jaymay75

I am starting a new thread, because the old one was a little confusing.

I am framing and pretty much building my own addition, but I need some help designing the addition roof and how it will tie into the existing roof.

The main problem is that the old house was balloon framed, and the 2nd floor walls are only about 5 foot high. They brought the rafters down to the top of this wall, and each room has an angled ceiling until it reaches the 9 ft level, then goes flat. As such, the pitch of the existing roof is pretty steep.

I decided that I don't think I want to build the 2nd floor walls to match the existing walls. Rather, I'll build 9 foot walls on the 2nd floor, and then build my trusses / rafters on top of that. I am thinking of doing a basic gable roof that will tie into the existing roof at a 90 degree angle. The dimension of the addition are 24' long, but 32' wide. The trusses will be 32' wide.

Should I just make the top point of the trusses higher than the existing roof, and tie the roof into that? Would the different pitches look bad? I"m thinking that the existing roof is an 6-12 to 8-12 pitch roof. Should I match that pitch, or just make the roof a 5-12 pitch roof and be done with it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated as I'm kinda stuck thinking about this. Also, if anyone has some easy to read articles about making the rafters using a speed square, that would be appreciated as well

pics are here to give you and idea.

http://photos.yahoo.com/jaymay75

- Roof Folder will give you the best shots. I can add more pics if needed.

Thanks again for any help.