It all depends on the architectural design. With experience and creativity they can be a wonderful thing. With no understanding of architecture they can be atrocious, like anything else. Your question is almost impossible to answer without context.

There is nothing inherently good or bad about shed dormers. They are not as architecturally interesting as gable dormers but can often create more floor space. If wide, they usually require a structural ridge beam. It is possible to connect two gable dormer-like structures with a shed dormer to get the best of both features.

The garage you linked appears to be trying to emulate the Craftsman Style so a shed dormer would be most appropriate dormer type.

When they are good they are very, very good - IMO!!

Our house was designed to have what I consider to be 'good' shed dormers. A friend of mine had this shed built in her yard and I used this picture as inspiration for our architect. The scale has to be right, the pitch has to be right and the placement on te roof has to be right. For us that meant sitting high on the roof but not starting all the way up at the ridge, very steep and relatively small windows. It also matters what the purpose of the dormer is - ours is to let light into a vaulted room.

Thanks for feedback! Perhaps more context is appropriate.

Here is a better example of two potential homes as a whole. The shed dormer would be for a bonus room above the garage (to provide daylight).

I quite like mine but I like dormers period (if they are in proportion and not really tiny). That said I wish ours had more space around it. I think if feels a little cramped but it's my favorite part of our exterior. Ours sheds light onto the stairwell and it does a great job doing so. I like the ones in your images but I wonder if it would look better if the dormers were the same style? I am no expert though, maybe Virgil will chime in on that.

Image two looks better!

Hi Amber, Thanks for sharing a pic of your home! I like that dark warm stone with the grays.

About being the same style I wonder if the second image is better as its a hybrid to better play off the shed dormer and the other gable.

Thank you. I do love our siding color - it's a gray beige and it really ties things together quite easily.

I do like the second image better myself. I might even look at it without that bump out and gable on the end if it's not needed.

DLM that is such a great shed! Good inspiration.

I like shed dormers too, in the right context as Virgil said. (Which is why if I'm ever lucky enough to build I know I'll need a good architect because I don't have that eye for design.)

Here's a house I often pass while walking the dog. I always notice the teeny tiny little dormers and think they look odd. Even if they're just decorative for the attic, I think one larger dormer, maybe a shed dormer, would have worked better inside and out.

Most shed dormers do not provide large enough Windows to serve as the emergency escape egress requirements that are code required. They are great for light, but the overall plan needs to provide appropriately sized Windows elsewhere in the design in order to work.

I personally prefer shed dormers. less choppy looking, less potential leakage area & a better look...again just my personal opinion.

much is dependent upon the design of the house.

DLM..I would love to see a picture of the inside of the room you described with the dormer in the vaulted room. The shed dormer on the shed is cute.

chicagoans - The house you posted is an example of the Post Medieval English Revival Style popular in the early 20th century in America. The small narrow dormers minimized the disruption of the roof structure and light was for visibility rather than view. The more usual configuration is a single dormer with a roof steep enough to reach the main roof ridge. However, since the original examples were half timber wood with thatched roofs few survived so the revival style adopted many unrelated embellishments like the one you posted.

JDS thanks for that explanation in historical context. At first glance I just figured it was a butchered remodel!! Oh, how little I truly know about architecture.

ILoveRed I'm happy to share the room as soon as we build it ;-) We literally just broke ground on the house Thurs. If I can get a screen shot of the 3D inside I'll post it for you. And that inspiration photo is indeed swoonworthy.

i love them our builder, framer, and windstorm people didn't so we got a modified version

Guffaw! Thanks for giving me a great laugh. Photoshopped? It's almost too awful to be true.

Casey

It does kind of look like it - the roof looks a little blurred up there. Why would a person photoshop these things up there? Interesting.