Contents
Thinking about building your own house or even a summer house, you want the house to be beautiful, unlike the neighboring ones, comfortable and functional. It would also be nice if it was inexpensive. A mansard-type roof allows you to solve almost all of these problems. The appearance of the house turns out to be interesting, and the building can be decorated in different styles – it is probably impossible to count all the combinations of roofing, the type and shape of the roof, windows and balconies. As for the cost, it is worth talking separately.
How much does it cost to build an attic
The device of the attic floor is considered beneficial due to the fact that there is no need to spend money on building walls. This is only partly true.
Firstly, a lot of money will be spent on creating a truss system. Its cost depends on the type of mansard roof chosen (see below) and on the price of lumber in your area.
Secondly, you will have to pay a considerable amount for the insulation and vapor barrier of the attic roof. It is clear that roofing material alone is far from enough to provide the required air conditions for residential premises (if the attic is planned to be residential). You will have to insulate, and the layer of insulation should be significant. For example, for central Russia, a layer of high-density mineral wool should be from 200 mm, plus a layer of waterproofing and vapor barrier.
Thirdly, windows are much more expensive. If you make them auditory, they construct a special structure from rafters, which complicates the relief of the roof, and therefore increases the cost of materials and installation. Even on an ordinary gable, you have to think about the arrangement of valleys and snow retention above the windows.
The second option – windows in the roof plane – require especially careful sealing so that precipitation cannot get inside. This makes the installation more expensive by 1,5-2 times. The windows themselves cost about the same amount: they must have a reinforced frame and reinforced glass that can withstand snow loads. In addition, for maintenance, the frame must be swivel, and this is another increase in cost.
Two types of windows are installed in the attic – vertical and in the plane of the roof. Both types can be used in the same project. The photo below is a good example of such a combination. You can’t say for sure that the house is unforgettable. How many more options could there be?
In addition, such popular and inexpensive roofing materials – metal-based materials such as profiled sheets, metal tiles, roofing iron – are not recommended for use when constructing a mansard roof of a private house. There are two reasons:
- High thermal conductivity. Due to the fact that metal conducts heat very well, it is necessary to lay a large thickness of heat-insulating materials. Otherwise, it will be too hot in the attic in summer, and cold in winter.
- Increased noise level created by the coating during rain. Even an ordinary metal-covered roof sounds like a drum when it rains. The attic is much larger in area and the “tool” is more powerful. If you can fight the noise level inside the room with additional sound insulation, then on the street you can’t remove the sound with anything. If the neighbors’ houses are at a considerable distance, this may not be a problem, but if the development is dense, conflicts may arise.
If you calculate well, additional thermal insulation and sound insulation will minimize the cost savings when buying roofing material. Perhaps another, more expensive initially roofing, will turn out to be more profitable as a result. So here you need to calculate the options.
All this was described so that you have a more complete idea of whether it is really so cheap to build an attic floor. It turns out – not so much. However, this solution has its advantages:
- The attic floor is light. Therefore, the foundation for private houses will need only a little more powerful than with the construction of one floor. Since the cost of the foundation is a significant part of the cost, then the gain is tangible.
- If there is a shortage of funds, the insulation of the attic and its commissioning can be delayed for the required period. And this delay will be useful. That’s why. During construction, wood of high humidity is almost always used. If you start warming immediately, moisture will be absorbed into the thermal insulation. If the “pie” is made correctly, it will go away naturally. But if there are violations, problems can arise. If the roof under the roofing material will stand for some time without insulation (but with waterproofing necessarily laid under the roofing), then the wood will dry well and there will be fewer problems.
- The attic allows you to make the house original and non-standard. In any case, the building turns out to be more expressive and individual – there are a lot of design options.
We tried to most fully describe the cons of the mansard roof and its pluses. If the difficulties did not frighten you, choose which design you like best.
How to make a gable roof read here.
Types of mansard roofs
The roof of the mansard type used in the construction of private houses has various device options. You can make all existing types of roofs, except, perhaps, flat. All the rest can be implemented both in a “pure” form and in combination.
Shed
Houses with shed mansard roofs look non-standard. Her device is the simplest due to the lack of a skate and the problems associated with its arrangement. The beams rest on a Mauerlat fixed on multi-level walls. The bevel is formed due to the difference in the height of two opposite walls. In this case, the slope angle should be in the region of 35 ° -45 °. A smaller slope will lead to the accumulation of a large amount of snow, which requires strengthening the supporting beams and installing additional supports, and this reduces the already not very large living area in such an attic floor.
