| Attics, Dormers, and Skylights gives you the technical expertise and seasoned advice you need to take advantage of what often is the most overlooked space in the home: the attic. For houses that cannot be built out, building up is the only practical alternative. The attic doesn't have to be simply an insulated barrier against the elements, it can be used to provide additional living or storage space in the home. With real estate values at all-time highs, this book provides the tools you need to help homeowners who want to increase property values by adding valuable living space.
Written by the pros who actually do the work, these articles will help you to:
- Build an airtight attic access
- Construct a gable dormer retrofit
- Install disappearing attic stairs
- Seal and insulate an attic
- Add a second story
- Frame an elegant dormer
- Retrofit skylights in a truss roof
- Frame for skylights
From the Introduction
There are two things we all want more of in our homes - space and light - and we usually look for them in the attic.
Two hundred years ago my tiny Cape Cod house had no dormers or skylights, but it did have an attic. Today the house has three dormers and two skylights, but no attic. That repository of report cards, old love letters, and unused exercise equipment gradually gave way to living space, chiefly bedrooms. And while musty cardboard boxes will occupy the dark, awkward space under the roof without complaint, bedrooms want the headroom, light, and ventilation offered by dormers and skylights. Unfortunately, colonizing an attic with dormers and skylights poses several challenges, the first of which is design. Too many dormers, especially those added later, have all the architectural grace of a 20-yard dumpster deposited on a roof by a tornado. Or, as builder Scott McBride once said: "A dormer should wink at you - not sit on the roof like a refrigerator with a mail slot." Likewise, most skylights look out of place on historical house styles (that's why my skylights are on the back roof, invisible from the street).
Dormers and skylights are also a challenge to build. In part because they typically involve some complex roof framing. But they're also challenging because they require you to cut holes in a roof, which, generally speaking, is asking for trouble. Hence, flashing and roofing call for meticulous care.
It is my sincerest hope that the articles in this book, collected from back issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine, will help you face the challenges posed by attics, dormers, and skylights. Written by builders and architects, about their own work, these articles represent the voice of experience - people who have taken a Sawzall to their roof and lived to tell about it.
- Kevin Ireton
Editor, Fine Homebuilding magazine
Table of Contents
Introduction
PART 1: Attics
Airtight Attic Access
Disappearing Attic Stairways
Fixing a Cold, Drafty House
Bed Alcove
A Fresh Look for an Attic Bath
Adding On, but Staying Small
Jewelbox Bathroom
Adding a Second Story
PART 2: Dormers
A Gable-Dormer Retrofit
Framing an Elegant Dormer
Keeping a Dormer Addition Clean and Dry
Framing a Dramatic Dormer
PART 3: Skylights
Dramatic Skylight
Skylight Kitchen
Shedding Light on Skylights
Framing for Skylights
Credits
Index |
