Iknow this falls into our own personal opinion but I have to ask. I am drawing a cape cod 28-44 that I will be building this coming summer-fall. The house will have a 12/12 roof with 2 bed and 1 bath upstairs. It will have a 6′ porch out front with a shed roof going up toward the dormers. The roof ridge line on the 24-24 garage is going the same direction as the main.
I am wondering if 3-4′ wide dormers spaced equally or 2-6′ dormers would look the best. The more dormers I add the more framing I have to do because I will have to eliminate those attic trusses. Lets hear it guys. Stilletto? Boss? Others? I wish I could cut and past the floor plan to show you guys what I got.
Edited 2/18/2007 9:58 am ET by kayaker
Replies
Although If I had three dormers I could put one over the front entry with and that would open the cieling really nice.
What about the stairs? A dormer over the stairs helps with head room and lets alot of natural light in.
I will try to get a pic of the plan soon. Your right a dormer over the stairs would be verry cool. As for the others I dont know if I want thoes to be "real" I think the one closes to the garage has to be just for egress, and if you are making one "real" why not both. I was leaning to two anyway. P.S. trying to keep this house Very affordable.
A picture would help.
When are you planning this one? Get a hold of me if you need help again. If I am free I can be there.
I hope this works I suck at this stuff.
Are the plate heights for the garage and house close to the same?
Attic trusses over the garage that tie in with the one on the house.
Your existing stairwell whats that dimension off the outside wall? Are you going to put a set to the upstairs over the existing stairs?
The plates are the same height but no attic trusses over the garage. The extra room is not needed, and we are trying to keep the cost down. I will price attic vs. regular and if they are close enough I wil throw them over the garage just for a future addition. The stairs going to the bacement are accessed through the dining room area and you gu up ot the 2 bedrooms by the front door.
since I only have bandwidth to download one - which shows the best view ?
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All three. I posted one twice. The first one wll give you the best idea of the house plan
I think two would look good, for 44' plus a 1' overhang on each end=46'
THat would be 15'4" to the center of each off the edge of the overhang.
You wouldn't be getting rid of attic trusses the ones that would go in the dormer areas get pushed to each side of it for girders. You might actually need more.
4'-6' wide dormers would be a good size. Are they purely for decoration or will they be accessed to the inside of the house?
Try taking a picture of the plans and pasting it here like you did on your house.
A basic concept is that odd numbers look best in many situations, maybe
here too.
OK, Got'm now, but from stair orientation, it looks like the upstairs one is 180° reversed around?
I thought maybe you had a couple elevations to compare the various dormer layouts for appearance.
I would stick frame this and put in two dormers on teh bedrooms on the bottom of the drawing, and one for the bathroom. I might even make that bathroom one wide enough to let a window or skylight into the stairwell. If that dormer happens to be on the rear of thehouse, I might do that with a shed roof, depending on pitch etc and how it all works out.
The two on the bedrooms can then be as large as you can stand to make them and keep the ridges below the main roof
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the two bedroom dormers have to be on the other side of the house to face the front.
Kind sorta like...
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kayaker.... they call then CApe Cods because that's where they originated
they area classic design.. so just look at the classics for your inspiration
28x44 calls for a "full cape".. as opposed to a "3/4" or a "half-cape"
generally speaking this would mean a symetrical balanced design with a central chimney and a central entry..
my first iteration would be two 6' dormers ..
(44' - 12' = 32' / 3 = 11' of space between features )
but.. 44' is getting a little long for a classic cape.. so maybe three 6' dormers
( 44 - 18 = 26'/4 = 8' of space between features )
but those would just be the first iteration
Three dormers would look best. 4' is a bit small for the length though.
Some plan advice:
add a coat closet in at the front, just scoot the washer and dryer down. While you are at it, flip the washer dryer, sink etc to the inside wall. You can hang cabinets above the washer dryer, no outside plumbing, and you can get a better front elevation with low windows with a built in bench/mud room in the front. Make sure you make the room just wide enough (8') min so that you can have cabs on one side, a walkway, and storage/bench on the other.
Watch where you put doors and windows- some of the rooms as you have them will be hard to furnish, or just have wasted space like the bedroom.
Move the door to the master bath next to the powder room. Put the tub at the far end near the garage. If you make a smaller vanity, then the toilet, you can probably squeeze in a walk in closet near the garage.
Thanks for the input I will consider your opitons. The plan is not finalized but I want to know the dormer sitiuation so I can plan around it. Thanks