inspired by Mwilding, give me your ideas for how to add-on to my house.

[HomeBrewerDude]

Right now I would just like to have a general sense of a general strategy to how to add on to my house, maximizing the benefits to cost ratio. What sort of addition makes the most sense.


We would like a larger master bedroom and more closet space and a bath, would like a bigger kitchen. Pluses would include having a second egress to the basement, having a fourth bedroom, and havign a house that didn't look so boring (i.e., like the shoebox ranch style that it is).

i see 4 major options, though i am generally uneducated in the art of carpentry and housebuilding.

1) move garage option. either move the garage forward or excavate and put in a garage underneath (basement level) with a master bed and bath plus a extra room to add living space or utility space. moving forward would still require excavating out at least a crawl space.

2) build off the back of the house. extending the back wall out 10-12 feet would give us room to expand the kitchen, add a bath, and either add a forth bedroom or reconfigure the three existing bedrooms to have a master bedroom with much more sq ft and more closet space.

3) build up with either a) a second story (probably too heavy for existing structure) or b) repitch the roof and add dormers, master bed/bath suite and office up there.

4) finish out the basement, add a bedroom(s) and bath for the kids. this would require installing egress windows (not a big deal). we would then have space upstairs to reconfigure the existing 3 bedrooms into just two, plus adding a bath off the master suite.

The house is worth about 185-195k and is in a neighborhood where the average house is worth 225k. We have plenty of yard, and the lot rises from the front to the back. the lot is plenty big (17,000), but there probably isn't much room to expand to either sides. fireplace is situated in middle of house. there is a full, quasi finished basement, the garage is on a slab. budget could not exceed 50k.


http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/h...ude/housefloorplan.jpg <---approximate lay out

 

[elektrolokomotive]

Secret laboratory in the basement with shark tank.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: elektrolokomotive
Secret laboratory in the basement with shark tank.

well, thats currently been converted to a brewery already.

 

[DougK62]

Your garage doesn't have a door?

 

[GasX]

When it comes to resale, spend the most money on the kitchen and the bathrooms. I am not saying don't do anything else. On the contrary, go hog wild. Just when you decide to splurge on one thing over another, get nice fixtures or countertops rather than fancy doorknobs and wall sconces in the bedrooms...

 

[LordSnailz]

Yeah, I agree, kitchen and bathrooms are the 2 main things ... checkout the last Money magazine, it tells you all about increasing the value of your house.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
When it comes to resale, spend the most money on the kitchen and the bathrooms. I am not saying don't do anything else. On the contrary, go hog wild. Just when you decide to splurge on one thing over another, get nice fixtures or countertops rather than fancy doorknobs and wall sconces in the bedrooms...

i guess i would like to know whether it makes more sense to knock out the back of the house, or maybe move the garage....

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: LordSnailz
Yeah, I agree, kitchen and bathrooms are the 2 main things ... checkout the last Money magazine, it tells you all about increasing the value of your house.

i read that... it was basically common sense IMO.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

for example, is it easier/cheaper to build an ell that goes out into the back yard, or would make sense to rebuild the roof lines so taht I get an extra 10 feet along the back of the house.

 

[GasX]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: Mwilding
When it comes to resale, spend the most money on the kitchen and the bathrooms. I am not saying don't do anything else. On the contrary, go hog wild. Just when you decide to splurge on one thing over another, get nice fixtures or countertops rather than fancy doorknobs and wall sconces in the bedrooms...

i guess i would like to know whether it makes more sense to knock out the back of the house, or maybe move the garage....

Questions to ask yourself:

1. which one will result in the house having more curb appeal?
2. Which one will cause the most disruption to my life while it is underway?
3. Which one is going to result in the most improvements to my lifestyle?
4. Which one costs more?
5. Which one adds more value to my house?

Knowing the few details that I know about your property, I would say add on to the back. There is likely to be less intrusion on your life and you will be adding more usable space in and around your kitchen.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: Mwilding

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude

Originally posted by: Mwilding
When it comes to resale, spend the most money on the kitchen and the bathrooms. I am not saying don't do anything else. On the contrary, go hog wild. Just when you decide to splurge on one thing over another, get nice fixtures or countertops rather than fancy doorknobs and wall sconces in the bedrooms...

i guess i would like to know whether it makes more sense to knock out the back of the house, or maybe move the garage....

Questions to ask yourself:

1. which one will result in the house having more curb appeal?
2. Which one will cause the most disruption to my life while it is underway?
3. Which one is going to result in the most improvements to my lifestyle?
4. Which one costs more?
5. Which one adds more value to my house?

Knowing the few details that I know about your property, I would say add on to the back. There is likely to be less intrusion on your life and you will be adding more usable space in and around your kitchen.

thanks mwilding, i have asked myself these questions, and have been found wanting.

i don't feel like i know enough to really answer them. personnally i kind of like the idea of exacavating and putting the garage on the basement level because 1) it would give me a second egress to the basement 2) give me about 500 sq ft for a master bedroom/bath suite and i could still increase the width of the dining and living areas. BUT that wouldn't help my kitchen area, unless we also put in a little extension out to the back. i guess that is why I am getting input here.

