Expert: Cary Simmons - 4/8/2010

Question
I am renovating a home inside and out and I would like your opinion on changing a second floor mansard roof to a more traditional siding or stucco facade.  Basically, I'm wondering if it would be possible to change the vertical roof to walls without a whole lot of trouble, or expense!  Or do you have any suggestions on a way to update a 1970s mansard roof?  Thanks for your time!

Answer
The basic rule of renovation is that it's possible to do anything if you're willing to endure endless inconvenience and spend lots of money.  What you want to do is admirable and, if done well, can add more value to your home than the cost of the renovation.  Doing it well will take (1) some careful planning, (2) patience on your part and the builder's and, most importantly (3) some compromises to arrive at a balance acceptable to you between aesthetics, cost and space gained or lost.  

In order to change the steeply sloped roof portions to vertical walls you would either have to a) remove both the steep and shallow roofs that comprise the traditional mansard, and add a new pitched roof supported on the exterior walls, (b) leave the existing roofs and build the look you want outside and over the existing, (c) add short vertical walls, extend the upper shallow roof to the intersection with those walls, then remove the steeper mansard sections, or (d) a combination of a-c.

It would be a great help if you could email a few picture of the front, rear, end and an interior of a dormer, if there are any.  Then I could make some suggestions about how to accomplish some real style, keep the cost under control and what the interior ramifications would be.