We just tore the roof off our house and are changing the pitch from 4:12 to 7:12 and the entire house will look different. We too bought this property for the land not the house and even though it is very expensive to change the roof pitch it will be worth it to us.

You can do just about anything, somehow or other. We started out wanting to do what you want, then ran into one thing after another with where the steps had to be put in and holding loads. The link is where we are now in building. Eventually, we will have 4 small windows running accross the front wall. We wound up cutting into the roof at a good spot on the inside, but kind of awkward outside. My thing was wanting to have 9' for ceiling height. (My husband is 6'2" and we have 9'4" downstairs.) In our case: the roof was old and bowed already, so it had to go anyhow, our rafters were 6x2, so we had to sister 12" joists to span the width of the house, and even those had to be slightly raised up because the plaster and lath got in the way, which, in turn raised the floor up which also required the roof to go higher. Thats how we ended up with the current set up. The original roof gave us exactly 8' clearance from joist to ridge rafter. The new wall is about 40 inches high along the front. We kept the old roof eaves in place to help the house from looking like the Old Woman in a Shoe's house. grin. Eventually, I think I will open the porch to its original design. That should help remove the "shoe" look.

We used to live in Bowie, MD, but escaped to Nebraska 5 years ago. I could tease you about how litte our house cost, including the addition, but I won't torture you. (Insert evil laugh here.)

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

dainaadele, would that be considered a "monitor?" Maybe if it had windows along the long sides.....Hmmm. Very nice. I like that a lot. The open porch will be really nice, too.

I toyed with doing something like dormers to our house because we have attic ceilings throuout the 2nd story, but the costs were pretty impressive--even here in our little town in southern Indiana. Would've made our bedrooms MUCH larger feeling though. We did enough adding on, though....LOL

Vivian: Is that a 2 story garage addition? Yowza! My husband said something recenty about using the "area above the garage better" I am trying to erase that thought from his mind. Grin. But hey! Let's tempt you... Did you know they make preformed dormers that you can order and then just "cut and paste? Just think of the neat little windowseat/nooks and more headroom..........

No, not a 2 story garage. That's ALL HOUSE...LOL The bottom floor is build like a walkout basement. It's really set up to be a pool house with a bathroom and changing area (not finished yet). Now, if I just had a pool.....LOL

The upper floor of the addition is a mud room, bathroom, pantry, laundry area just off of the kitchen.

it's worked out great. Gave us everything that we didn't have in the old place. Our contractor did an excellent job matching the trim, etc. We still have to get on painting the darn thing....LOL

Pretty house. I am having the contractor stop at the trim/finish work. I do so want to match the current woodwork and I know it is one of those pesky jobs contractors hate if you want them to match the old stuff. My contractor is great, but one of his jokes is: They don't build them like they used to..... Thank God!

In our case, it seems that the oak trim needs 2 coats of different stains to achieve the match. Plus I am planning to get a bit ambitious with our bedroom hardwood floor (to be laid starting in the middle, going around the room to end at the walls). Am I nuts or what!

Nah, not nuts. Hubby and I did all the tiling, painting, light fixtures, etc. Our contractor did match the trim work nicely, though. Turned out great. We're very happy.

Hard to find somebody who's interested in historical stuff. All the doors in our addition are salvage, and the beadboard that is used on the walls in the bathroom is too. He custom built jambs for us and everything.

We could've added a bulbous plastic 2 story addition, but that would've been a complete eyesore. We even had custom-milled poplar siding done. Worth every penny.

Be picky. Get what you want. It's ALL worth it.

Hey those are some pretty houses, yet I'ld like to get back to the raising the roof question. I too have an attic that is just slightly over 6' at the ridgeline, and since we have a 1914 mini 1 story bungalow, we really need to do something for more room for our family of three. Sure one can do pretty much anything, if you've got a healthy income, yet creative dormer(ing) may be the only choice for this couple of artists who bought their house just as the bubble was at it's biggest. We'ld love to change the entire pitch of the roof or add on a second story, yet most folks say expect 100K for the project minimum. Has anyone done anything inspired yet not whacky expensive?

Here is a link that might be useful: Michael's Homepage