Square footage of dormers

[Couch Potato]

Not on a cape, which with dormers I am assuming this house is. ANSI states:

"If a room's ceiling is sloped, at least one-half of the finished square footage in that room must have a vertical ceiling height of at least 7 feet (2.13 meters); no portion of the finished area that has a height of less than 5 feet (1.52 meters) may be inlcuded in the finished square footage.

So once you reach 5' in ceiling height, or you reach an interior portion that is not finished, you stop your measurement. The result is that 1/2 story properties are almost always measured for width from the inside, and for length from the outside.

One of the quirks of that is when a builder puts a wall at the 5' mark the thickness of that wall is included in the size of the room. Move that wall out a half inch to where it is just under 5' and the room is actually a bit bigger, but has a smaller ANSI measurement.

36 sqft. is not likely to be particularly significant, but improper technique in measuring does degrade the credibility of the entire appraisal. Enough of those "little" things that don't matter can be come a big thing that does matter. For a prime example of the cumulative effect of many "little" things try watching that famous flick, Plan 9 from Outer Space.

 

[Mr Rex]

Tater, I'm going to ask where the wall thickness thing you quoate came from. Unless its an exterior wall the measurement is to the face of the wall as far as I know, when you are talking 5 ft walls.

 

[Couch Potato]

NCREC guidelines

Tater, I'm going to ask where the wall thickness thing you quoate came from. Unless its an exterior wall the measurement is to the face of the wall as far as I know, when you are talking 5 ft walls.

Where it came from was the mandatory update back in 2001-2002 I think? I have the book around here somewhere. Under the NCREC guidelines, when a wall is 5' or more (even when there is attic space on the other side) the 6" rule applies.

 

[Rick Neighbors]

Old string

Well, this string is kinda old, but here's my 2cents.

I built my house and paid a lot of extra money for the 2 dormers on the second floor. They have full height ceilings, and are over 4 feet wide. My sons live in the 2 upstairs bedrooms and make full use of those dormers. One has his computer desk set up in the dormer, the other has a chest of drawers there, that his cat sits on and looks outside. They also contain the windows for the room, so they are the second means of escape from the bedrooms.

So, in my book.....and in my house, they definetly have value! From the outside they make the house look better, they provide ventilation, view, safety and living area. They are painted, carpeted and airconditioned like the rest of the house also.

My thoughts.

Rick

 

[vargasteve]

Dormers is a quality component, and has nothing to do with measuring it! That's a different topic than the thread.

So when calculating the 'quality' a dormer will add to value, even 'if' it does not measure in square foot calculations based on ANSI standard lets say because it is less than 'X' foot high or something. They add to the design / appeal on both the curb & interior.