By The Editors of Fine Homebuilding
magazine
Turn your
Attic into
Usable Space with Sound Advice from Expert Builders
Attics, Dormers, and Skylights
gives you the technical expertise and seasoned advice you need to
take advantage of what often is the most overlooked space in the
home: the attic. For houses that cannot be built out, building up is
the only practical alternative.
The attic doesn’t have to be simply an
insulated barrier against the elements, it can be used to provide
additional living or storage space in the home. With real estate
values at all-time highs, this book provides the tools you need to
help homeowners who want to increase property values by adding
valuable living space through attics, dormers and skylights.
Written by the pros who actually do the work, these articles will
help you to:
- Build an airtight attic access
- Construct a gable dormer retrofit
- Install disappearing attic stairs
- Seal and insulate an attic
- Add a second story
- Frame an elegant dormer
- Retrofit skylights in a truss roof
- Frame for skylights
About the For Pros by Pros series
To get the best results when building or remodeling, you need advice
from the best professionals in the business. For Pros By Pros books
bring together the expert designers, builders, and remodeling pros
who have written for Fine Homebuilding magazine.
Introduction:
There are two things we all want more of in
our homes—space and light—and we usually look for them in the attic.
Two hundred years ago my tiny Cape Cod house had no dormers or
skylights, but it did have an attic. Today the house has three
dormers and two skylights, but no attic. That repository of report
cards, old love letters, and unused exercise equipment gradually
gave way to living space, chiefly bedrooms. And while musty
cardboard boxes will occupy the dark, awkward space under the roof
without complaint, bedrooms want the headroom, light, and
ventilation offered by dormers and skylights. Unfortunately,
colonizing an attic with dormers and skylights poses several
challenges, the first of which is design. Too many dormers,
especially those added later, have all the architectural grace of a
20-yard dumpster deposited on a roof by a tornado. Or, as builder
Scott McBride once said: “A dormer should wink at you—not sit on the
roof like a refrigerator with a mail slot.” Likewise, most skylights
look out of place on historical house styles (that’s why my
skylights are on the back roof, invisible from the street).
Dormers and skylights are also a challenge to build. In part because
they typically involve some complex roof framing. But they’re also
challenging because they require you to cut holes in a roof, which,
generally speaking, is asking for trouble. Hence, flashing and
roofing call for meticulous care.
It is my sincerest hope that the articles in this book, collected
from back issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine, will help you
face the challenges posed by attics, dormers, and skylights. Written
by builders and architects, about their own work, these articles
represent the voice of experience—people who have taken a Sawzall to
their roof and lived to tell about it.
— Kevin Ireton, editor, Fine Homebuilding
Table of Contents:
Introduction
PART 1: attics
Airtight Attic Access
Disappearing Attic Stairways
Fixing a Cold, Drafty House
Bed Alcove
A Fresh Look for an Attic Bath
Adding On, but Staying Small
Jewelbox Bathroom
Adding a Second Story
PART 2: Dormers
A Gable-Dormer Retrofit
Framing an Elegant Dormer
Keeping a Dormer Addition Clean and Dry
Framing a Dramatic Dormer
PART 3: Skylights
Dramatic Skylight
Skylight Kitchen
Shedding Light on Skylights
Framing for Skylights
Credits
Index
Soft-cover, 8-1/2 x 10-7/8 in., 140 pages,
with color photos and drawings - Published 2005
ISBN 978-1-56158-779-7
Attics, Dormers
And Skylights
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