I don’t understand how dormers will create extra space. Can you give us pictures of the back and the interior. A floor plan with measurements would also help.

How much does it cost to dormer a roof, add head space to an attic space and make a room? Stairs take up footage. Knowing nothing it sure appears you could cut out the middle porch and rebuild creating rooms between the two larger portions of your home. You need to talk to an archtect to see what's structurally possible and the cost differances. Giving us a floor plan would be more helpful than a picture of only one elevation.

We need a lot more info and pics of the whole house and a to scale floor plan. You will need an architect to make sure what ever you do looks like it has always been there . A shed dormer really does not create floor space.

Okay, then that answers my question. I keep trying to view interiors of shed dormers. Thank you all for your time. I will scrap the dormer idea I guess and consider building a second floor over the porch instead - and will post some interior and elevation photos as well.

Please add some photos of the back elevation. It looks like the roofs of the two main segments are offset and have different slopes. Is that true? The porch segment could be rebuilt with either slope, whatever gives the most headroom on the second floor.

Looking forward to seeing a floorplan. But, in the meantime, thinking outside the box….is the primary bedroom big enough to divide? Maybe you move downstairs, older girl moves into the smaller upstairs room and twin girls move into the bigger upstairs room. But, again, without knowing the layout of the house, its just speculation.

Your home is not Cape Cod style as the roof pitch is that of a ranch house.

I'm sure you have thought about a room over the garage.

One idea (you would need to discuss this with an architect, as I certainly am not) is raising the roof over the kitchen to the same height as the main house. If this were possible, could you then make a door way from one bedroom into a new bedroom, over the kitchen?

Something like this:

I believe both bedrooms are in the portion that is on the right side "massing" of the "middle" porch. The left side massing with the skylights might be a captured garage converted to a Family Room.

Not enough information to advise you here, but either way, a dormer IS an option to create more floor space. If this project is something that is worth pursuing, with a timeline and budget that will fit your point in life, then a local architect is better to start this process.

If you still want help please answer some questions and show us the back of the house .