If you are going to live in the house through your old age, you should want the house as maintenance free as possible. Dormers age and eventually have problems. If you are too old to see after a contractor's work or unable to do it yourself, you may run into problems, such as dishonest contractors, etc.
Neo
Neo, I tend to agree with Edgar. You ought to judge the use of dormers and their limited space use from the inside rather than their exterior appearance. They are considerably more expensive to build and to maintain, especially when replacing the roof. Unless you really can put interior dormer space to good use, its usually not worth the additional expense and maintenance.
The second house photo you posted with the flat roof front overhang entrance with a balcony on top would be nice, even though its not consistent with pure Federal style. If you decide to add that feature, then the center window on the second floor probably should be replaced with a french door instead of a window. The french door should match the window style and color. The french door would allow you to add and maintain decorative features such as live flowers-shrubs- topiaries, ornamental pieces, etc. on the little balcony.
Extra care should be taken with the flat roof to be sure it is installed with very good water protection so it doesn't leak, a persistent problem with these types of installations. I don't know what part of the country you live in, but if you get snow, besure any flat roof has ice dam protection in it's design.
BumbleBeeBoogie
Ed, i have the advantage of a Bonus room over the Garage, hence the push for dormers. i think i'll be able to utilize it well in my application. Dormer on the house roof, is out of the question at this point. As it would not be beneficial to us, other than, cosmetic appearance.
BBB, i will be building a 2 story foyer, so, a french door is not a good idea. Once again the front balcony/porch is only for cosmetic purposes.
thank you both for your contribution.
Just dropping in to say good luck to neo and to register awe at the incredibly informative replies here, especially from BBB.
I am still on page one and I was trying to form polite words for you to rethink the middle window on the second floor, as in what is with the semicircular shape? Plus, the front door, what is with the long oval? I like the post at the end of page one much better than the one jammed with windows and shutters and semicircle and oval. The more spare depiction is much more appealing to me.
Shutters should be functional objects, in my opinion, not decorative trim.
OK, ok, I am one of the pickier A2k people in these matters, so now you have an extreme viewpoint.
That's my feeling about shutters, too, Osso. Nothing like forever-fixed eighteen-inch-wide plastic Home Despot shutters to kill a house.
Butrflynet, i think these dormers would will do. Sorry, for the multiple pics.
It looks better with the shutters. As for the dormers, I don't think it'll add much value for the cost. If money is not an object, go ahead with the dormers, but for most people, I'd save that for the inside of the house. c.i.
I'm with you on the shutters. They should work, but it is hard to find good working shutters. I've been looking and finally have about given up. Maybe this house doesn't have to be fully in the Federal style. I am a little surprised you didn't like the arched windows, Osso. Was it just when mixed with the oval door?
Neo -- what about a small cupola & a weather vane instead of dormers?
Now that I see them, I vote "no" on the dormers and "yes" on the sutters.
I vote no on the dormers only because if that is the size and style you are looking to put over the garage area, they are way too small for the dimension of the house. They'll end up looking more like cupolas then dormers.
If you have your heart set on a dormer, I'd prefer to see one with a style, size and slope that mimics the roofline of the house.
By the way, have you consulted with any architects? They'd be immensely helpful to you in this portion of the process. They can provide several line drawings of the elevation showing the various options you are interested in.
If you insist, I can work on putting those dormers onto the original photo, but I really don't think you'll be happy with the result.
Butrflynet, you can try it it you have the time. i only have a builder, who is really not concerned with designing dormers. So the odd ends are left up to me to decide. i am the second of 5 houses to be built on this project here in Connecticut. Please feel free to install a dormer of your own, just so i can have something to compare too. thanks again.
Okay, I'll see what I can do with it. In the meantime...
This gives a good example of what the dormers will look like on the garage roof.
If you haven't already checked it out, you might do some browsing at
http://homeplans.com to get some ideas.
Butrflynet, thank you much. i hope you are not going out of your way. i appreciate your help. It's good to know that there are people like yourself in this great country. You ought to be blessed for you great deeds.
Alright, here ya go. It isn't very well done, but should be what you were looking for.
i i'm not interested in having dormers on Main roof
maybe it'll look better on the shutterless house. (Please leave out the branched dormer) i was interested in (2) on the Garage.(On the shutterless) Can you remove the dormer on main roof? Is it possible to match the colors?
The only thing with the shutters to anchor them visually is to picture them closed. They should be large enough to actually cover the window and not be too narrow. If theyre too narrow they give an optical illusion of being really too small. Did you ever see a picture window with shutters? Looks ridiculous. Im a shutter fan , but also critical of shutters in modern houses. MAke them look like they belong
Dormers on a hipped roof are hard to pull off as a unified design. If you make it a mansard roof and dig the dormers into the roof then they look like theyd belong there.
Also, the reason that the THIRD house is more visually pleasing is that the secoind story windows are smaller than in the first house. In the first house the windows are the same size on both floors, that makes the whole thing look topheavy.
ANother thing, the penteaves on the garage on thetHIRD house could be re[peated in the house so that the differences would be blended visually.
The third house is apparently an older vintage and some subtle design differences make it, to me, appear as a stronger design.
Do not like the fourth one at all, too jumbled. A mansard roof with dormers may work but as I said and as fishin said, dormers on hip rooves sre tough to make look good
I was not that keen on one semicircular window, Piffka. In general, I am not too attracted to lots of cuties on a house. The dormers on the main house look really silly to me, which I see neo didn't want anyway. I don't mind the dormers on the house butyrflynet showed on one garage, where they were fairly large and aligned vertically with the windows below them.
neo wrote:i i'm not interested in having dormers on Main roof
maybe it'll look better on the shutterless house. (Please leave out the branched dormer) i was interested in (2) on the Garage.(On the shutterless) Can you remove the dormer on main roof? Is it possible to match the colors?
I'm gonna call it quits here, Neo. I very strongly urge you to seek the consult of an architect. They can do all these mock ups for you with the architectural software most of them use these days. What I've been doing is just using some basic photo editing techniques to try to give you a glimpse of what your ideas might look like.
I think you'll be much more satisfied with the results you will get from the professionals.
