kberrie, I'm not an architect so you'd have to ask yours for the best approach to getting more floorspace up there. I believe there are a couple of approaches... and any of these will likely add to the cost and change the look of the house (possibly making the garage/bonus area more dominent than you'd like.) Here's a very rough mockup. Left to right: Blue is the approximate shape of the current plan. Dotted line shows the approximate width of the space with adequate headroom (based roughly on the height of the front door.) Green is if you just changed the pitch of that roof. You'd have to go high and steep to significantly change the width of the usable floorspace, making that roof higher than the main part of the house. Not only might this be odd looking, it might be very cost prohibitive to build a roof that high/steep. Purple is if you built short vertical walls for the bonus room and kept the center of the roof roughly the same height. Naturally this makes the roof pitch flatter. Don't know if that shallow pitch is recommended/allowed or not. Grey is if you added short walls and made the center line of the roof a bit higher, but not as high as the green option. Naturally the higher you make the side walls, the more usable floor space you have (and the higher your roof is and/or it will be flatter.) Hopefully this shows a bit how changing the roof pitch and wall height (from zero to whatever) changes that floor space. Your architect can tell you what, if any of this, is allowed. But I thought I'd put this out here to give a sense of how the floor space gets to the size it is. I think you'll have to consider the cost and the impact on the look of the house compared to how much you value more space up there. HTH

After you've answered Dallasbill's questions, consider if you've overlooked any options on the interior. Is there a space where you could put a circular stair? A circular stair can fit in a very small footprint, but you need to think about the use of the room. You won't be able to get a pool table or a queen size mattress up circular stairs. We had a room accessed by circular stairs and it was furnished with a love seat, small arm chairs, book shelves, tv and accessories. It was cozy and had some nice drama with a vaulted ceiling, but it would not have been suited for a guest bedroom. The HVAC was already factored in on this room. Is there an interior hallway next to the garage where a traditional stairway could be built? You might be able to accomplish this by buiding one or two stairs, then taking a 45 degree turn to complete the remainder of the stairs. You see these stairways in old houses where space was at a premium. The stairs might rake into the garage ceiling, but that might not be a problem with the height you have in the garage. In either case you would want to be able to close off the area, so you need room at the top of the stairs to box in a door that opens into the room, or allow enough room at the bottom of the steps for a door. Mitsubishi (Slim Man), and others, offer a self contained unit for heating and cooling that particular room, which could solve an HVAC issue. If you purchased the plan from one of those house plan companies, call them and ask for a solution. I know Southern Living, Donald A Gardner, and others have design people who are able to make changes reasonably and can give you an upfront cost of their time. Often for popular plans, they've already answered the question for another customer, and their fee/timing is, IMO, quite reasonable. If you did the design yourself or don't have access to the designer, you could call a local architect service, and ask what they would charge to consult and provide an opinion/or design based on their findings. I realize this must be a big dissappointment for you. Good luck and let us know how it works out.

I don't have access points like that in this house, but in a rental we lived in many moons ago we had the ugly cord, but since it was in the kitchen it drove me nuts. Since the access was near a corner I changed the cord out for a piece of thin tapestry (maybe 9 inches wide) which I bought in a scrap bin. I but a thin binding on it and hung a pretty tassel on the pointed end with the goal of making it look like an old servants bell pull I'd seen in a Victorian house. My sil liked it so much she did one as well but she embroidered service on hers :). No servants ever came when you pulled either but at least they were pretty lol. Now a quick note from the safety commission......if your drop down ladder is an older Werner ladder you should check it's serial numbers with recall sites. They have literally killed or caused significant brain damage due to a part that fails and causes the thing to slam down on your head when you pull them down. I learned this after another Werner ladder that had been recalled failed when I used it, causing me to lose our second baby and breaking my wrist very badly. The recall notices were posted in ladder areas of home improvement stores but who goes there if they already have a ladder? Werner went banko over the attic ladder so if you have one you end up assuming the cost if a new one, but it's cheap in comparison to permanent brain damage or death of you or a family member so pretty please.....check if your ladder is over five years old? Off my ladder soap box and sorry ab

The 2x10" joists are fully sealed - bottom by the garage drywall, the top by the bonus room subfloor. It's only via the attics on each side of the room that I can access the floor space and the extra 3-4" between the existing insulation and the subfloor. My plan was to use the 3 1/2" R13, my fish tape, and essentially pull the insulation through from one side to the other, on top of the existing insulation. In order to even think about doing this, I'm sure I need a paper backing (i.e. I'll duct tape to the fish line). I'm hopeful I can pull it with the paper backing/barrier top side up. I currently have access now to both sides (my poor drywall, but this room needs lots of repairs), I have my insulation - and it's time to fish the tape and then get my wife involved to feed the insulation through as I pull! What a fun holiday!