Best to test out A-frame before buying, building
Q: I’d like your honest opinion, Tim. A-frame houses have always appealed to me, and I think I want to build one. I’ve done scads of research on these unusual homes, and I’m convinced it’s the right decision. I want you to be the devil’s advocate and try to expose any flaws in my thinking before I make this large financial commitment. Feel free to share any pros as well as cons.
A: It’s fairly easy to let emotion rule the day when it comes to large purchases. It’s usually a great idea to get lots of input from friends as well as professionals. In this case, you should be talking to the top real estate agent in the area where you plan to build this A-frame home. You may discover that an A-frame has a very limited appeal, which would directly affect the home’s resale value.
The first thought that came to my mind when I read the question is, “Have you ever stayed a week in an A-frame home?” A month would be even better, but that could be problematic for a person that doesn’t have lots of vacation time stored up.
The internet makes it so easy to find any number of A-frame houses you can rent. I’d probably stay in two or three to see how they really work on a day-to-day basis.
I feel a home needs to be functional before you consider its form. That’s a struggle in architecture, where form and function tend to tug at one another. As a builder, I can take just about any floor plan and make the outside look contemporary, Victorian, Tuscan villa, etc.
From a construction perspective, A-frame homes are simple triangles. Triangles are perhaps the strongest of all things you can build as long as all the connections between the three sides are engineered. Huge bridges employ triangles. Tension cables or steel beams create triangles in large, open, steel buildings so they don’t collapse in a windstorm.
If you choose a durable roofing material like steel or a virgin polymer roofing shingle, you can end up with minimal exterior maintenance, as two of the four walls also are the roof. That’s a big plus in my book.
Many A-frame homes sport an open floor plan. I’d be very sure this concept works for you. What about visiting guests? Will the A-frame provide enough privacy so the social fabric doesn’t start to fray in a matter of hours or days?
As silly as this sounds, you even have to consider artwork and other wall-hanging things you might take for granted. Yes, you can hang pictures and art on slanted walls, but be sure you’re OK with how they might look.
My last piece of advice is to base the final decision on cold, hard facts. Don’t hope an Aframe is going to work out. You hope for things you can’t control. You can test-live in an A-frame to see whether you really like the day-to-day encounters with the high-angle sloped walls.