Here is my post earlier this week on MoccasinLanding's Hardwood Floors thread, with edits: Remember DH's declaration that we won't do any more major projects for the next three years following last year's 5 month and $30,000 foundation disaster? Well, we barely made it a year. The roof is really really really bad, the guys who cleaned my gutters said. We are looking at tearing off the 34 yo shingles, replacing some decking, doubling the amount of soffit vents and adding roof vents. We also may be removing all the decking from the area above the family room in order to insulate above the raised ceiling (it is sooo hot in there in the summer!). Fun fun fun. Last year's foundation disaster almost resulted in us pouring a "porch" foundation the same height as the foyer/laundry room for another 15 ft out from the front door so that when we re-roofed, we could extend the roof out over the porch to the end of the front room, which is DH's library and music room. Doing that, we could add a peak above the foyer and laundry room to change the path of the roof drainage. Then we just need to have Jim move the front wall out and drywall the new side walls and we would get a front closet and a laundry room big enough to work in. Didn't do it. (When I say "almost resulted in," it means that Jim (my contractor) and I were contemplating. DH was never on board.) Kick kick kick. Instead, we will continue to have a flat area on the roof above the foyer and laundry room and just hope that improved ventilation stops the snow from melting or sliding down the roof and icing up my porch and ramp. Stupid house designer must have been from the South. Who makes a roof designed to dump rain and snow in three different directions onto the FRONT PORCH in a cold climate! If we had extended out the front slab, we would now be adding a roof peak where the flat area is and the roof would drain to the sides. And I would have a laundry room big enough to fold in, and a front closet. We do have a coat closet in the middle of the house. It could be a utility closet now instead, if we had poured that slab out further last year......... My shins hurt. Friday, December 14 Yesterday I signed a contract to redo the roof. Today I stopped by their office to drop off a check for the first half of the payment. I talked with the manager and we discussed the venting further and the possibility of putting insulation above the cathedral ceiling in the family room. There was no way to get up there to insulate when we had the attic insulated because there was not enough room between the ceiling and the roof. So he will pull up some roof decking to check out the condition of the insulation there before re-roofing. He says that if we do need to insulate the room from above, he will do his best to make it fold into the cost of the roof job as much as possible, maybe just paying for the extra materials and a bit more. So that is the not-so-exciting news, we are getting a new roof. The picture you see below is from 2007, before we put in our front door, raised porch deck and ramp. We no longer have any shutters and the front windows have been replaced by Eagle windows with bronze aluminum cladding. The picture in the link has the new garden bed, door, and porch in it, but not the new windows. Here is a link that might be useful: A view of the front of the house with flat roof area

Please take a look at the revision below. Two main updates: 1. Shed dormer between to dog house dormers as suggested by live wire oak. The architect said this is a traditional look, but will definitely be more expensive due to additional framing. I don't feel strongly one way or another one this one, so not sure it's worth the extra expense. I don't think three dormers over the garage is too much, personally. 2. Simplified the main gable over the front porch. I think this really accentuates the swoop and cleans the lines up a bit. Honestly, I'm getting analysis paralysis at this point. We're going to pay for a 3D rendering, but at some point I think we'll probably just call it good and move forward. Huge decision and I'm not sure if I'll ever be 110% ready to call the front elevation "perfect" before moving forward. Love to hear your thoughts!

HKO HKO - this is my... 3rd or 4th post on this website. I didn't realize this website was manned by 'retired professionals donating their time to help the poor surfs building in the lower class sectors'. I had no idea the same 5 'retired' architects and designers would reply multiple times with insults about features of a house I'm building that I never asked advice for to begin with. I do NOT share their obsession with windows. I politely stated that on their first round of comments. And hey, I get it. I get on forums to help in my profession (web development). I certainly don't get on there offering to help someone get a script running and then totally rip apart the look of their website. Kind of goes back to "if you don't have anything nice to say...", eh? This post, for example, was about fishing for options for the cantilever. Not being a builder and trying to Google it is what did lead me to the term "EYEBROW PERGOLA" when really what I was reaching for was corbels or brackets/braces. What would have been nice was "Hey, did you consider dentil blocks if you want something to look at in that area?" When I met with one of the guys from the builder he sympathetically offered that and pointed out examples. Wonder why I'm a bit, ungrateful? I had one of the 'helpful retired professionals' here tell me because my husband and I both WANTED our laundry in the garage that "Any new house that has the laundry in a garage, is a poorly designed house. It’s not responding to what you need. " (Thanks, Sophie Wheeler for knowing what my husband and I need, without even meeting with us! You Rock!) I never asked about the bloody windows. And this post was back in May. Move on.

When starting from scratch (ie. a plot of land) remember your ABC's: Architect Before Contractor To SAVE money you need to spend money on the Architect. Yes they COST money on the front end (as much as 10% of the FINAL build cost) but they will SAVE you 10% - 15% at the END of the build. That is to say, you will get their services FOR FREE (+10% - 10% = 0). Your inspiration home is VASTLY different from the 'plans' you show. So different that I would say you are comparing Apples to Zebras. If you want to SAVE MONEY: keep the roof line SIMPLE. The roof on your 'plans' is going to take up $50K worth of your budget. No. I am NOT kidding. If you want to SAVE MONEY: get rid of all those ghastly bumb outs. In the building world a corner or nook or bump out is worth $$$. Every time you 'turn a corner' on the envelope (outside...including the roof/gables, etc) you SPEND MONEY. Go ahead and 'find' the main square/rectangle on your plans. Then 'count' the extra corners. Sliced angles are BUDGET EATERS. Your plans are made up of TENS OF THOUSANDS of dollars worth of CORNERS, ANGLES and GABLES. Each one has $$$ attached to it. If you built a 'Georgian Plantation' you would get MORE HOUSE for LESS MONEY than the McMansion. All that money would go into a magnificent interior vs a P.I.T.A. exterior. I go 'plantation style' any day over a $50K roof line and $50K worth of bump-outs. That's how you 'save' $100K.