| Every Log Home magazine has a section dedicated | | | | the whole roof. However, if you want the same |
| to floor plans, where the aspiring owners start their | | | | pitch, this means the peak will be correspondingly |
| search for the perfect dream home. I did it too, and | | | | higher from the ground. |
| dutifully ordered piles of plan books, while starting my | | | | The roof pitch was a huge factor in the placement |
| comparison shopping based on the beauty of the | | | | of my staircase. The stairs run along the wall. I |
| photos. Little did I realize - until later - that what was | | | | wanted extra square footage at the base of the |
| really drawing my attention was the third dimension: | | | | steps, but to do so meant that the top of the stairs |
| the roof lines, the porches, and the soaring great | | | | would emerge dangerously close to the ceiling slope. I |
| rooms. | | | | would bang my head every time I went upstairs! So |
| At the beginning, we think we need to choose a | | | | the stairs had to be situated so that they reached |
| manufacturer based on their floor plans, but once we | | | | the loft in - or near - the middle of the house. Or, I |
| realize that we can design our own custom home | | | | could have added a landing and angled the stairs to |
| with any company, things start getting interesting. | | | | keep them in the center. I opted to take a notch out |
| After all, interior wall partitions can be moved at will, | | | | of the loft and shift the stairs a few feet forward, |
| and the log home company really doesn't care where | | | | calculating how much head room was left over. Still, I |
| you put the bathroom. How many different ways | | | | wasn't sure how far the staircase would extend... |
| can you configure an open floor plan? | | | | that third dimension again! In the end, I had to |
| What really requires thought is the interaction | | | | sacrifice the potted plant I intended to put in the |
| between the second floor and the roof lines. The | | | | corner at the base of the stairs. There just wasn't |
| first floor is comparatively simple; you've either got a | | | | enough room to do it all. |
| cathedral ceiling, or a regular ceiling. However, once | | | | Another difficult visualization is trying to see just how |
| you go upstairs, there's a whole new set of | | | | big those plate-glass windows really are. If you want |
| considerations. First of all, what kind of roof do you | | | | a ranch with big great room windows, you may have |
| envision? The simplest (and most economical) roof | | | | to shorten the panes of glass to fit into a peak that |
| line is one long ridge from one side to the other. The | | | | only rises 14' from the deck. It's hard to fit a large |
| angle and height of the roof slope determines how | | | | window set in a small wall. Most of the beautiful |
| much floor space you are going to lose because of | | | | windows in magazines take up well more than two |
| the pitch. There's a good chance you don't have as | | | | stories - more like 24'. Perhaps a ranch with a loft is |
| much useful space as the second floor plan indicates, | | | | the best of both worlds. |
| unless you're two feet tall. Once the log home | | | | I made the mistake of ordering windows so large |
| architect turns your plans into real drawings, he will | | | | that I cannot reach the center of the glass to clean |
| "gray out" the dead space, but it'll save costly | | | | it by hand. I certainly don't want to rest my ladder in |
| revisions to be able to conceptualize the third | | | | the middle of the window! What I didn't learn until |
| dimension ahead of time. | | | | later is that if you order a window that's too large |
| For instance, I wanted a 45-degree angle in my roof; | | | | (say, 6'x6'), the glass will bow ever so slightly under |
| this is a 12/12 pitch (in other words, the roof rises 12 | | | | its own weight. This may cause the thermal seal to |
| inches for every 12 inch horizontal run). I have a 28 | | | | break, like it did after one year in my house. You're |
| foot-wide house and I wanted the slope to go all the | | | | better off using smaller, divided windows to create |
| way to from peak to floor in my loft. The peak | | | | the same wall of glass. |
| measures about 14 feet from the second floor deck, | | | | The last thing I want to mention is to try and look at |
| and I lose 6 feet of floor space to stand upright, if I | | | | your roof from a bird's eye view. How do your ridges |
| were 6 feet tall. (I'm speaking in broad generalizations | | | | line up? Do you have disconnected angles pointing in |
| here - not precise measurements.) My loft extends | | | | every direction? That will greatly increase the cost of |
| halfway into the great room, so this leaves me about | | | | construction. If you have a gable in the front and a |
| 8 good feet of width in the loft - not the 14 feet my | | | | gable in the rear, do they line up? Or could you line |
| homemade floor plan shows. | | | | up a gable in the rear with a porch in the front? The |
| How do I increase my living space? By adding a | | | | more complicated the lines, the more costly the |
| dormer. The wider the dormer, the more space you | | | | building. |
| regain. This adds cost to the whole project, but it's | | | | The most amazing thing about building your log home |
| well worth it. Some narrow dormers do little more | | | | is having to wait until it is nearly erected before you |
| than add light, while a shed dormer widens the whole | | | | actually know what it's going to look like. On a regular |
| room. Your choice of dormer will be determined by | | | | house the frame goes up first and the shape is |
| the look you want on the outside. Or, you can add a | | | | defined. But with a log home, it can be a long wait |
| gable and create an Alpine-look, which will give you a | | | | before you get the whole effect. And once the roof |
| big triangular-shaped wall instead of a slope. A third | | | | is on, the effect can be almost magical. |
| option would be to add "knee walls", thus raising up | | | | |