The last bit of beam with the last post! 11 windows and associated framing in. My brother and cousin pitching in. The original build was the right 14' of this pic. There was a reverse gable covering it and it was screened in. We've added 14' to the immediate left. It cost me a "bay" in/from the garage but it's a far better solution than what we've thought that we wanted to build. Not to mention saving a ton of money and time! Just those 11 windows were over $6600 and they're just decent Andersen 400 series! That wasn't retail either. The 6 top windows are awning style. I had to keep them high and short to allow a decent pitch on the 30' wide porch roof under them. Having that daylight coming in to the house is fantastic. In the winter the sun rises directly in front of them and will shine (for a little while) all the way to the back wall! We're getting rain today after the 6th driest summer ever.
Great pics… my brother and cousin would be pitching things at me for taking a pic!!! Also have Anderson 400 series as vinyl looks dumb in post and beam house
A little catch up. My knees are burning from yesterday's climbing setting those rafters. 31/2"×6"× 11 long. I'm happy with the way it's coming together. The saved portion of the old entry porch. New proper concrete posts, the PT posts from the original were a mess after 16 years. Even being under roof! The deck Beam and posts. Both the ledger and beam is cut at the 4/12 pitch of the roof. I didn't feel like cutting the "birds mouth" with the rafters being 3 1/2" thick. Yesterday's work and that was after I sawed out, sanded and cut the angle and length on the 16 rafters.
Na, it just creates a comfortable seat requiring little effort from your fasteners. At this 4/12 pitch the small "shear" forces are minimal. Now a 12/12 similar (non birdsmouth) connection would require a much bigger cross section of multiple fasteners or plates to handle the increased shear forces on the connecting fasteners. Either way the load path is vertical and a birdsmouth is just a joinery choice. In my situation I wanted as long of an overhang past the beam to keep the weather off of the posts and deck. Mainly the snow that can get pretty crazy when it slides off. With only 6" tall *rafters , a birds mouth would have removed too much material and possibly compromise the "tails" during the dramatic snow sliding off events. Remember there's another much larger roof above this little 8' deep porch. *6" deep rafters due to clearance to the bottom of the new windows under the soffit. I'll have about 14" to properly flash and seal the windows. This window condition can be a problem especially in the winter if there's ice damming and the higher above the roof the windows are, the better. Fortunately that upper overhang above the 6 new (awning) windows is about 28". You can see how a conventional birdsmouth would have highly compromised the 6 x 3 1/2" rafters. I have had and worked on many of houses where they only left 4-6" of vertical distance between the porch roof and the 2nd story windows. Water is going to get in something and eventually cause major rebuilding. It's usually too late for simple caulking/flasing corrections by the time it's noticed.
Brilliant explanation fuelrod My question was about the snow load dropping on that shed roof over porch cause that moving weight dropping feet onto metal pans.. love that 2 foot overhang so much better than standard
The drop from the upper roof onto the new porch roof is a concern. My "red line" plans got switched to rafters 2' oc from 3'. It's not much of a drop off of the upper roof, about 5'. I'm really liking the look and the proportions and what I'm looking for. I let the roof t&g boards run wild. I'll be trimming them down to around 14" for a little gable overhang.
Sore back today so a little other job that's got to be done before the real cold. Our little floating dock was a little frozen. There was 1 1/2" thick ice that we were able to break loose just by bouncing a little at each corner. It'll spend the winter right there.