 

[GasX]

Got any pics of your house front and back?

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
When it comes to resale, spend the most money on the kitchen and the bathrooms. I am not saying don't do anything else. On the contrary, go hog wild. Just when you decide to splurge on one thing over another, get nice fixtures or countertops rather than fancy doorknobs and wall sconces in the bedrooms...

When it comes to lighitng, you don't need to spend alot. But for resale, remember that people have no imagination and the idea od swapping out fixtures is foreign to most. Point is, pick out nice fixtures. Going cheap isn't necesarily the way to go.

Today, most people want a big, nice kitchen. That where we spend most of our time anyways, even when enetertaining. That's part of why open floor plans are popular.

Don't spend on the crappa though Just get a nice vanity and nice mirror.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

1) For resale (if that's your concern), people generally want the garage on level with the first floor. Meaning that the "in basement" type is less desirable.

2) I liek this idea as long as it won't make you the biggest home i nthe neighborhood. But if you have a plan to live there 10 years, worrying about recooping your investment at resale is less of an issue. Anyways ..... Add on to the back. Additions are nice. Sounds like you'd be going for an L or T shaped ranch. Probably a good way to go. For the overall dimension of hte additoin though, you'll probably want ot make the addition the same width as the home is deep. For example, in a 24x50 ranch, you would want to do an addition that is 24x???. Why 24x??? ? That's simply the easiest way to put on a roof to the addition that looks correct. The new roof would have the same exact pitch as the old roof making it very easyt to tie in asthetically and mechanically. If anything, just go smaller than 24'. Also, you can go anywhere off of the back. What you really should do is make a scale drawing of your current layout including windows and doors. Then make a cutout that is 24x24 (for example) and just move it around oin the drawing to see where you cn best position the addition. Might give you some neat ideas that you havn't though of to.

3) Build up: I wouldn't. It's honestly just easier to sell and move.

4) Putting bedrooms in the basement. This is probably the least expensive way to do it depending on your budget and what your neighborhood is like. In a "good" neighborhood, I wouldn't do this. For resale, only do this if you are one of the larger homes in the neighborhood. Simply because putting on an addition to a large home will not be cost effective for resale.

of course, alot of what you do depends on when you waould sell. If oyu are going to live there for 10 years, your home should go up in value no matter what. But if you want ot sell it in 2 years, you have to be more careful where you put money.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: HomeBrewerDude
The house is worth about 185-195k and is in a neighborhood where the average house is worth 225k. We have plenty of yard, and the lot rises from the front to the back. the lot is plenty big (17,000), but there probably isn't much room to expand to either sides. fireplace is situated in middle of house. there is a full, quasi finished basement, the garage is on a slab. budget could not exceed 50k.


http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/h...ude/housefloorplan.jpg <---approximate lay out

Haahahahah, I jsut noticed this part.....

Ahhh, $50K budget. Might make an addition toughr to do. At best, you could add about 500 sqft. That's if yt0ou contract out the work yourself. 24x24 is 576 though, so a 24x16 additon might be doable whcih is anadditional 364 sqft.

If you want to redo the kitchen entirely, that's about $15K... just a guess though. So how you plan to expand is a big question. Clearly, adding a breakfast nook would be easy while adding more cabinets might be problematic as the new/old cabinets will look different. You could get new matching countertops though.

What wall carries the load from the attic? is the the top or bottm wall of the staircase in the picture? Looks like the lower walls as that owuld make the most sense since the chimney probably eixts at the peak of the roof.

From the picture, I'm not sure how exactly you would want to expand the kitchen. Tough to see which way you could go.

Truth be told, I like the idea of making the top right bedroom smaller and putting a hall way down the left side of htat room. Matters how big the bedroom is to start though. By doing this, you could easily add on a "dream master bedroom". The master would have a walk in closet and full bath. While at it, you could add a second full bath off of the hallway for the other 3 bedrooms to share. So, you'd have a total of 3 baths. The master this way could also have a walkout onto the patio/deck which I'm asusming is behind the kitchen/dining room area (based on existing doors)

Looking at the pic, I can see why you want another bathroom

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

If you redo the kitchen, moving the opening to the dining room clsoer to the staircase migh be a good idea. You could get a bettter layout that way. I don't think that's a load bearing wall, so it should be easily doable.

PS: finishing off hte basement is always a good idea. Sounds like it's soimething that has been started and not finished.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

thanks for the feedback!

I can see the ease of adding a T or L shape, with the addition sharing the same width and roof angle. I would think that would be the most straight forward approach.



housefloorplanwithaddition.jpg

something like that.


I think that would a plenty of space to have a very comfortable master suite plus some more closet space for at least one bedroom and the hallway.

kitchen is still small, but maybe we could move the door and the non-loadbearing wall between the kitchen and dining area we can get more out of the existing space (i.e., another 5 ft of counter and some more cabinets.)


For the addition, should we expand the basement as well? or just put in a crawl space? my wife seems to think that the excavation to expand the basement would be expensive.