# False Dormers



## Robpo (Mar 30, 2014)

Do you mean something like this? I would just nail or lag bolt 2xs to the roof at trusses and build on top of that.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

Robpo said:


> Do you mean something like this? I would just nail or lag bolt 2xs to the roof at trusses and build on top of that.


Yep, basically. It would be a little larger (wider), but that's essentially what I'm after. 

I've read so much on dormers and they all say to beef up the understructure...I just can't envision there being all that much (if any) additional load on the roof for something like this. That being said, I would probably add some bracing or blocking anyway on the existed trusses.

Does anyone know if I would need to vent this or create access to it from underneath?


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## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

Wouldn't have to do anything special IMHO as it is not opening up to the room below, you would not be cutting trusses, etc. basically you are just building a lightweight structure on a nixies ting roof deck. Ron


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Would not even do it. Only if you are going to use them to bring more light into the room. Then it would be worth it.


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

I'm considering doing a similar thing as I need a new roof as well. The difference is mine is hand stacked so I'm getting an engineer to look at the rafters.

In your case I see it done often on trusses but id still put some thought into the added weight.
Roofs are designed to handle additional live load or snow load, if you add framing and shingle weight, how much have you compromised the snow load calcs?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

A real picture of your house would be a big help.
Sounds like a whole lot of work for 0 gain in ventilation or light.


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## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

TheEplumber said:


> I'm considering doing a similar thing as I need a new roof as well. The difference is mine is hand stacked so I'm getting an engineer to look at the rafters.
> 
> In your case I see it done often on trusses but id still put some thought into the added weight.
> Roofs are designed to handle additional live load or snow load, if you add framing and shingle weight, how much have you compromised the snow load calcs?


Very little. ALL of those loads are far over rated. Ron


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## TheEplumber (Jul 20, 2010)

ront02769 said:


> Very little. ALL of those loads are far over rated. Ron


That's what people were saying around here a couple years ago.....
Then came record snow 

http://www.nwcn.com/archive/61525227.html


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

It would be purely aesthetic...tomorrow I'll post a pic and you can see how long and boring the slope is. It's not a must. Just something I've been considering knowing a reroof is in the next year or so


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## Jmayspaint (May 4, 2013)

cibula11 said:


> It would be purely aesthetic...tomorrow I'll post a pic and you can see how long and boring the slope is. It's not a must. Just something I've been considering knowing a reroof is in the next year or so



There was a house right down the road from me that originally has three dormers on one side. They were damaged in a tornado. Instead of rebuilding them, they tore them down and made it a flat roof. 

It's amazing the difference it makes in the look of the house, it looks kinda flat and weird now.


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## hand drive (Apr 21, 2012)

be sure and build them with all exterior grade lumber/trim( not miratek) . I've spent to to many man hours repairing finger jointed trim on the outside of homes. builders will slap anything up and on to the next one leaving the homeowner with a ticking time bomb. This applies especially to dormers as they will weather the worst and fastest on a home.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

hand drive said:


> be sure and build them with all exterior grade lumber/trim( not miratek) . I've spent to to many man hours repairing finger jointed trim on the outside of homes. builders will slap anything up and on to the next one leaving the homeowner with a ticking time bomb. This applies especially to dormers as they will weather the worst and fastest on a home.


Yeah I know... I'm currently using PVC trim for my siding and would do the same on the dormer if I build it. It would just be a gabled roof, and no walls with a 8-12 inch eave.


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## Patrick G. (May 12, 2014)

Good questions


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

Here's what we're thinking. Something to center between blank space on exterior wall. We'll try to double up on the framing in the attic, but it's pretty tight that close to the eaves. We've considered going larger but worry about weight. Is that a concern or not really?


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## hand drive (Apr 21, 2012)

is that one long singular roof plane or is there an intersect point 3/4 way up where the upper roof angle increases indicating two roof planes? looks like a single with a hip roof, partial A on the sides. Depending on roof design you could pull the gutter and fascia and slide the doubles in or go thorough a window if there is one on the partial A wall..


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

hand drive said:


> is that one long singular roof plane or is there an intersect point 3/4 way up where the upper roof angle increases indicating two roof planes? looks like a single with a hip roof, partial A on the sides. Depending on roof design you could pull the gutter and fascia and slide the doubles in or go thorough a window if there is one on the partial A wall..


It's two roof planes. The one that is pitched 12/12 at the top is from the old/original roof. When the addition was added below, they used trusses and placed them on top of the existing roof, which is why the roof transitions to 6/12 or so. 

Does the dormer look okay in terms of size and is the weight a concern or not really?


