Replies

1. 
   JodieW | Jan 14, 2020 09:21am | #1

   My advise for the first floor near a beach. A wide driveway and 40'w X 20'd garage with three small doors, with sheer panels between each door. Placing beams between each car will shorten the span and use hangers for the floor joist. That leaves you 300 sf for entry, stairs, and equipment storage. You will have four cars before you know it with two kids. More when friends come over. Parking is a nightmare at beach communities. Second floor would have living room 8' minimum head room. Kitchen, bathrooms and laundry can have 7' headroom in my area. I would place the stair landing to the third floor over the kitchen bath area. Three bedrooms third floor. Vaulted ceilings can have a lower wall height. Master bedroom and bathroom over Kitchen and bathroom. Two steps up for walk way to the other rooms. Well that's my two grains of sand for what it's worth!

1. 
   PeggyinNE | Jan 14, 2020 10:12am | #3

   Great ideas! Thanks!

2. 
   florida | Jan 14, 2020 09:55am | #2

   My first concern would be to know what you mean by "close to a flood zone." Most beach communities are in the worst flood zones and require, in my area, elevations of between 11' and 16' before the living area.

1. 
   PeggyinNE | Jan 14, 2020 10:15am | #4

   One corner of our lot in in a flood zone 10 ft elevation), but home footprint would not reach into the flood zone - we are uphill about 1/4 mile from beach. Still want basement/garage at ground level because of flood risk, as well as lot size limitations.

1. 
   florida | Jan 14, 2020 04:33pm | #5

   Okay, I'm in south Florida and we don't have any "uphill!"

   If you're on a hill or slope you might be able to cut into the ground and lower your garage floor several feet. In the end you'll need an architect or enginner to get what you need.

3. 
   ktkcad | Jan 14, 2020 05:14pm | #6

   Find out if the 30' elevation is measured from the finished grade at the foundation or 5' +/- from it. This will determine if cutting into the hill and/or berming up against the garage walls will help raise the home's Base Plane. Then go with a more modern style and heavy structural 'low slope' unvented roof design. Gambrel would work but you really want a designer to make sure the ridge doesn't get too tall. The sister publication Journal of Light Construction has a neat article on gambrel roofs from solid lumber which would give you great insulation in your 'NE' region. Because of the sloping lower 'roof-walls' of a gambrel, you may find fitting in the staircase to be tight.

   
1. 
   PeggyinNE | Jan 14, 2020 07:22pm | #7

   Thank you!

4. 
   Vishnej | Jan 14, 2020 07:34pm | #8

   * Climate info/zone needed. Snow loading? Wind rating?

   * Are you okay with load-bearing walls on the first floor? The long free spans of open-plan first floors put a lot more stress on the floor joists, which need to be beefed up to compensate.

   * Are you *certain* the standard is "height to top of roof" rather than an also-common "average roof height"? What precisely does "calculated grade" mean? What's the difference between the elevation of the highest point of the build area and the elevation of the lowest point of the build area? You're going to want to game whatever the law-as-written is.

   * Are you ready to spend a significant amount of extra money on framing to achieve that third floor? Cheaper options for floor joists tend to increase the inter-floor distance; Jumping from 2x12 sawed lumber to engineered wood solutions bears a large increase in price, and jumping from engineered wood to steel, another large increase.

   * Does "footprint" include roof overhangs? How about floor cantilevers?

   * Is this a high-end build or a budget-sensitive build? Do you require big windows to take advantage of a particular view?

5. 
   suburbanguy | Jan 15, 2020 04:01pm | #9

   Fairly easily done if you go with a modern flat(ish) roof design.