Wall height on 20x30 1 1/2 story

[Zavoot]

To gain more headroom in the loft area - could I use 12' studs instead of 10'? Or even 14's?

[Dan]

You betcha!  I'm currently building a 20x28 with 12 foot studs resulting in 4 foot knee walls when coupled with beam and cardecking at 8 feet for the main floor ceiling/loft floor.

[John_M]

You can definitely do 12's but 14's might be pushing the limits.  Plus 14' 2x6's I find difficult to locate and would probably be expensive.  If you want that much headroom you might look at the 20 x 30 2 story home.

I think 12' gives you plenty of useable space upstairs.  Gives the building some nice character too!!

[Zavoot]

Thanks to both of you!
12's it is!
Digging footings today.

[mtman]

Just what I'm thinking of doing sometime soon, so I see some pics coming,got to have pics

[tc-vt]

I built a 20x30 1-1/2 story with knee walls that are 39 inches tall.  I think this height is the bare minimum if you want good use of the space. 

It is just enough room to place a low dresser, desk, bed or a low back chair against the wall and be able to get up from the chair without hitting your head.  My sloped ceilings are getting marks on them from things hitting them all the time.  If you think of a desk or a dresser as being about 18 inches deep, you would be standing as close as about 3 feet from the wall when you access the dresser drawers.  A 3 foot knee wall with a 12/12 pitch roof wall gives you only 6 feet of head clearance when you are standing 3 feet from the wall which puts your head very close to the ceiling.  I think the extra foot of height from 3 to 4 feet on the knee wall provides much more usable space.   There are probably diminishing returns from increases in knee wall height above 4 feet.  I want to install a direct vent propane stove for supplemental heat upstairs.  The can't install it through the low knee walls because the vent would be only 6 inches below the soffit, where the requirement is 12 inches.

Also, estimate what your increase in cost would be to build a full second story.  The benefits to a full second story are many:  more wall space for furniture, wall hangings, windows!!(=light!).

Tom