# Raising the roof



## brkln1807 (Apr 17, 2009)

I am buying a 1925 farmhouse. It is 3 br, 1 bath. However, the 2nd floor of the house most certainly was an attic. The ceilings are way too low for those to even be considered bedrooms, or anything other than storage, really. The bedrooms are a good enough size , maybe 10x12  (the master is downstairs) but with the roof slope there is no way you could fit anything other than a bed in the rooms, and you would not be able to move out of the center of the room. (Sorry, I do not know the actual slope of the roof, or roof pitch or w/e it's called) Anyway, back to the question....does anyone know a round about estimate for raising a roof? The total house is 2,245 sq. feet....there are 3 rooms upstairs (10x12)  plus a tiny area that connects the two bedrooms at the top of the stairs. I would like to raise it maybe 4 feet (we're getting ch&a, and I heard they have to drop the roof for duct work). Btw- we are purchasing this house for $25,000 as a foreclosure. So it's not like we're paying tons of money for this old house, then spending $50,000 or more remodeling (we have other plans)...and that is really the only thing wrong with the house, other than asthetics. Anybody know anything??


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## DaveyDIY (Apr 17, 2009)

Are you asking how much to DIY or hire out?

I dormered the back of my Cape
$2200 in windows, skylights & solar tubes
Probably less then $3k for wood, roof shingles etc


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## GBR (Apr 24, 2009)

You might inform anyone reading that the little windows of your second story do not meet egress for fire safety escape if any *bedrooms* are up there. They are too small, to high off the floor, and appear to be fixed.  There may be bigger dormers on the front, with bigger windows.  Egress: 44" off floor--- 5.7sq.ft.min. clear opening--- Min. 20"wide x min. 24"high.       Be safe, GBR


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## inspectorD (Apr 24, 2009)

If the building Inspector is doin his job, he would let him know the windows are to small. I'm guessin, or just spitballin that there are egress windows on the sides. Bath's in the middle.
For the folks who are looking for pricing, you need to ask in your immediate area...prices are different enough just in a small city, never mind asking for a job like that in the rest of the country.
Not trying to scare you off, I just think you need to get the correct advice for your area.


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## DaveyDIY (Apr 24, 2009)

There are egress windows 
Thanks


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## GBR (May 17, 2009)

Dave, G here. I'm not doing that! I flagged the post above yours, because it was *my *message, *repeated *again, with* Sebi 123, from India*. Apparently someone is having trouble with these posts, but it's not me. I know the Inspector made you change the egress windows, as you said on another post. 

Sorry to rile you, but it's not me. Be safe, G


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## DaveyDIY (May 17, 2009)

Oops, I didn't notice it was a repeat post
Actually the Inspector hasn't been to the house yet
I added a sunrom on the left which eliminated thoise 2 windows
One window is a closet, the other is bathroom
I changed one window on the back to meet egress codes
The side windows of the house actually meet the egress codes too
And a garage has been added on the far left
I'm going to have an "egress hatch" to exit out that way too

No problem - sorry I missed that - not your fault

I reported Sebi's post
Looks like he is just repeating people to get to 10 posts to Spam people


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## Enufyoungins (Feb 3, 2012)

We've ran out of space and are thinking of going up over just half of our house... My question is can we "jack" the exhisting roof half up and build the walls? Our roof trusses are 5/12 roof pitch and only about 5 years old as is the roof itself. Is that an option or do we have to completely remove shingles, roofing materials & just try to save/reuse trusses? Thanks! The pics DaveDYI are a big help btw!


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## nealtw (Feb 3, 2012)

The problem you would have is that the trusses are designed to land on the walls and that is where you would have to lift them from. If you did re-inforce them to lift them with a beam you would also have to find places in the house that could support the weight. In some areas framers assemble trusses on the ground and crane them up in sections. Perhaps you could find a crane outfit that could lift it off in sections.


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## BridgeMan (Feb 3, 2012)

Crane rental would be easy (and relatively cheap at $400 or $500 an hour) for lifting one truss at a time, but that requires complete disassembly and reassembly of the roof structure.  Price it out, then look for a house-moving outfit that will quote you to just lift the complete roof assembly, in place, without all of the costs of taking things apart and rebuilding them.  You will need the services of an engineer to show the house mover where his lift supports can be placed and what they will need to be composed of.  Total cost of the latter could be close to that of the former, and one heck of a lot quicker.


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## nealtw (Feb 6, 2012)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=S10bKcf_aE0
Bridgeman; I was talking about cutting the roof in to 10 ft peices. Roof is back on same day.


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## yanghome2000 (Dec 30, 2012)

It is not worth the trouble and $ , just buy another house.


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## yanghome2000 (Dec 30, 2012)

But everywhere is expensive. To stack a wall on top of existing wall, it required engineering and tons of work that might not be cost effective.


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## nealtw (Dec 31, 2012)

http://thousandsquarefeet.blogspot.ca/2012/07/owner-building-home-day-48-raising-roof.html


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