As you can see in the attached rendering (sorry for the size of it), there is an addition being added to the right side of the house. In the addition part, the roof steps down 6 inches. The 2nd story window in the addition was installed a little bit lower than other 2nd story windows in the older part of the house (about 3†lower, which is noticeable, when standing in front of the house looking at it.) The windows were just set the other day and can still be moved fairly easily and the brick veneer isn’t on the new part yet, of course.
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One side of the discussion says the window should be where it is, because when the new frieze board goes on, the new window will butt up to it from the bottom, just like the old windows do with the old frieze board (because the new frieze board will be lower than the old one, due to the step down in roof height). The other side of the discussion believes it’s more important that the bottom of the windows line up. The new frieze board can be made narrower to compensate, or the frieze could possibly be cut out around the top of the window.
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What would you do? Line up the bottoms of the windows, or step the new window down to match the step down in roof height?
Replies
That looks bad. (Nice drawing.) Does the floor step down also? I would consider using a different size window, narrower and shorter. Otherwise align the sill.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Ed is right, use a different sized window -
With the step-down in the roofline, I tend to think that, no matter what you do with the window, the end result will always be a little eye-catching.
Yup. Whatever they do with the windows won't solve the real problem. That little jog down in the roof just doesn't look good.
-- J.S.
How about...
View Image
Thanks for the laugh. That one's worth starting a new thread: Pictures of laughable architecture.
-- J.S.
That would be after-marketechture
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dear god, where is that thing? Please tell me so I don't ever go there
A close look at the vertical muntins shows a slight offset, which means that these may be double hung windows. In that case, you could simply open the upper sash to clean out the gutters. How convenient.... ;-)
-- J.S.
Well, if that was the plan, they should have located the downspout drops within reach of the windows; that's where most of the debris and the clogs end up anyway.
:-{)
I'd run model RR tracks in that eavestrough.
Edited 7/20/2005 11:17 pm ET by Pierre1
I think I would have lined up the roof.
blue
Blue, Evidently they couldn't match the existing slate roof and didn't want to tear it off to match whatever "slate dimensioned roofing" (or whatever that says) is. And I guess they didn't want to drop the walls back in order to line up the fascia. Lowering the roof w/o making the addition narrower and then not using the elevation to make a cosmetic decision was quite an ooops. That's what those drawings are for when you can't envision the end result. Bummer.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Edited 7/18/2005 7:53 pm ET by calvin
I would have lined up the tops of the windows and put the other three lower (and maybe made them shorter), but that's just me.
Edited 7/18/2005 7:45 pm ET by Danno
What is not clear in the elevation drawing is whether the wall is all on the same plane or if it steps back where the reoof steps down.
if the wall steps back, I would leave it like drawn, but if the wall is all on the same plane, then the windows should align. you will see the wiondow - eye being attracted to it - more than you will notice the relationship to the frieze.
Another concern is the floor elevation inside. The glass should still be at least 18" above finished floor to meet code, and sills at 21" min. for my taste. The top of the lite ( clear glass viewing area) should be at least 6'2" to do what a window is supposed to do
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
The walls are in the same plane. Fortunately, the ceiling height of the old section is 8.5', so with the 6" step down, the ceiling height drops to just 8'.
As Calvin guessed, we didn't want to try to match the existing slate roof, hence the step down. BTW, "Slated Dimensions" is apparently the name of a faux slate product that the designer's drawing program had in it's library. (We are using Dura-Slate from Royal Building products. Used it on a garage 3 yrs ago and it still looks great. But it doesn't quite look like the real stuff that it's next to)
It seems like lining up the sills is the concensus, which is the way I was leaning too.
What do you think about narrowing the frieze board on the addition to whatever width will line it up with the old one and still be right above the new window?
To Rev Ted - Thanks, but I think I'll pass on that dormer option ;-) Amazingly, there is a place here in town, easily $1 million+, that put fancy copper gutters on, and did that same thing across their 3rd story dormers. Maybe they thought no one would notice that high off the ground...
More after-marketechture:
IMO the addition should have been a story & a half. The new roof would have had it's ridge parallel to the old, but the new roof would have had a much steeper pitch. A large shed roofed dormer on the back and maybe a few dog house dormers on the front would have yielded nearly as much room. Sorry, but the brick veneer is not going to match either, so the new/old front walls should have not been in the same plane. This addition will always look like an addition. OK, you can flame me now... :-) Matt
It's designed the way it is because there was an existing one story extension on the right side, just like there is on the left (if you look back at the rendering, you'll see what I mean). So we already had a foundation wall along the front, and we just bumped the side wall out another 4 ft and then went up, putting on the second story.
Fortunately, we salvaged many of the bricks that were on the side, so they should (hopefully) cover the front - reducing the "add-on" look. At least that was the plan. Now, however, I'm not very optimistic about the end product.
At least we aren't fixing this up to sell. We'll just have to live with it for the next 30 yrs. ;-)
I am assuming by the wording of your post that the framing and roof are all a done deal. Looking at the drawing, I would say change out the lower window for a slightly shorter one to align the bottoms and live with it (unless your budget is limitless). My first impression however, was that the left side should be made to match the new right side. You could then leave the window lower and let the left lower window balance it out (option 2 does require an above average budget).
Kevin