A Lily without the Mansard-is it possible?

[cmacri]

Happy house dance here!Got a Lily kit last weekend and have opened her up,memorized the directions,fondled her wood(I mean-checked the sheets for all pieces).I want to build a real divy hotel with grey shingle siding(Lily wants someone from Greenleaf to come take her home....).Around here the hotels have a bar and dining/dancing area downstairs and guest rooms upstairs.There weren't many buildings around here with Mansard roofs.I imagine it was the expense and labor and people tended to be real practical-if you want a third floor,just build your house or business walls taller.There are many Italianate buildings with flat roofs.I think I could leave the Mansard off the Lily by not building the top floor and not punching out the stairway opening and sawing off anything that goes up in the third floor.Has anyone done this or can anyone who has built one see why it wouldn't work?

[Peggi]

Cmacri: I've built the Lily, mansard roof and all, and don't see any major problems in leaving it off. Some basic figuring if you plan to use the actual roof, because it is smaller than the 3rd floor. I'm giving you a link to my blog, see if it helps you. I'm sure others that have done more bashing will weigh in with better ideas.

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/i...logid=14&cat=48

[doogster]

Seems to me you could just sub the curved roof supports for straight ones, you'd have a tapered roof, but not curved.

[cmacri]

Thanks Peggi and Doogster.I really liked your blog Peggi,both the photos and the explanations and have saved them in my favorites for reference.I think a flat roof will work out very well.I'll try to get anything I can do prepped in advance over the summer and take a week off work this fall and build it.

[tinasdollhouses]

I had one Lily where the mansard was not really bendable and wetting didn't work well either. I got really irritated, and was going to shingle it with fishscale shingles and wallpaper the interior, so I cut a cardstock pattern from the wood, and glued it in place easily. I then cut the mansard pieces into individual pieces on the scoring line. and glued them to the cardboard, so it had the strength of the wood. I wallpapered and shingled and it was a lot less hassle. Usually laying damp paper towels on the backside until it feels like basket reed does if you're weaving baskets works great. Clamps help.

If you want to go the angled roof way, it might not be as neat, but I'd assemble it until it was time to put on the mansard and put a flat piece on the outside (with bracing) and either a flat piece on the inside (with bracing) or a cardstock lining like I did on the one house. I'd be concerned about cutting out the curved supports, because the house is large enough that I'd worry about the stability. They bear a good amount of weight in the house.

Cutting off the roof totally could be done, because the house would be a lot smaller, but you'd lose a full floor of rooms and some of the character. Then again, you'd have something distinctly your own that would still look great!

Christina

[havanaholly]

Wetting the part of the Glencroft roof that was supposed to curve over the front door wasn't happening for me, so I did what had been done (but not quite so deeply) on the mansard roof pieces of my Dura-Craft Cambridge and I scored the underside of the curved section at 3/4" intervals about 1/3 of the way through the plywood with my Stanley knife, and it curved SO prettily!