Need an expert opinion about this roofline!

11 years ago

So the framers are staring their 6th week on my house and we're hoping everything gets wrapped up by this Friday. They finally finished the roofline over the master bay window today and I'm not happy with the result in the slightest. Called my builder ASAP and we're meeting at the house with the framer tomorrow but I wanted to see if I could get some input from the GardenWeb experts so I can be armed and ready when we discuss how to fix this wreck. I don't want to be told something isn't possible if the pros here say it is, you know?

My builder said they had to create this shed roof over my bay because we also extended the adjoining covered porch and putting a bay window over it would have created a problem with water leakage. My main issue is that the resulting roof pitch is inadequate (we had roofs with similiar pitches on the house we just tore down and never could stop the leaks there the roof met the house) and it looks absolutely ridiculous. This framer is charging us a 40% premium over his normal rates because of the complicated roof line and angles (this is a Garrell plan) and I feel this solution is simply an afterthought and I'm not receiving what I'm paying for. What say you?

Here's the side view of the roof:

Another angle:

Here's a look at the back before they finished the roof over the bay located at the far right. you can tell they took the easiest, least complicated route in covering the bay area and quite frankly I expect better:

On another note, here is a bad spot in the roof sheathing. Are gaps this wide acceptable? This has to be in inch wide!

Comments (3)

renovator8
11 years ago
I would use the original drawings to help find a solution. It is very difficult to see how different roof elements would align from a photo.

You might use the slope of the porch roof or the main roof and let the bay have it's own lower roof (like a traditional bay). It all hinges on how these slopes align with the porch and how the chamfered corner of the house looks. Did the original design have this odd corner?

When the porch was extended the drawings should have been revised so everyone could know if it worked with the existing design. You need to retrace your steps and do that now. Nothing could be less helpful than a group of people with different vested interests standing in from of a half finished house trying to describe what they think should be changed. An architect would solve it with a 3D computer sketch in far less time.
virgilcarter
11 years ago
The challenge here is that there are so many different wall planes and so many different roof pitches that nothing seems to aligh and be consistent with anything else.

I don't know if this was the original design or the result of field changes during construction.

At this point, it would probably benefit everyone to take a deep breath, pause for a day or two, and figure out what it will take to make a satisfactory solution.

This looks like one of those "measure twice and cut once" situations. Said differently, this should have been resolved with the approval of the construction drawings before the outset of construction.

Good luck!
Beth Parsons
Original Author
11 years ago
We did make several changes to the rear elevation the most drastic of which was bumping out the covered porch by 8'. It was supposed to line up along the back making the hip roof over the bay window work. We're working on a solution....