We've beaten our heads against the wall deciding what to build, astidham will attest to that (thanks for all your help and patience), but we are very close to a decision.  We love the Builders Cabin, except a couple of things...the roof pitch and loft ladder.  We want a fully functional upstairs bedroom and half bath, and stairs. 

The 12x12 roof pitch looks very hard to diy, so we would like an easier to build pitch.  Preferably a shed roof.  We live in NE Oklahoma, so we should be able to get away with a 5x12 sheet metal roof, correct?  We also want to maximize the "loft" area to be more of a second story.  Can we extend the balloon framing height on the taller side of the house past 12' to accommodate the shed roof?  What would you suggest we do?

If we "loft" the entire plan, how hard would it be to build in a stairs?  We will likely extend the length to 28' or 32' so the stairs won't take all the living room real estate.

I think you might be better to start with the Universal Cottage plan that has a real 2nd floor. You can then do a truss or cathedral roof on top of that. Check with the roofing supplier for a comfortable/ safe pitch for the material you want.

That plan has a full sized code stair that could go to a basement if you need that. It can also have shed roofed expansion wings that could be added later. (Sorry if that adds too many new options.)

Thank you for the advice.  We have looked at the two story universal extensively, it will likely be our final house on the property.  The problem is we have to build with a combination of cheap, fast, and easy...very long story short.  The 14xXX will become a family member rental house or a storage/small shop.  User astidham did just recommend making the 14x a true two story with shed roof trusses, which would be easy enough.  That solves one of the questions...now I need to learn more about stairs   

Quote from: MorganCouple on May 15, 2017, 11:20:33 AM
Thank you for the advice.  We have looked at the two story universal extensively, it will likely be our final house on the property.  The problem is we have to build with a combination of cheap, fast, and easy...very long story short.  The 14xXX will become a family member rental house or a storage/small shop.  User astidham did just recommend making the 14x a true two story with shed roof trusses, which would be easy enough.  That solves one of the questions...now I need to learn more about stairs   

It's been said that of the three, cheap, good, & easy,
that you can have any two but never all three.

I built my house entirely by myself and I can attest
to the fact that the above saying is definitely true.


No matter how much money you have, no matter
how much building skill you have, you will never
achieve all three. Think about it for a while and
you should be able to see why.

Arky

Notice I said cheap, fast, and easy.  I don't expect this to be a mansion, but I need a place to live so I can sell my current house.  Time and money are the issue, easy will allow me to build (saving money) and build fast.  I can go in debt later and build something bigger/nicer when I have more time.

Thank you for your opinion.

My 2 cents is that building a 1.5 story or lofted space might not be any faster start to finish than doing a full second story. The cost difference also isn't clear, a lot of that will depend on finishes, but if you start putting windows in the roof you could even end up spending more on the loft version.

Also a 1.5 story or loft may be more difficult to frame than a 2 story.


There is something to be said for platform framing. Kind of hard to mess up. Also, lumber is not very expensive in the overall budget.

Nothing wrong with the metal roofing panels, they are actually 3' wide. In my opinion they are higher quality and longer lasting than shingles.

Thank you very much for the reply and advice.  I have to agree with you, two story will be the way to go.  It would meets our goals so much better and easier than extensively modifying the  loft or 1&1/2 story, plus lend better to an addition in the future should we decide to live in it permanently.  If concrete slabs weren't so expensive, I would build the two story universal...but the slab for this smaller two story will be within budget.

You don't have much frost depth in oklahoma? Try pricing a continuous 8x16 concrete footing with block stemwall.

At 14 foot width You I could clear span with 2x12 and still have a solid floor.

Frost line depth in NE OK is about 18".  I'm not sure what you mean with your foundation advice though.  Do you mean making a cinder block stem wall?  We have considered this, but will we still have to poor a concrete footing?  Thank you for the advice.

Yup, cinder block wall. It does have to sit on top of a concrete footing. The footing needs to be 8" deep and 16" wide if you use 8" wide block.

It would look like this - you wouldn't need to do too many courses, just enough to have space to do your plumbing under the floor.

Thank you for the illustration.  My brother was a mason, we have talked about this laying blocks a lot.  There are a few things I will have to study up on first.  How do you think it would compare in price to a slab, once the joists and all are taken in to account?

Concrete can be pretty expensive, also unless you have a lot of hands on deck and 1 or 2 people with experience doing it, the slab is probably something you'd need to contract out.

Not sure if you would want to lay the blocks yourself, it is honest hard work but as long as you pull the string tight and consult Pythagoras it's not so bad.

Overall a crawl space should end up cheaper. Will make plumbing simpler too.

Personally I think having a brother that's a mason makes it a no brainer. I remember another thread about this now.

I mentioned my brother having been a mason in my only other post.  Probably remembering that.  Thanks again.