what do people think about this porch roof idea?
We are planning to add a porch to the east side of my dining room. The roof over the east side of my house is a 4 pitch flat roof (the house ridge runs N-S down the middle of the house). The dining room is just over 14 feet wide (outside) though the porch will extend another 6-8 feet. We will be adding a French door in the middle and windows on both sides of the door. The view will be of our gardens and the woods. We live in southern NH. The house is a contemporary style with high ceilings, no attic and ice dam problems. We do have the styrofoam baffles to help with roof ventilation but it isn’t enough. (I had wanted to do a double roof system when we replaced the roof 4 years ago but my wife refused – my bad.)
We had thought about simply extending the existing roof to the edge of the porch. The porch will be 6 feet wide and the roof 7 or 7.5 feet. We thought about adding a 6 foot gable in the center so that the view from the door would be higher. The porch will be dropped 21 inches from the house floor. The bottom of the current eaves is 10 feet above the current deck (which is dropped 7 inches from the house floor). However, that gable would be pretty wimpy. Also, there will be a covered square ‘lookout point’ a few feet away and next year we are planning another addition that will join the porch. That addition will be a 2 story addition with a new kitchen in the first floor and new master bath, etc. upstairs and will have a gable roof looking east. Our concern is that there will be too many roof pitches in a small space causing visual clutter and a chopped up look.
My wife came up with an idea to put a flat roof over the new porch (well, maybe a 1 or 2 pitch). She mentioned the possibility of adding a door off of the proposed master bath allowing access to that roof and putting a deck up there. It would also allow me access to shovel it during the winter (fun, fun). I remember that FH had an article several years ago about this very topic.
I can see how to insure that the roof venting is maintained. My concern is that having the warm roof meet the cold roof, especially one with little slope, will create an ice dam where I can’t access it from the ground. Therefore I would need a super roofing material on that roof (and probably extending 3-4 feet up under the existing roof). I am also stumped about how to build a deck on a roof that doesn’t compromise the roof integrity. We do have vent pipes that pierce the roof so it seems that I should be able to seal around the deck supports in a similar way, though simply resting the deck supports on the roof without piercing it would seem better. I do have to pay attention to high wind so the deck would have to be fastened down.
I would appreciate all comments, critiques and pointers to other articles.
Thank you,
Chuck
Replies
chuck
How about a picture of what you got?
thanks.
Maybe some clarification. What is a "4 pitch flat roof"? I read a 4:12 pitch roof ... until I get to your description of contemporary styling w/ high ceilings implying higher pitched roofs.
Seems like to preserve views you'd want a gable roof over the patio that is perpendicular to your existing roof. Pitched the same, you should retain style and have an open view (relatively speaking).
I'd think extending your existing roof plane may maintain the height you need at the far east edge of the roof, it will tend to block the view from inside the house. I would be a wasted to spend money on the doors/windows and not maintain a wide open view.
Is the goal to shed water or protect from sun? If it's a sun issue, I'd go with a sun screen rather than a solid roof as solid roofs tend to trap heat a bit and not promote air flow. Double check your needs/wants. I often see people making huge decisions with assumptions and the wrong reasoning. They end up doing things 'just because' and then not really liking the result.