Laura, thanks for the info on curing. I'm not sure what would happen if you let it cure longer. I'd be willing to guess that moving it around on day one or two might have been more significant than only letting it cure for a week. It is interesting that it failed where the water was. If you're going to repeat this, I'd suggest doing several little ones, with each variation on a separate piece. Then you can compare your different variables to something. Of course, it's easy for me to suggest something for you to do :) I sure hope I don't have to put my projects through so much torture before I'm willing to put it in my yard. Then again, I can see myself being grilled in court, "you mean you didn't try the 180 lb man jump test?" Looks like a good material to try with my next big project.

I got them in my last house for the room over the garage and have them in the house I am building now over the master bedroom (the attic space will be my craft room) and over the garage (storage). The master bedroom is 20' wide and I ended up with a 12' wide room. The ceilings are a little lower than I had hoped; they are around 7', but for a craft room, it's fine. My trusses are spaced 24" OC and I wish I had closed that spacing up to 16" OC to give the attic floor a little more strength. I am probably going to install 3/4" oak floors up there to give it a more solid feel. I am very happy with the extra space I got for the little extra I paid for those trusses. There is a pull-down stairway to access the attic over the garage, but I will build a 6" wide stair case to the craft room after the final inspection. Because of the layout of my room, the stairs wont meet code. The rise and run will be a little off. Still safe, but not within code. If you want stairs to get up to that attic space, make sure your truss engineer calculates what it will take to cut the bottom cord of the truss to permit a stairway.

"The vertical cross-gabled portion is the addition." It's deceiving, as pictured, or is "C", the addition actually wider than "D" and "E", as it affects the roof tie-in. "It will be 11' wide and 15' deep" Aesthetically, the matching and maintaining a uniformity of roof framing, except when addressing specific architectural elements is desirable. "Is the use of trusses a matter of quantity? Or construction design?" Quantity. As a matter of practicality, in a small addition, combined with the roof tie-in you'll not save anything, one vs the other. "Question #2. What's the math/geometry that tells you whether the roof portions intersect at the peak or lower down?" The aesthetics are generally the governing factor. Another aesthetic to consider is matching the eaves and facia. "I'm assuming the proper thing to do is match the roof pitch and it intersects where it intersects." And how you address the ridge intersection. "So, if I've got a 6/12 roof and the addition is 11' wide (outside dim), the peak would be 11 x 6/12 = 5'-6" high? And if it's 4/12 pitch, then 11 x 4/12 = 3'-8" high?" Actually, at 11' the ridge will be directly above the 5'6" dimension, so with a 6:12 pitch the ridge will be roughly 33" above the ceiling or top plate. Since, as pictured, the addition is wider than the main dwelling/building, the ridge will be above the main ridge. So you have a couple of choices; you ca stop the new ridge directly above the existing, creating a gable end, you can stop the ridge back from the existing ridge and frame a hip section that conforms with the main roof, or you can continue the ridge past the existing ridge and create the gable there or shorten the extension slightly and create a "flying dutchman."

You need to know the scope of the remodel. Are you: adding on $100K+/-, depending upon how much you are adding and how complicated the addition is moving walls and changing window locations or sizes $60K+ (unless it interferes with a second story in which case it would be more expensive) not touching the size or location of the windows walls or doors, although you may replace the windows and doors, changing cabinets, counter and gloors $30K + using low end cabinets, better cabinets moves you closer to $45K, or refacing cabinets, adding new floor and countertop and not moving any utlity outlets $15K. Do you have the electric outlets every four feet? If not you may need a new electric panel, add $3K.... The cost of new appliances you can estimate. If your kitchen is older you need to add the cost of asbestos and lead paint abatement to your demolition expense. One thing I would not bother with as a DIYer, even though it's the easiest thing to do, is the demolition and haulaway. I'd much rather pay somebody to do that really filthy job. If you are a really talented DIYer selfer, you may be able to reduce your costs to just the material costs (plus plumbing and electric work as most DIYers don't know how to do that) and you could even begin shopping for new to you windows, doors and cabinets and other materials on craigslist and reduce your material costs further.