Renovating a Ranch Style House to a Tudor Style

Revival building styles appeal to romantic perceptions of a faraway, simpler time. The actual style of building during the time of Henry Tudor was medieval Gothic, but the American Tudor Revival of the early 20th century interpreted the era loosely, mixing Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean details. All of which is to say that you have a wide variety of fanciful details from which to choose. Changing a mid-century ranch house into a Tudor-style cottage will require considerable expenditure and a building permit.

Framing lumber for gables
Circular saw
Hammer and nails
Screwdrivers
Adjustable wrenches
Sheathing, insulation and house wrap
Brick or stone veneer
Dark half-timbers
Lath and stucco
Casement windows and timber framing
Tudor-style front door
Chimney pots
Slate or "thatched" cedar roofing
Flagstones
Gravel and sand

Instructions

- 1
  
  Ranch homes often have low-sloped roofs.
  
  Raise the roof and add cross-gables -- one cross gable adds enough interest to a small ranch but several will break up the length of a large ranch. Give roof peaks a 90-degree or less angle to resemble the steep roof lines of Tudor Revival. Inside the house, use the extra space to create a great room or second floor bedrooms.
- 2
  
  Sixteenth century Tudor buildings sported complex timber patterns.
  
  Face the exterior with herring bone-patterned brick or half-timbered stucco. Apply half-timbers to the gable ends of a ranch or veneer the entire building in stucco and half-timbers. Timbers represented the exposed posts and beams used in English construction, so apply half timbers in a pattern that mimics these frames. If stone detail is desired, apply veneer up each corner and stucco the walls between for a romantic cottage appearance.
- 3
  Build a round turret to cover the entryway or construct a cover with wood supports using the Tudor arch, a lower, flattened version of the Gothic arch. Build the stoop and stairs leading up to the door of field stone. Your front door should be massive, wood and contain two or more small, narrow windows in its upper third.
- 4
  
  Use casement windows in groups of three or more.
  
  Replace windows with narrow casement windows, preferably with diamond-shaped panes. An oriole window, a set of casement windows installed in a small bay with a pendant-shaped base and peaked top, may hold a window seat in an upstairs gable end. Replace picture windows with sets of three or more casement windows. Surround windows with half-timber framing on stucco houses.
- 5
  
  Chimney pots add height and safety.
  
  Place chimney pots atop your chimney if you have a fireplace. The terra cotta pots, in addition to being common on Tudor Revival homes, extend the chimney, carrying sparks away from the roof.
- 6
  
  Genuine thatch is a high-maintenance roof.
  
  Re-roof with slate tiles or a look-alike tile. Roof thatchers being rare in the 1930s, Tudor Revival owners who wanted Elizabethan cottage roofs had to hire roofers willing to steam and comb out cedar shingle for a roof that resembled 400-year-old thatching. Craftspersons still create these roofs, although their work comes at a premium.

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