niteshadepromises - Now that I see your roof plan, I remember your lot and its design issues from when you first posted about it months ago. A VERY difficult space to work with indeed. Having looked at your roof plan, I agree that your architect DID provide a drainage route for every point on the roof. The spot that I was originally worried about (marked with a red X below) is intended to drain toward the front of the house and fall off the roof right where that ladder is leaned up against the house in the very last picture you posted. So that's good but... I still see two problems, one with the roof as designed and one with the roof as it was actually built: First, EVERY portion of the roof that I've shaded in green on the drawing above is ALSO designed to drain at exactly the same spot! Without exact dimensions, I can't calculate the total roof area that will drain toward that approximately 2 ft wide edge of the roof. But, assuming that the secondary bathroom that is visible thru the roof plan is approximately 40 sq ft, I would guesstimate that the sections of roof that are shaded green cover about 1000 sq ft of floor space. Did your architect discuss with you or have you thought about what having that much roof drain to one location is going to mean when it rains? The national weather service describes any rain up to 0.3 inches/hour as merely a moderate rain. Anything over 0.3 inches per hour is considered heavy. And if you search the internet, you will find plenty of stories about thunderstorms dropping 4 and 5 inches of rain in an hour and you'll even find some stories about even heavier amounts of rain falling in an hour. Obviously then, it is probably not terribly unusual for a heavy rain to drop 0.5 to 1 inches of rain in an hour. 1/2 inch of rain falling on 1000 sq ft in one hour would be over 300 gallons of water that has to drain in one hour. 1 inch would be over 600 gallons and so on. Let's say you get a storm that drops 0.5 inch of rain over a one hour period. That means you are going to have 300 gallons of rainwater pouring off of your roof at that one narrow roof edge in a single hour. 300 gallons per hour is 5 gallons per minute. That's twice the flow rate of a shower head. And it's going to be coming down as a sheet of water against that very short section of rain guttering. And, what if you get a cloudburst that drops that same 1/2 inch of rain in a 15 minute period? It happens....a lot! (I live in central Texas and we don't get that much rain...barely 30 inches a year...but just a couple of days ago we got 3/4 of an inch of rain in a 20 minute period followed by another half inch in less than an hour a little later the same day. And I've seen worse storms.) If you get 1/2 inch of rain in a 15 minute period, for that 15 minute period, water is going to be pouring off your roof at that one spot at a rate of 20 gallons per minute!!!! Will that short section of gutter be able to channel that much water that fast? Remember too that water weighs 8 lbs per gallon so 20 gallons weighs 160 lbs. I would be surprised if that much water did not simply tear the gutters lose completely. And, if the rain either overflows your gutters (or tears them loose completely) all of that water is going to be pouring down from a height of about 10 feet and hitting the ground just a few feet from your front door. Imagine the size of the splash it is likely to make... and the hole that the falling rain is going to dig. With your door so close, it is going get covered with mud. And there is no way you would be able to open the door during a heavy rainstorm without water splashing into the house. And that is the problem I see with the roof "as it was originally designed." Problem number 2 is that the original roof design has obviously been altered by the addition of that cupola/turret that is not shown on the original roof plan. (I'm actually curious as to exactly how the cupola is supported but that is a different issue entirely.) And, did your architect also sign off on the addition of the cupola to the roof? Anyway, here's the issue: While it is hard to tell from the pictures just how big the cupola is, I'm guessing that it is located directly over the circular staircase and therefore has the same diameter as the staircase. I'm guessing that because, as a design feature, having the cupola smaller than the staircase simply would not look terribly good. If I'm right about the size and location of the cupola, then from the roof diagram, it looks like the staircase (and thus the cupola) sits where I've shown the yellow circle in the diagram below. Notice how the yellow circle cuts off the red drainage line I had before. In fact, all rain draining from the entire area I've reshaded to purple is going to be at least partially blocked by the cupola. It will have to be diverted into that narrow space between the edge of the cupola and the edge of the roof that is directly to the left of the cupola on the diagram. The purple section looks to cover about 200 sq feet. A half inch of rain in an hour falling on a 200 sq ft area would add up to t0 about 60 gallons of water. That 60 gallons is going to have between the edge of the cupola and that roof immediately to the left. 60 gallons is the equivalent of a bathtub full of water. Worse, if anything at all (a few twigs and leaves or an old bird's nest) should happen to fall on the roof and get washed by a light rain down towards that narrow V, it is likely to become lodged in the V and basically create a dam to hold water back. Then you're going to have rain water collecting up against the back side of the cupola until it gets deep enough to find an alternate route down. And, when the rain ends, some water is going to remain pooled in that V. I really hate to say it but I foresee significant roof problems ahead. I hope I'm wrong but...

Plans by Marcy Tammie, another thought ... you'll have generous head room above with a 30'-0" width across your wing. You could cut a set of stairs in the girls bedroom, allowing access to an attic area above and finish off one section at a time as money allows by using attic room trusses, depending on your roof pitch. You can also 'stick build an attic, but I am showing a truss as an example. While the lower level bedroom would be lessened, you'd pick up more space over all. As your girls get older, it would give you room to expand, already under roof. The drawing I am attaching is from another project I was working on, but should give you an idea of what I'm talking about. To determine height, using the following ratio and proportion equation: pitch*/12 = height/15. pitch* is the roof pitch you have in mind, and 15 is 1/2 your span (or wing width). This dimension will give you a ball park height, since the over-the-wall height (the heel height) of your framing member needs to be taken into account and varies with the material and pitch you employ. I use the above chart to converse with my clients when they are unsure of what pitch they have in mind. In your case, should you decide to utilize a room/s above, and in keeping with a 30' span, I would suggest you use an 8 or 9/12 pitch to gain maximum head height without exceeding wind bracing variables that may effect your overall bracing. I would cost a little more up front to frame in for a future attic, but I think in the long run, you will be glad you did. By keeping the stair toward the center of the house, you'll have two sections (right & left) at the top of the stairs. Obviously, you would have to start you stair from the outside wall to lead upwards toward the center of your roof framing. Again, just a thought.

Agree with Sue, Staircase should be illuminated at the top or bottom which is more than enough...Like she said if you have money burning a hole in your pocket, you can light it up any which way you can, I have seen illuminated risers, or like the image she provided or enough of recessed lighting to give you a sun tan by the time you reach the last step.

B