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## craig11152 (Jun 20, 2015)

aesthetics aside to me that's just one more thing that can go wrong.


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## windowguy (Jan 27, 2009)

you are way overthinking this. all you are doing is putting a triangle on the roof. I totally agree with the previous post it makes a plain square roof look so much better. I had it done to my add-a-level and it gives so much more "dimension" to the roof it makes the look of the house look classier and bigger.

Here is my advice though.. have the false dormer be set back a bit (like it is in the pictures posted) so that your GUTTER can still run continuous from one side of the house to the other.

another house in the neighborhood had two false dormers above windows but they had the dormer flush with tip of the roof so they couldn't run the gutter continuous across.. now he had FOUR ugly downspouts on the front of his house.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

craig11152 said:


> aesthetics aside to me that's just one more thing that can go wrong.


I'm unsure what you mean. Are you suggesting it's not a good option? If so, could you explain why?


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## craig11152 (Jun 20, 2015)

cibula11 said:


> I'm unsure what you mean. Are you suggesting it's not a good option? If so, could you explain why?


Its an aesthetic option and I pass no judgement on that. 
I spent 28 years as a residential roofer and in my experience the more things that break up the plane of a roof the more somethings a "roofer" can screw up. Valleys, sidewalls, chimney's, cap running under shingles, vents, 3 planes coming together, etc are all potential leaks waiting to happen if the guy doing them "graduated at the bottom of the class".
And believe me whether its roofing, where you don't even need to go to school, or medical school or law school or whatever, for everybody that graduated at the top of the class somebody graduated at the bottom and it ain't tattooed to their forehead.


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

craig11152 said:


> Its an aesthetic option and I pass no judgement on that.
> I spent 28 years as a residential roofer and in my experience the more things that break up the plane of a roof the more somethings a "roofer" can screw up. Valleys, sidewalls, chimney's, cap running under shingles, vents, 3 planes coming together, etc are all potential leaks waiting to happen if the guy doing them "graduated at the bottom of the class".
> And believe me whether its roofing, where you don't even need to go to school, or medical school or law school or whatever, for everybody that graduated at the top of the class somebody graduated at the bottom and it ain't tattooed to their forehead.


Sure. I get it. I'm doing the roof myself, along with my brother who is a contractor. Both of us have had plenty of experience with roofing. This doesn't bother me in terms of skill/ability and doing it the right way. Clearly anything more than a standard gable is going to have a better chance of leaking, but then again, you don't see many of those simple rooflines any longer either. I appreciate the response.


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## hand drive (Apr 21, 2012)

cibula11 said:


> It's two roof planes. The one that is pitched 12/12 at the top is from the old/original roof. When the addition was added below, they used trusses and placed them on top of the existing roof, which is why the roof transitions to 6/12 or so.
> 
> Does the dormer look okay in terms of size and is the weight a concern or not really?


do you have pics of attic frame layout from within the attic? could help determine.... usually with a dormer like that you just add rafter blocking at the peak of the dormer A where it lands on old roof. the rest of the weight of dormer distributes out evenly landing across more bearing points of contact. in fact, the flat plate you lay down on old roof to land the dormer rafters on help distribute as well...( I usually use two 2x6 laid on old roof for 2x8 dormer rafters). if you need more info on that let me know... good luck

edit.. do plan to start the dormer set back to be in line with your exterior wall so that you have a roof water table that matches the existing overhang amount.. nothing worse than seeing the dormer come out over the over hang


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## cibula11 (Jan 6, 2007)

hand drive said:


> do you have pics of attic frame layout from within the attic? could help determine.... usually with a dormer like that you just add rafter blocking at the peak of the dormer A where it lands on old roof. the rest of the weight of dormer distributes out evenly landing across more bearing points of contact. in fact, the flat plate you lay down on old roof to land the dormer rafters on help distribute as well...( I usually use two 2x6 laid on old roof for 2x8 dormer rafters). if you need more info on that let me know... good luck
> 
> edit.. do plan to start the dormer set back to be in line with your exterior wall so that you have a roof water table that matches the existing overhang amount.. nothing worse than seeing the dormer come out over the over hang


Thanks. I don't have a picture of the truss layout in the attic. It's pretty standard 24" o.c. trusses. Nothing out of the ordinary. I will be doing just as you say laying down 2x6 plate and framing set back so the dormer wall lands on exterior wall, with current gutter/eave left alone. It will have a similar overhand (6-8") as the rest of the house. We contemplated going much larger on the dormer, but feel like if we're doing that, we might as well just pull the whole roof and do an addition...something that's not in the budget.

I do plan on adding some blocking across the rafter/trusses in the attic, not just to provide a nailer, but for weight distribution as well.


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