# A Frame house questions



## Sarabeth

Does anyone here live in an A Frame? Built an A Frame? pros and cons? We will be building and I really like the A frame idea, and have seen some that I really like, but would like practical advice. Thanks!


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## dezingg

My ex-girlfriend (TMI?) lives in a two-story A-frame with a nearly full daylighted basement below which was built by her father.

All the heat in the house drifted up to the upper floor via the stairway. You could be cool in the lower floor and sweating in the upper floor. If you could keep the heat from rising to the next floor it might help.

Roofers and chimney sweeps didn't like how steep the roof was. But if you live in a high snow area, the roof pitch could be a blessing. I suppose that you'd end up with big drifts on both sides of the house though.

The bedrooms in the upper floor had fairly high open beam ceilings. I had to use an 8' ladder and a long wand to vacuum down the spiderwebs.

I've never been in an A-frame that had a really high ceiling, like the ones they show in magazines.


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## Harry Chickpea

Many are surprisingly dark compared to regular houses. As was mentioned heat rises, and since sleeping is often in the loft area, you better like it hot. My brother lived in one for a while. It felt cramped and was not appealing to me at all. During a windstorm in Florida, one of the A frame churches lost 90% of the shingles on one side. With the pressure buildup and pitch, the shingles were just peeled off.


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## SageLady

What size of A frame are you wanting to build? Just spent a few days in a rental A frame while on vacation. It was cute, but very tight living. If I lived in one it would have to be a little bigger - this one was just tiny.


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## barn-apart

Roof's are expensive and A-frames are mostly roof. Also the lack of flat walls for cabinets ,ect.


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## sewsilly

I lived in one briefly as a child. Hot as all get out, and tight living about describes it. Not practical from a stand point of walls to have windows, cabinetry, etc.

I recommend you find one in a vacation zone and rent it for a week to give it a test drive. Then you'll know.

dawn


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## glenn amolenaar

We built and lived in one several years, pretty much like the others said, lots of lost space, special cabinets, neat for a weekend retreat or hunting cabin but we would never want to live in one full time it would cost to much to make it real comfortable.
Glenn


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## Ramblin Wreck

I've stayed in them on vacation, and as noted above, it's sometimes not the best living space; however, I think a chalet type structure with a steep pitched roof allowing for loft space (for sleeping or whatever) works pretty well. The first floor would have standard walls, which makes things like cabinets and bathrooms easier to situate/install...and you won't bump your head nearly as often!


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## Wolf mom

My X wanted to buy one when we were married. Situated on picturesque land with a stream running through it. But oh, the A frame! Due to all the reasons in above posts, we passed on it.


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## wy_white_wolf

I'm building a little A-frame cabin. 20'x20'

Unless you live in a high snow area like the swiss alps the only reason to do one is that you need to live outside the norm. Just the ticket for our vacation cabin that will become my studio/guest cabin in the future.

They are not any cheaper to build and may be more expensive. My little cabin has 960 square feet of roof area. More than double the livable the square footage.

The inside isn't finished yet. Medical problems and other commitments have slowed me down. Hopefully we'll be back up there in 2 weeks and get some done. We need to get it insulated for this winter as I don't think our camp trailer will survive another winter.

WWW


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## Dexter

I always wanted one (we are in snow country) but while designing one it morphed into a 2 floor house incl loft.
They need a ceiling fan for summers and winters. Any house with a loft I figure can benefit in the same way.
I think it would be the ideal cabin.
My layout was a 24x24' square- just over half was open floorplan kitchen/livingroom, the other side was 2 beds with a bath in between. Decent sized loft up above. I could EASILY retire into one. Don't write it off, the idea of renting one to try it out would be well worth the 'holiday'.


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## plowjockey

I stayed in one that was built on a lake in MN. 

I don't remember the size (maybe about 35' long), but it had a small kitchen/dining bar, small 1 1/2 bath at the back, open "family room" with woodstove in the front, that a sliding glass door, opened to a balcony.

There were some small stairs, that went to a loft, that was above the bath/kitchen area. The loft could hold two single beds easily, plus dressers.

I was impressed. It could perfect living for one and good for two, but probably not much more.

My freind has a nicer, larger A frame that has two small bedrooms, kitchen/bath on the lower level.

It can get quite hot in the loft, if the woodstove is putting out the heat.

Metal roofing and siding costs the same.

Go for it.


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## plowjockey

wy_white_wolf said:


> They are not any cheaper to build and may be more expensive. My little cabin has 960 square feet of roof area. More than double the livable the square footage.


If you configured a conventional home with roof and walls, wouldn't the total sq ft. of both, be about the same or even more than an A frame?

It seems like an A frame would be cheaper and easier, since you don't have to mess with so much trim work, soffits, rain gutters, etc. The basic framing, looked pretty simple, compared to a conventional gable roof structure, at least in the A frames I saw.


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## wy_white_wolf

plowjockey said:


> If you configured a conventional home with roof and walls, wouldn't the total sq ft. of both, be about the same or even more than an A frame?
> 
> It seems like an A frame would be cheaper and easier, since you don't have to mess with so much trim work, soffits, rain gutters, etc. The basic framing, looked pretty simple, compared to a conventional gable roof structure, at least in the A frames I saw.



The Usable footage would be more with a conventional cabin. At 20' wide only about 13 to 14' of the width is really usable. You can get more by making the roofs steeper but that really adds to the hieght. I figured the @21 in 12 was enough (60 degrees). Our loft will be just wide enough for a full size bed. You will need to lean to stand next to the bed.

While you might think the trim work would be easier, it's actually harder because of the odd angles. You end up making much of the trim because it doesn't come in the shapes you need.

