Universal Cottage

Started by maggiethecat, April 11, 2021, 09:49:47 AM

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maggiethecat

Hi everyone,

this time around we are planning on building in Washington State!
What is the ceiling height on the Universal 2 Story Cottage plans?
Can we stick frame the roof instead of buying trusses?
I've seen some people extend it by a few feet. If we went 24x36 could we just use a built up beam as a roof ridge?

Glad to be back on this forum after 12 years ;-)
Decorate your cabin/house/castle/compound/hellhole with original modern ART!

ChugiakTinkerer

maggietoh,

Congratulations on choosing a state.  What county are you considering?

Extending the length of the building wouldn't involve many structural changes, but depending upon where it is located one might have to take wind into consideration.  Say you wanted to extend it to 20x40.  The county building department should be able to tell you whether they would require new plans or would approve the modified plans.

Increasing the width of the house would likely require new plans.  With the greater span between the walls you'll need to redesign the floor joists, rafters, and perhaps the foundation.  You'll want to know that every component is strong enough to support the loads and withstand the forces that one could expect over the life of the house.  The building department would want to know that as well, so you'd probably be having to get an engineer to draft plans for the new floorplan that the county will accept.

The design of the cottage has the roof being supported by the side walls.  It can be built with either trusses or rafters.  In this discussion on roof framing it is called a conventional roof" https://www.nachi.org/roof-framing-part1-2.htm
You can alternatively support the roof using a beam that is supported in turn by the gable walls, and perhaps by one or more posts.  That type of design is called a structural ridge.  The ridge beam can be a built-up beam as long as the splices are supported by a post or wall.  An unsupported splice is a bad thing.

Edit to add: For a structural ridge, the loads need to be supported from the roof rafter down through every structural component into the earth.  The foundation for a house is built with the roof design taken into account, to ensure that the foundation won't fail when the roof is loaded with snow.
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