If we talk about the external design of the house, the buildings look non-standard. Most often, a large window is made in the high wall of the attic floor: the design itself is conducive to this. See the photo below for examples.
The shed roof device turns out to be the cheapest if the distance between two opposite walls does not exceed 4,5 meters: you can lay standard length beams on the walls and not make supporting structures. Apparently this is the reason for the decision in the photographs below, but it turned out very interesting.
gable
A gable mansard roof is the most widespread: with a general structure, there can be many solutions. The design itself is the most optimal: at a relatively low cost, it allows you to meet various requirements for the required area of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbthe room.
The easiest way is to implement an attic under a conventional gable roof, but its height should be sufficient so that a living space can be allocated under it (if the floor is supposed to be made residential). May be:
- symmetrical – the ridge is located above the middle of the building;
- asymmetric – the skate is offset from the center.
The fronts are straight. The room turns out to be trapezoidal, in fairly wide buildings one can single out a square one. The disadvantage of a gable roof of a mansard type is that a large space is cut off on the sides, which is not always acceptable in private houses. So that considerable areas do not walk, they are used for storage or closets.
With such a device, windows are made in the roof, their location depends on the angle of inclination. They can be auditory, as in the photo above or in the plane of the roof, as in the photo below.
There is another version of the mansard roof of a private house with two slopes – one and a half floors. It is installed on walls driven out to a certain level. The house is then called “one and a half floors” (one of these houses is in the photo above).
These are two types of gable mansard roofs. There is a third one – broken ones. They can be distinguished into a separate category – the device has significant differences.
Read about the construction of a gable mansard roof here.
broken
The device of a broken mansard roof is both more complicated and simpler. In fact, these are the same two slopes, but consisting of two parts with a different slope. Such a structure allows, without spending money on building walls, to get a living space that is only slightly smaller than on the lower floor (by about 15%). In this sense, its device is simpler. But the truss system has a more complex structure, and in this sense, its device is more complicated.
It is this type that is most common in self-construction. It easily allows you to increase the usable area, build on small buildings such as a garage or summer kitchen, get additional, almost separate, housing. Since the materials used in construction are usually light, the bearing capacity of the foundation is usually sufficient, but the calculation does not fit. (Read about the calculation of the strip foundation here).
Four slope
These are already complex systems that must be calculated. The surface is large, the cost of insulation increases significantly, at the same time, the size of the attic space decreases: parts of the premises are cut off from all four sides.
Their advantage is high resistance to strong winds: all surfaces are inclined and the wind load does not press so hard on the slopes. The structure is such that the overhangs can be made low, protecting the walls from the effects of precipitation and winds. In addition, houses with such roofs are considered by many to be the most attractive. The classic version of the four-pitched roof is hip.
With their device, inclined rafters are reinforced – they account for most of the load. In general, its rafter system is one of the most complex, material-intensive and, therefore, expensive. So that you can evaluate the entire amount of work and costs, consider its design in the photo below.
On the top picture you can see all the stops, cuts that need to be put, on the second, the structure and location of the rafters are more clearly drawn.
There is also a transitional option – half-hip. It is a cross between a gable and a hipped roof. In this case, the hip is made only for part of the height of the floor.
Only the main types of mansard roofs are described. There are also combinations. For example, a hip can also be a broken line, like a lean-to. There are really a lot of options. The main thing is not to make gross mistakes when developing the truss system, and then to implement everything correctly.
Mansard roof with balcony
How skylights are made in the roof has already been described above. Almost the same principle is used to build balconies. There are even special window systems that allow you to do this in the slope surface. Although the implementation is simpler, such a window costs decently.
If the bearing capacity of the walls allows, by increasing the size of the dormer-type window, you can make a hanging balcony.
The balcony area can be supported by columns. Only in this case, the removal is done above the entrance. Then the columns organically fit in, and also serve as decoration.
The balcony on the pediment of the house with an attic is built according to a different principle. The overhang extended forward protects it, if the wall allows, the platform is made hanging.
In small houses, more often a balcony is made due to the fact that the pediment of the attic floor is shifted from the load-bearing wall. Due to this indentation, a platform is obtained. Peaks in such roofs are made by continuing the roof at least to the same level with the outer wall, and even better – further. This ledge will also protect the gable wall and reduce the amount of rain that will fall on the open area.
The design of this type of roof is such that by extending it you can even make a covered terrace. Its edge can rest on a decorative wall or on pillars.
If we talk about non-standard solutions, then the “L”-shaped mansard roof – from two sheds, it will turn out to be functional. In addition, this is an inexpensive way to decorate such a non-standard building.
If you need an inexpensive way to build a house, read about frame housing construction.