Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions Design Question

Hi, I'm thinking of creating a Timber Frame porch for the front of my house but I'm not sure what the best way is to design it. I have some ideas but I was hoping to get some feedback from others like yourselves. Is there a specific forum I should use to post this?

Thanks,
Shay

Welcome Shay / BlackNoir:

Sounds like a great project. Some questions will help get the ball rolling.


Will the porch come off a gable end or eaves wall?

How big of a porch you talking?

Can you post a picture of the house?(you need to use photobucket or some other picture hosting service to post pics here.)

Hopefully you can see pics from Flickr. If you can, you can see how very boring the front of my house is, I can't stand it. I built a deck on the front but it's just not enough. I'd love to convert it to a porch for 2 reasons. First, I love the look of timer frame and Second I'd love to be able to sit out in rain or shine. My problem is I'm not sure how to build something that works with the roofline I have. I'm not concerned about the 2 peaks, those can just be cut off, but figuring out some sort of slope system is not easy with that and the garage roof on the side.

Any advice would be EXTREMELY appreciated!

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3296596266_eac0926102.jpg?v=0[/img]

can't see your pics...
but you said you had some ideas, let's hear them?
---------------------

24x36/12ft sidewall
12:12 main roof
21:12 dormer
6:12 porch

Hi Mark,

Hopefully this link will work
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3296596266_eac0926102.jpg?v=0[/img]
otherwise just copy and paste into your browser to reveal the house

Regards

Ken Hume

thanks ken, I thought I would try importing Shay's image into sketchup....
here is what i found on flicker:



Here it is in sketchup, with the dormers hidden



to do this in sketchup:
clic file/import, then choose JPEG Image from the "Files of type" menu, then find a jpeg on your puter.
then choose Open, and you should see the image in your sketchup model. This image came in flat, so I flipped it horizontally. Then I took the line tool and drew a line across the image on the red axis. Then took the rotate tool and lined up the porch floor to the red axis by spinning the image.
I find that the line tool acts differently when drawing on an image, it's harder to find the endpoint of the previous line.

would be good to get a higher view to see the main roof behind the garage.

I see the dilehma - with such a low eve to begin with... One option would be a Pergola. It would be open to the sky between joists, but then you could grow some vines up it with will provide shade in the summer. Clematis maybe? Otherwise, you don't have much headroom for slope and you'd collect a lot of snow load with a shallow sloped roof in Minnesota. You could have a frame strong enough, but it might look "heavy" compared to the house. Just some thoughts...

or use a gable rather than a shed roof for the porch.
This could get messy against the garage...

To use the same type of roofing materials you'll need at least a 3 or 4 pitch to the porch roof. Or you'll have to go to some other type of roofing material.

And the gable roof will shed water right over the walkway, possibly, not the best solution.

Shay, are you working with a budget and does it have a limit? What is more important the budget or the porch. Change the two ridge lines, house and garage, move them out closer to the porch. This would allow a taller ridge to work with. You would still have the single valley. Hence my question on the budget. Maybe lower the deck as well. Chairs and what not will not obscure the view from inside the house.

Tim