Room Addition Roof Help!!!

[fsbowman]

HI, we have a U shaped house...inside the U is a patio/courtyard... there are 3 roof tops meeting here...we would like enclose this space as an additional bedroom...how can we successfully add a "fourth" roof top...We have searched high and low online and can't find any answers. Thanks in advance for your help!

[fsbowman]

I hope this picture helps...

[fsbowman]

This was when we first bought the house in the spring...we have done all of the rest of the remodeling ourselves, but are unsure how to add on to this area given the way the roof tops are...thanks again in advance for any help...FYI this is the wife of the husband who says this cannot be done, so forgive me in advance for lack of technical knowledge.

[David J. Potter]

You would extend the hip roof on the left in the photo over the intended room addition. This action would most likely cause the ridge of the new roof to be higher than the front-facing, existing ridge of the existing roof.
I use and have Chief Premier as well as all Home Designer titles and versions so if the job were mine to do, I would draw the existing house, in detail. Then I would make a copy (save-as) of that plan file and then manually add the new roof system and work out any problems that the new geometry might cause or present.

That would then leave me with an "As-Built" model (.plan file) and an addition model (the original copy with the the room and roofs added that I could then print views of to share with other building professionals to actually get the work done). This is what I do for a living every day.

Your implied question is "how do I do this?", I am sure. To answer that, I still need to know what Home Designer software version and title you have or intend to get (you haven't said that so far). If you have not purchased anything yet, you should get Home Designer Pro which has superior roof tools that are essential for this kind of work (room additions and remodeling). You need precise models of your existing home and from that you can develop a good rendition of possible additions and be able to view them inside and out.

DJP