Roofing question
 

Ok, here I am. !8. My parents own a significant amount of land, in fact, its 124 acres. They are letting me build my own little cottage on it, so that I have a place of my own to live in through school.

Kind of an independance by steps thing.

Regardless, designing the thing. Is 2 foot of over hang a lot for a roof?

you get snow?

steep roof or flat?

materials?

overhang is good,just more materials.

fill me in man,fill me in........

Yeah-way too little information.

I'm thinking about Grace Ice & Water Dam, standing metal seam roofing, cold plane roofing details, crickets and other such stuff.

Tell us more.

What pitch is it going to be?

Ok, Metal roof more then likely. 12/12 pitch (partly cuz it looks good, and partly cuz snow doesnt stick to it).

Post and beam frame.(cutting our own posts and beams) Straw bale contruction.

The straw thing... If youve never heard of it, well basicaly you stack up straw bales around the post and beam frame (outside of posts touches the bales).

From there you wire it all together with stucco netting or the like. Plaster/stucco finish, depending on the look you want.

Advantages (because I know people will ask) are that its cheap, it has an R-value roughly double of whats standard, and its pretty easy.

24x24 on the outside, 20x20 on the inside. One full floor, the upper floor will have 4 ft knee walls on the eave sides.

Should be all the relevant details.

2' overhang is nothing bad in-and-of-itself. Post and beam I would go with a panelized construction for roof so that you don't have to deal with venting, airspace, etc. This would eliminate any condensation or ice dams or thermal voids from structural members. Basically, your interior finish, solid insulation, exterior sheathing and roofing are all in direct contact with each other and on the outside of your rafters. No vapor can go through so no need for vent, etc. I would do my sidewalls this way too. Polyisocyanrate foam kicks the s&%+ out of haybale any day. Much better r-value, lighter, less work, faster construction, no settling, no rot no bugs, etc. etc. etc. It sounds like you know enough to properly season your self-cut timber. I don't know all the details but I know it is bad to use green timber. Sounds like a fun project.

Metal roof is expensive. What's wrong with regular fiberglass shingles? what will stick to a 12/12 pitch? and with r-30 panels you don't need to worry about dams - they just won't happen

Well, I gotta say, straw insulates better then just about anything I can afford. We are talking r-50-60 here. Who can complain about that? In addition, its cheaper, so Im still going with that.

I should mention that Im not exactly obtaining a building permit. Nor a certificate of residency.

The straw... Look into it, bugs and rot are virtually a non-issue.

The problem with shingles... well, they are a pain in the ass, thats the problem. Replacing them after a Northeast windstorm (3 times a week or so) would make me go broke all on its own.

Plus, metal is reltivly easy in comparison to nailing a million shingles.

Small bit of advise: Watch out for the BIG BAD WOLF

just puttin' in my 2 cents. It sounds like you have a pretty good idea of what will work best for you. My thoughts about the roof was that I thought the steel was really expensive. The standing seam steel I have used was extremely expensive. For shingles vs. wind - I live on the ocean so I always used the "high wind area" directions/specifications on the shingles package. They say to put dabs of roofing cement under each tab instead of relying on the built in goo. I have always done this and have never been called back for damaged shingles. My installations have been tested by 90+ mph hurricanes and many coastal storms. I have nothing against steel, I just can't afford it.

Thats true man. Steel is expensive. My fathers suggestion on steel really. Hes a fan, becasue hes done roofs, and hates doing shingles partly.

For a 24x24 house though, I think steel could be resonable. Not all that much footage to cover. Unless I start getting into steep slope peak anyway.