Framing A Shed Roof Dormer

There are several options for dormers including shed flat gable and hip.

Framing a shed roof dormer.

Framing a dormer refers to the first and most important step in constructing an upper level addition to your home. The roofing material will need to be stripped back for this step. Building a roof dormer is an ambitious and challenging project. Shed dormers have a flat pitched roof set at a complementary angle to the existing roofline.

Removing the old roof and framing the dormer was doable but as a small company that rarely uses framing subcontractors we had a couple of concerns. Whether you re expanding a cramped attic into a bedroom office or playroom if you have any carpentry experience you can accomplish this home renovation goal yourself. Shed dormers are an efficient way to gain more space. A gabled dormer on the other hand is not flat but gabled which refers to two sides coming together to form a peak.

If you re a little unsure of your rough framing or roofing skills hire a carpenter to help with this phase of the roof dormer project. Framing a shed dormer is a simpler process than building a gable dormer. Because they can be much wider than gable dormers shed dormers can provide more headroom and therefore more usable space. Building a 20 ft wide shed dormer doesn t take much more effort than building a 4 ft wide version.

They also give you more bang for the buck. The end wall of a shed dormer carries the. Smaller projects like adding a window dormer cost about 4 000 larger remodels like adding a bathroom dormer run about 24 000. You should have a few remodeling projects under your belt before tackling a task this big and complex.

Recently my company was asked to build a shed dormer in the rear part of an attic to create a pair of bedrooms and to make the attic space more usable.