had enough remodeling!  I'd probably go with T1-11 atleast to begin with so it'd be easy to tear that off, reuse it on the new addition, and just tie the new wall in to the plywood sheathing (well, an studs) with the roof already completely supported.  Oh, and the only codes we'd have to deal with are zoning (setbacks, number of structures, etc) and septic.  No inspections whatsoever on anything else even if you wanted it --and guess what, the National lenders don't care.  Of course, resale would be interesting since I want plywood interiors instead of drywall.  Nasty pain in the rear!

So no one has tried it?

Thanks for the response.  I just hope our house sells soon enough and the economy holds on long enough for us to get it done...

[glenn kangiser]

If you did the tall wall first you could allow for the opposite roof rafters- have a flashing high for it - removable sections at the top.  It wouldn't be much trouble.  We built a steel building with that in mind and there are a few double shed roof with clerestory windows around which are the same principle.

[akemt]

Would it be too weird-looking to do the celestory window thing with two off-set shed roofs if you changed the lower one to a different pitch?  Just wondering if we could have the two floors at the same hight (avoid putting in steps on the interior).  Example:  One second floor having a 4' eave wall hight with a 12' center ridge, the other having an 8' center ridge (yah, small windows) and a 5 or 6' eave wall hight so we wouldn't lose interior living space.  Okay, so maybe that is too shallow of a pitch on the lower one for our area, but you get the point.  Odd?

Hmm, I just thought of the option of making the first building a 10' ceiling height on the first floor and the second could be an 8' or 12' ceiling height, depending.  Then you only have to adjust the roof pitch by a total of one foot over the 16'...just an idea.

[glenn kangiser]

It could look a bit different, but could be doable.  Pitch may be important if you get quite a bit of snow though.