I am in the process of renewing my Eichler. I would like to know if anyone has ever changed a roof line? If that's possible at all? Is it simply cost prohibitive or just simply can't be done?
Ideally I like to raise the roof by another foot or so. In anticipation that my floor radiant will fail in the next 50 years, I'd like to have a high enough ceiling so I can afford to lose the 1-1/2" to 2" to lay down new radiant pipes.
Thank you in advance.
YIKES! Please don't do that.
it would be much easier and cheaper to add a unico A/C and Heating unit to the roof and then applying a new foam roof over it.
Hi, wife of Prefab here,
I understand your concern but I think you will find that it will be much cheaper to put in a Unico type system and a foam roof than it will be to raise the roof. Or there's always baseboard electric heat (not my favorite but an even cheaper alternative I believe). I can only imagine what the City of Palo Alto would say if you put it a permit to raise the roof. You'd likely have to re-brace all the walls, maybe replace all the windows, re-side the whole house, re-paint the whole house... Last, but certainly not least, raising the roof will really adversely effect the architecture of your Eichler, which will hurt the value of your home should you decide to sell it someday. Best of luck with your project. Brook
adding 2 inches to your floor will not make enough difference to justify raising your roof, unless you are over 7ft 6in high. then in that case, consider buying another house : )
Architects Mark & KC Marcinik have done this retrofit in several Eichlers. no roofs were raised. your radiant person may also explore new thinner, flatter tubes, which might only result in raising the floor 3/4 of an inch. or perhaps a low voltage system over your slab raising it maybe a 1/2 inch. utilize solar panels to supplement the juice for them. green power!
so just how does a radiant system fail? or is that something a salesman of an HVAC company or a lazy plumber tells you? I friend of mine just had this "failed" system repaired, allowing him to remove his "octopus" HVAC system from his roof, restoring his beautiful flat roof-line.
good luck