An A-frame can still have soffits and gutters if you wish. We are looking at trying to install gutters for a rain catchment system. 

My biggest advice would be to keep the angles simple. My are 60 degrees. I only need to be able to cut 30, 60, 90 and 120 degree angles. using something else could lead to having twice as many angles to keep sorted out that you might need to cut. I have 2 chop saws (single and compound) and a radial arm saw. I still made some gigs so I could cut wierd stuff when needed. I did precut the rafters before hauling them out to the ranch. Had I gone over 20" I would have looked into using TJs instead of lumber.










Wife and I really had fun standing all those up. We stood all but the gables in 1 day.

WWW


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## PulpFaction

I lived in a fabulous two-story A-frame for about 2 years and absolutely loved it. There were a lot of them in the town I was living in. Most had an open loft bedroom or sleeping area, but I found those got too hot.

The one I lived in had the upstairs room closed off like a conventional bedroom and stayed ok. The heat source was at the base of the stairs, and the fan over the two-story living area was always kept on to blow the hot air back downstairs. It worked ok.

It was put up on stilts and had a fabulous garage/workshop area underneath, a big porch on the front, the whole front was mostly windows. (Trouble if they aren't GOOD windows, of course.) Small, cozy. All paneled on the inside with pine. A really gorgeous, enjoyable place to live. I don't look at the weird corners as wasted space, build them in and they just become LOTS of storage!

There were issues with heating/cooling circulation that should have been addressed in the construction. The downstairs bedroom at the back was often very cold and needed a space heater. We didn't have a problem with a lack of light because of all the windows on the front, but like I said, if those aren't very good thermal pane windows you're just asking for trouble.

However, with those caveats in mind, I would still consider building one.


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## Sarabeth

Thanks so much everyone. 

Wy white wolf - beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing! 

We will be building on top of a full, finished basement. It will be a 'daylight' basement - is that the right way to say it? Sort of on a slope, with a whole wall (sort of) of daylight. Basement will have a bedroom (or 2), bathroom, open family hangout area with mini kitchen, bar, tv room. So we are trying to figure out what kind of house to build on top. 

We have investigated modular type homes, but finally decided to build ourselves. Just don't want to take out a huge loan. It is our goal to build with cash, as much as possible. We will be living on the property in a single wide while we are building, which will help. There is also a large garage already there. We should start moving in about 2 or three weeks - I am very excited!

We once, early in our marriage, looked at an A frame, and wanted it so badly, so that is still in my mind. However, we were younger, and only had one child - a 4 year old. Now we have a 13 year old and a 6 year old, so......But being on top of a full basement will make all the difference I think. 

Still, I think we won't go for the full on A frame - probably more of a cabin-look type house, using the top floor as a loft area. I always thought open lofts were neat.


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## jamo

We live in an A Frame. The living room is the A Frame and then the house branches off on each side and then back. Our back living room wall is completely glass and the front is also all glass with a firplace straight up the middle. It is beautiful and impressive. The only thing that I don't like about ours is that none of the glass windows open up to allow for a breeze. We solved this by using a beautiful (what should be) outdoor paio fan. We have a fierplace insert so the room stay warm and comfy in the winter. If I were to have built the home myself I would have included ceiling fans and maybe some loft space. PM if there's anything I left out.


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## wy_white_wolf

plowjockey said:


> If you configured a conventional home with roof and walls, wouldn't the total sq ft. of both, be about the same or even more than an A frame?....


Guess I didn't fully or properly answer this.

Using my little cabin 20x20 as a example, I will have @307'^ of usable living space (including loft). 

The end walls and roof total 1300'^.

a 20x20 coventional cabin with 2' overhangs, 4/12 pitch, 2x6 walls, would be @361'^ (single floor) and 1325'^ in the roof and walls. 

Close to the same area with thw conventional cabin having a better ratio of living space to wall/roof area.

I think the conventional cabin would be cheap because 2x6 walls and rafters are cheaper and easier to work with than my 2x10 rafters. My steel roof cost $4500 to have installed. The roofer did tell me the same area on a less pitched roof would have cost about 1/2 that.

WWW


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## sisterpine

I lived in an A frame for about 5 years many years ago and loved it. Downstairs had a living/dining area , kitchen, bath and one bedroom, upstairs was a loft bedroom and another bathroom and was open into the living room below. I would build another in a heartbeat if I could get DH to do it! Ceiling fans kept the heat from the insert moving, the view was beautiful, light and airy with opening windows on the back side by the kitchen and bedroom and a slider door on the front out to the deck. sis


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## Jim S.

My answer would be, it depends on how "modern" the house is. My sister and brother in law have lived on 10 acres in northern Illinois for 20 years in an A-frame with full walk-in basement that is ~3000 SF total. The roof was insulated on construction and the home features a modern central heating and a/c system. Their A-frame level deck, which overhangs the walk-in basement, has a view of a lake that's to die for!

The only problem they have experienced is leaking around their fireplace chimney, which they had fixed by a roofer early on. They recently replaced the shingle roof. (I personally would have replaced it with metal, but they went back with shingles). They also replaced the glass front of the A-frame with a single panel of insulated glass that does not span the entire height but goes as a deep strip across the front, from floor to about 10 feet high. The top former glass portion which had extended to the peak was walled in and insulated. This saved them energy on HVAC over the prior full glass, but did not cut down on the view or light. The wall includes sliding doors out to the deck.

Their kitchen/dining/living room area is all one great room, with bedrooms walled and having a conventional flat ceiling on the back of the A-frame in conventional manner. This provides an attic space over the back portion where those rooms are located. That space is used for HVAC ducting and storage.


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