You are stuck, legally, with the larger window in the gable end--for egress. If it looks strange, you should plan to reframe/replace your windows on the lower floor. I don't think you have another acceptable choice there, since your upstairs has bedrooms. (Egress windows can only be so far off the floor and must be a certain open size. Being that you had an older home, the downstairs windows won't be required to be replaced, but for aesthetics, you might want to, as you point out). If you were to choose a casement (which is what I have on our bedrooms in my cape, it would look funny too, because you need the vertical height. Your lower windows aren't very cape-y. They are very "rambler-y". To change your home into a cape, you need to really "do" cape and switch your lowers to taller style (like double hungs).

What does your floor layout look like. I do prefer the 4/12 pitch from the outside, but I don't want to comment on that until I see the interior floor plan and how that change affects the rooms within the shed...

Thanks Kirkhall. "rambler-y" sums up the existing style of my house pretty well.

I'm getting ganged up on by the architect and my wife now to go with the 3:12. Not really ganged up, but they both think the ceiling height and the window difference make it worth it. The architect has been diplomatic, but he did throw out the "if it was my house I would do 3:12"

The 4:12 yields a 6'6" ceiling on the outside, and it slopes to 8' at around 4.5'. Not a big deal for the two bedrooms, but it puts half the bathroom under a sloped ceiling. The 3:12 yields an exactly 8' ceiling at the back wall.

Another benefit is, I can put the egress windows on the back. the lower windows are bigger out there (1st floor egress size) so they don't look as out of proportion. I can then use a smaller double double hung on the gable end that will look better with the wonky proportions of the lower ones. I also have a great view out the back of a golf course and some mountains, so bigger windows back there would be a plus.

So essentially, from a function standpoint from inside the house, the 3:12 has a lot of benefits, but damn-it, 4:12 looks correct to my eyes on the exterior and 3:12 really doesn't. :-)

I have only two functional bedrooms now, and 3 little kids, so we're busting at the seams. This renovation will be brutal, but moving wouldn't be a picnic either, and we're rooted here.

Hey, been there, done that. (we just expanded our cape and lived through the addition).

Any way to get your roofline a smidge higher to get you your 4/12 AND the full height ceiling? All of the reasons are compelling to do a 3/12. I'm wondering if you have hit a height restriction or something else that is preventing you from getting the "center line" of the roof higher?

Your floorplan is too small for me to read in GW, btw. Any way for you to cut and enlarge?

no, height restriction. Well, there is one, but we're way under. I think it's 30-some odd feet. There's a lot of larger colonials, and even a few that added third floors around me.

I was keeping the main roof pitch low to prevent from having too much plain roof showing in the front. Initially we were leaving the entire front slope un-interrupted, and still might. My house currently doesn't have much height, so I was afraid if I went too high it would look akward in that regard.

However, we've since decided on having a large gable dormer added to the front. It was done sort of as an "optional" item, if funds allow. Even if framed out, we'll leave it unfinished for now, and possibly always, but figured since the whole roof has to be re-framed anyway, it's probably worth it to have it framed in as it will be cheaper now than later, and even if we don't finish it but end up selling at some point, it would be a nicety for someone to have the option of finishing another room.

With that gable dormer breaking up the front roof, we could probably pull of a higher main pitch, an 11:12 just might give us what we need with the 4/12 dormer.

I tried to re-size the plan. We tried to keep it as simple as possible and get what we really need (2 bedrooms and a bathroom). The layout is a function of what's there...stairs over existing basement stairs, bathroom over existing 1st floor bathroom etc.. This allows us to add the level with as minimal disruption to the 1st floor as possible. For the stairs I'll lose a linen closet, but that's it.

Hopefully the resized drawing comes through more clear.

Here's the view from the back with 4:12 dormer pitch, and 3:12 dormer pitch. The 3:12 has the egress sized windows.

Front view as drawn with 10:12 pitch. Kind of looks like alot of roof to me already, so I'm not sure going 11:12 or beyond would look odd or not.

Thinking about it more, it wouldn't correct the issue of the view from the back. The dormer would gain additional wall height, so in comparison to the lower level, it would still look proportionally large to me.

I'm starting to come around to 3:12 for the function it provides.

This post was edited by pkovo on Fri, Jun 21, 13 at 15:37