Facelift on a roof

[GatorBanker]

Looking for houses--found a house that's great except that we hate the roofline. Hard to describe: the roof has a very moderate pitch from the center to almost the edge of the roofline, then makes an almost

90-degree drop and becomes nearly parallel to the wall of the house. Typically, it's a 2-story house, so there are some windows cut into the vertical pitch. Now for the question - has anyone out there been able to modify such a roof ? Or any ideas on how to do so?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Sounds like a Mansard roof or a variation of it. A French design from the

1600's.

My advice? Either learn to like it or move on to another house.

If you modify it to take the double drop, it requires major structural changes to the rafters. Probably removing the entire roof and replacing it. You will also lose some space on the inside and need dormers for windows and have a pitched interior wall. Extending the walls up and adding a normal pitched roof will be about as bad. I hesitate to guess at the cost, but $25k to $50k is not out of the question.

Just move on. There are lots of houses out there.

[RayV]

Ed is right. When we were looking about a year ago the realtor took us to one of those and I told him to just keep driving, didn't even go in. Nothing you can do with that hidieous design.

[tbasc]

It's possible, from your description, that the nearly vertical portion is added to the standard wall framing. One has to look. If the roof is built over the standard wall framing, one could change it. It would not be cheap. The shingles have to have a drip added and the offending roof areas need to be removed and siding added. TB

[tbasc]

It's possible, from your description, that the nearly vertical portion is added to the standard wall framing. One has to look. If the roof is built over the standard wall framing, one could change it. It would not be cheap. The shingles have to have a drip added and the offending roof areas need to be removed and siding added. TB

[ameijers]

The caveats above are correct if it is a true mansard, with the upper/attic walls following the slope of the outside roof. Many mansards built in last

20-30 years are poseurs, and the mansard is an applied structure on a conventional wall. Those could be stripped off, and soffits added, but it would still be labor intensive and expensive. A properly done mansard, like on a barn style or french whatever-the-hell-it-is-they-call-it, can look okay, but it would not be my house of choice due to the water-catching dead spaces, heat loading from the dark wall, etc. Can't swear it is correct, but I once heard the style developed as a tax dodge, since that floor (on a true mansard) was considered attic space.

aem sends...

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I don't know that it was developed for that reason, but I'm sure is was used that way over the years.