Remodel do-it-yourselfers tend to have a “Don’t mess with the roofline unless necessary” mentality.

And for good reason!

If you can avoid “opening up” the roof — thereby taking the risk of getting rain directly into your home — why not do it?

Also, altering the roofline of a home can be intimidating from a framing perspective. The roof has angles, so naturally it will be more complicated framing than walls, floors, and ceilings. And whatever you do with the roofline has got to be structurally sound, whereas many DIY’s limit themselves to adding or removing non-load-bearing walls.

Finally, there’s privacy and pride to think about. Modifying the footprint of the house may feel like being up on stage in front of the neighbors. That can be a bit too much pressure and exposure for many — especially when they’re going to be doing it for the first time. (And aren’t we do-it-yourselfers always getting into something we’ve never done before? Life’s too short to do anything twice, right?) No, we’d much rather make our mistakes in the privacy of our homes.

As a consequence, most remodel projects have an interior focus.

I believe that this carries over even into projects where the roofline will be changed, like a remodel that includes an addition. So what happens is that the focus is on the interior and the exterior doesn’t get much brain time or creativity.

Well, here’s something easy you can do to improve the appeal of your new wing’s roofline: add a dormer or two.

Especially if there are existing dormers on the house, you should do this. If there are no dormers on the existing house, why not add some? Especially if you will be re-roofing the entire house (which often makes sense during a roofline change), adding dormers is something worth a serious look.

While the dormers on the new addition could be “real” (actually creating living space on the interior of the house), the ones placed on the existing part of the house would most likely be faux — just placed onto the decking of the roof in strategic places.

Dormers make a major difference in the curb appeal of a home.

Watch my Dormer Essentials Video here.

 

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 3rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm and is filed under exterior. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.