Flat Shed roof on 12x18 plan

[Lorangerlife]

First I want to say thanks for the little house plans kit.  Affordable and very easy to follow as well as modify for my needs so far.

I'm starting the build this weekend and have a couple questions right off the bat.

1.  Can I use 10ft walls and retain the 2x4 construction on the 12x18?

2.  If I utilize a shed/near flat roof on the 12x18 do I still need to cut the bird mouth notches?  If not how am I attaching them to my top plate on the walls?

Sorry if these are questions that have already been answered.  I tried using search and haven't really found an exact answer to my questions.

Thanks for answering the newb questions.  While I am not a rookie as far as construction goes, I am a virgin to roof design and would like to do this right the first time.

~A~

[John Raabe]

Yes, you can use 2x4 framing on a 10' wall. I would suggest making sure you have the OSB or plywood sheathing well nailed so this will help stiffen the wall.

It is always best to cut a birdsmouth to seat a rafter. This gives you two flat surfaces for nailing. You could also rip a taper in the top plate to the appropriate angle of the roof slope. And thirdly there are metal straps and clips that can be used that will reinforce or replace nailing through a notched rafter.

[Lorangerlife]

John,

Thanks for the quick reply and the plans, they along with everyones help on this site are helping make some longtime dreams come true starting with this project to gain some comfort level with building start to finish.

So if I did notch to set it I would calculate my cut in the same fashion as if I were doing a gable?

Also if I subscribe to planhelp are there templates for the 12x18 that I could modifying so I could print out something for permits?  I need to remove the bathroom, put a slider on the 18' side to use as the entry, increase the wall height, and show the shed roof I believe.

[John Raabe]

Yes you use the same technique to cut the seat as with any rafter.

There was not a template file for this shed roofed house from the Little House plans at the PlanHelp site so I took a few minutes and made one and uploaded it. I kept the standard ceiling height so you will have to modify it if you want a 10' ceiling height.

Click the link below to see the template file list. The new one is at the top...

http://www.planhelp.com/public/programs/downloadsearch.cfm?searchtype=simple&searchmode=cat&keywords=recent&sortby=name&cat=3DHA%20Plans
(There are two pages of template files if you want to see them all. Click NEXT at the bottom of the list.)

[Lorangerlife]

Thanks John much obliged,

I'll be subscribing to the planhelp site shortly so that I can grab that template.


~A~