OK, folks, here's the plan:
We want a screened-in porch on the back of our two-story Williamsburg colonial-revival. Usually this is a fairly straightforward proposition -- I've done this on a previous house (New England-style "colonial"). The New England one was easy, as I just built a roof over the deck, floored it and screened the whole thing in. It was just a shed roof off the back of the house.
This house, however, has a small, 8 ft long x 4 ft out, bump-out to the rear from the kitchen, and an "ell" off the back already, (our 20 x 20 living room).
Note the bedroom window over that small kitchen rooflet. I would like to keep this window as is if I can as it's the only window for that room and I don't want to start suffering "project creep."
The deck will be dismantled. I anticipate digging for new footings for the supporting framework for the new roof and extending the deck outward after the porch is done. I want to have the porch come out to where the kitchen bump-out ends (to the right, behind the tree), thus forming a straight line, and the porch will run the 20 feet to the end of the ell.
Decision point 1: Do I run the new roof from the ridge of the existing ell, or take it off from part-way down? I am inclined to take it from about 1/3 to 1/2 down the roof of the ell. I anticipate I could get a roof over the porch with a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pitch. Since we don't have significant snow loads here, am I correct in reckoning that I can get away with these shallow pitches?
I anticipate that I will take the kitchen rooflet off and run the new roof all the way to the back side of the house. I need to sneak under the bedroom window and I suspect that I should leave at least 6" to a foot under the windowsill. Anyone know if there's a minimum distance requirement?
I was originally thinking of running the porch roof from over the kitchen bump-out (perpendicular to the living room rafters) but have rejected it because I would wind up with a much smaller porch out of the deal (assuming maximum available rafters of 16 to 18' long) and it would result in a somewhat asymmetrical valley where it would join the living room that would be both awkward-looking and susceptible to water problems.
Anyway, this is the next project as blessed by LOML. Opinions are welcome.
We want a screened-in porch on the back of our two-story Williamsburg colonial-revival. Usually this is a fairly straightforward proposition -- I've done this on a previous house (New England-style "colonial"). The New England one was easy, as I just built a roof over the deck, floored it and screened the whole thing in. It was just a shed roof off the back of the house.
This house, however, has a small, 8 ft long x 4 ft out, bump-out to the rear from the kitchen, and an "ell" off the back already, (our 20 x 20 living room).
Note the bedroom window over that small kitchen rooflet. I would like to keep this window as is if I can as it's the only window for that room and I don't want to start suffering "project creep."
The deck will be dismantled. I anticipate digging for new footings for the supporting framework for the new roof and extending the deck outward after the porch is done. I want to have the porch come out to where the kitchen bump-out ends (to the right, behind the tree), thus forming a straight line, and the porch will run the 20 feet to the end of the ell.
Decision point 1: Do I run the new roof from the ridge of the existing ell, or take it off from part-way down? I am inclined to take it from about 1/3 to 1/2 down the roof of the ell. I anticipate I could get a roof over the porch with a 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 pitch. Since we don't have significant snow loads here, am I correct in reckoning that I can get away with these shallow pitches?
I anticipate that I will take the kitchen rooflet off and run the new roof all the way to the back side of the house. I need to sneak under the bedroom window and I suspect that I should leave at least 6" to a foot under the windowsill. Anyone know if there's a minimum distance requirement?
I was originally thinking of running the porch roof from over the kitchen bump-out (perpendicular to the living room rafters) but have rejected it because I would wind up with a much smaller porch out of the deal (assuming maximum available rafters of 16 to 18' long) and it would result in a somewhat asymmetrical valley where it would join the living room that would be both awkward-looking and susceptible to water problems.
Anyway, this is the next project as blessed by LOML. Opinions are welcome.