A-Frame Pros & Cons - Suitable for Hawaii?

[MarkP]

Funny how you can think you are saying one thing but it comes out different.

I CAN see how a steep roof is harder to put roofing on than a flatter roof. What I meant to say was I don't see why metal roofing would be more difficult than other types even though an A-frame is steep.

If you had complete floors instead of half floors with open great rooms there would be no reason why an A-frame would be any worse than any other multi-story house in terms of heat rising. What makes the A-frame susceptible is that if you want more area you usually have to go wider and if you go wider you are locked into going higher. Even then if you had full 2nd and 3rd floors you wouldn't be any worse off than any other 3 story house, that is until you knock out parts of the upper floors for the great room. The A-frame shouldn't generate any more heat overall than any other house, it is just tall and often open from bottom to top like a chimney. As far as breezes go, if you DO leave a big open vertical space the primary direction of the air flow will be in at the bottom and out at the top. The stairs may kill you but having paid your dues climbing the stairs you can at least reap the benefit of living inside a natural wind machine.

[lquade]

our aframe has a metal roof. the roofing material seems to last longer as "stuff" tends to roll off. we dont seem to have a problem with water splashing out of the gutters and we are in mt. view. in fact right now we are getting torrential rains and as i look out i dont see any water splashing out of the gutters. we have a wall of glass in the front, but also have side windows, our roof doesnt go to the ground but we are 8 feet up in the air. our house is all cedar so we dont worry about termites and the cedar ceiling gives us a bit of the buffer from the usual roof noise of metal roofs. again, to each his own...

[john the architect]

I have designed several versions of island-style A-frames. Contact me off-line if interested.

John Maloney
310.562.0362
johnmaloney3@mac.com
Hawaii Architect AR8082
www.jmagreenbuilding.com
www.greenrentalhawaii.com

[John S. Rabi]

One major issue you need to consider is that the lending industry consider these kind of homes as "unconventional" and it's not easy to get a loan on them. (Not to mention that your rate will be higher if you find one to lend.) Of course this issue is even a bigger issue when you decide to sell.

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
888.819.9669
johnrabi@johnrabi.com
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
"The Next Level of Service!"
(This is what I think of the Kona Board of Realtors http://KonaBoardOfRealtors.info)

[MarkP]

Hmm, I didn't know that about A-frames. I thought that they were considered mainstream within the industry. Certainly the materials and method of construction are almost identical to regular frame houses.

[Kapohocat]

A-frames built by the ancient Hawaiians with thatched roofs probably had no "loft" and the ventilation was probably not much of an issue with the thatched walls or bamboo walls.

IMHO A-frames became a poor choice here when modern times got involved with real walls and roofs slowing down ventilation. When you turn the upper part of the "A" into a bedroom: You have windows that 1) do not have enough overhang, or 2) lots of overhang but room is darker, 3) Lots of fixed glass where the big triangle windows usually go in a snow cabin letting in lots of heat and light but very little circulation.

We lived in an A-frame in Waimea. Perfect for cold cloudy days. Horrible even in Waimea in August when it was sunny. AND we still had mold on the 24 ft ceilings.



Catherine Dumond
Blue Water Project Management 808 965-9261

Dakineworkers.com

[MarkP]

To play the devil's advocate, most houses have an attic and few have lofts. For some reason we are content to let that attic space go to waste in a regular house but in an A-frame we feel compelled to try to live in that space, where all the heat collects. Perhaps it is because there is no logical dividing line to hint where to stop climbing, as there is in a conventional house. Perhaps the answer is to always stop one story short of where you are tempted to, leaving that last peaky bit to collect heat.

Ancient huts would not have had tight construction. Whether by accident or design, the steeply pitched thatched roofs would have provided lots of insulation and also a big unoccupied space for the heat to collect, plus their leaky construction would have promoted natural ventilation.