Replies

1. 
   FrankB89 | Nov 09, 2002 06:12am | #1

   There's been a thread here lately about door and window heights you might look for...last week or so.

   Transom windows over the doors are an option or a decorative detail.

    

2. 
   Catskinner | Nov 09, 2002 06:41pm | #2

   It works well as long as all the proportions in the room are appropriate. We just did some 12' and 10' ceilings, some windows with transoms, some not, and it looks great.

   DRC

3. 
   Brudoggie | Nov 09, 2002 08:03pm | #3

   I like to use transoms, so the horizontal mullion is at the same level as the top of the doors. Gives some continuity, but it depends on the style of house.

    Brudoggie

1. 
   Boxduh | Nov 10, 2002 03:59am | #4

   Here is an overhead view of my second floor.  The MBR suite is two 6" steps up from the hallway area adjacent, and has 8/0 ceilings with a tray vault up to 9/0 in the MBR.  You can see the BR1, BR2, and BR3 rooms, and bath, all with the high windows and shorter doors, ceilings being at 9/0 in those spaces.  I don't plan horizontal trim lines at window or door heads, and this pic makes me think I'm OK with the concept.  Comments?

1. 
   Piffin | Nov 10, 2002 09:01am | #6

   Are you sure you can get the sheqar bracing you need with so many windows tucked tight to the corners?.

   Excellence is its own reward!

   "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

1. 
   Boxduh | Nov 10, 2002 03:03pm | #7

   Who knows, Piffin?  These architects all must think that the wind never blows, that the life of the house will be lived in conditions that look like the photos in the magazines.  I have done two before like this from architect's plans, both having banks of windows coming tight to corners.  Their drawings in both cases showed stud corners at stud widths, allowing for no jacks.  We built them, and they are still standing, and the first has experienced some microburst storms with quite heavy winds.  I poked around looking for cracks in the drywall that might have indicated racking, but haven't seen any so far.  I am a structural engineer, and of course have concerns.  But everyone likes that Frank Lloyd Wright look, lotsa glass, minimal posts.  This current project in planning is a house by a Newport, RI, architect, and was originally framed up with 2x4s.  It has been standing for a few years now.  We have to frame with 2x6s here.  They get any storms down Newport way?

1. 
   Piffin | Nov 10, 2002 08:18pm | #8

   I'm up the coast in Maine a few hundred miles from there and we get 80 - 90 MPH winds once or twice a year so it wouldn't suprise me..

   Excellence is its own reward!

   "The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." --Marcus Aurelius

2. 
   Bruce | Nov 12, 2002 12:10am | #13

   Our area sees winds of 70 or so occasionally, and the local officials have no problem w/ corner windows, using a 4x4 as the corner post.  I trimmed out one such (an architect's own house) last year, and liked the look enough to do it in my own new house.  Shear loading doesn't appear to be an issue, though in the case of my house, it may help that I have a steel substructure to support four Fallingwater-like cantilevers.  Code-wise, we're still under UBC 97, if that makes a difference. 

4. 
   kennedy136 | Nov 10, 2002 06:55am | #5

   Gene,

              You have some good advice in the preceding posts, however let me make a suggestion providing your budget can handle it.  Use 8' doors.  I did a high-end home that way and it really looks sharp.  It is definitely more expensive for the doors though as they usually need to be upgraded from 1 3/8" to 1 3/4" , an extra hinge is required, they are not run of the mill production items etc.  If  you can afford it though it is the way to go.

                                                                            Mark

                                                                           

5. 
   archyII | Nov 11, 2002 02:38am | #9

   My first house, a 1929 bunglow, had 8' window heads and 7' door heads.  It looked fine.  A more traditional craftsman style bunglow would have aligned door and window heads and used a moulding running around the room that connected all of the heads. 

1. 
   JohnSprung | Nov 11, 2002 11:37pm | #12

   My 1926 house has 9' ceilings, and a big decorative cornice and picture rail all around.  Windows and doors are at the usual 7' level, and the cornice keeps it from looking like there's too much wall above them.  It also makes a nice big space to run conduit without hacking up the top plates.

   -- J.S.

6. 
   caldwellbob | Nov 11, 2002 08:00am | #10

   I frame for a couple high end contractors here in Idaho who use 9 ft. ceilings quite a bit. The popular window of the moment seems to be a 3x5 or 3x6. These contractors usually have me place the window top closer to 7 ft. It makes it easier to run 24 inch eaves without crowding the window to the soffit. The roof pitches are generally 6/12 to 8/12. We are not exactly in a banana belt, but the climate is moderate. The contractors in this area use 7/16 OSB for sub-siding all over the house, so putting large amounts of windows doesn't seem to affect the shear value of the wall.

1. 
   Boxduh | Nov 11, 2002 04:11pm | #11

   Thanks to all who responded.  What I think I'll do is shop-build two-lite transoms to go atop each of the bedroom, bath, and hallway doors, and in the bedrooms, for the closets, install two-door cubbie cabinets above each closet, matching width of the doors below.  All of my top casings will be at the same elevation, and things will look proportional.  I decided this after going to my supplier and getting a very pricey story about 8/0 doors.