Home Design Software Community Posts Community Posts new ‘Energy Heel’ Roofs Reply To: new ‘Energy Heel’ Roofs

#13564
alreedbuildersalreedbuilders
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Just go into your roof setting and set your roof support height (on all eves) to match the heal height you desire, then in all your exterior walls set the siding so it extends past the top of the wall to meet the soffit or like I do I just extend the top of the siding the same distance as my heal height minus 2″s. The extra siding figured in if not used the owners end up gratefully because the have some extras in case they need to replace some now and again. You can still use trusses in the program and you can still slope your soffit like they did in the old days if you want to. You don’t end up having to insert ceilings as your soffit doing it this way because the soffit still takes its depth from the walls. Also don’t add another building location for your roof due to the raised heal, just go into the roof settings under support and raise your heal height there. the only thing extra you will need to do is figure in the additional OSB wall sheeting to cover the raised heels up to the bottom of the truss top cord.

I have always included raised heel trusses in my designs and buildings. The reason I have always done this is because when there is only 4″ above the exterior wall it does not leave enough room to insulate correctly and what happens is the drywall on the ceilings for 6″ away from the exterior eve walls becomes cold which wicks through to the inside of the drywall and when the warm moist interior air hits the cold drywall you end up with moisture buildup which ruins the paint and the paper face of the drywall. I have seen this way too many times especially after the insulation settles and compacts. Don’t believe any insulators who tell you that their insulation doesn’t settle because its just not the case. Gravity always wins over time.