When you’ve already used your home to its full capacity and there still isn’t enough room, it may be time to expand your living area by building out. Home additions that build out instead of up or down are generally less expensive and easier, but there are other important elements to consider to ensure that you’re making a smart, sensible investment.
Property size
If you have room to spare on your property and don’t have issues with land-use codes where you live, then building out with home additions is a viable option. However, if you don’t want to give up any of your back yard, building up or down may be a better choice.
Floor plan
When you want to add an additional bedroom, move the kitchen or add or expand the main living area, make sure that the proposed floor plan solves the space issue you currently have. Lacking enough room on the main level to build out still leaves the possibility of a basement or second-story addition. Creating home expansions that make sense with the existing floor plan help ensure a good investment.
Cost
Although a main-level addition may look good on paper, if your property sits on a slope, is below grade, is difficult for equipment to reach or would need complicated architecture to add on to the existing structure, any home expansions can lose their feasibility and become expensive. Before getting too far ahead of yourself, consult an experienced architect and contractor to learn your addition options.
Foundation and walls
Main level home expansions are usually the simplest kind from a structural perspective because builders can create them to code and retrofit them to the house. Second story home additions usually need structural retrofitting that can extend to the foundation and require removal of siding while altering interior walls. The foundation for main level home additions needs attachment to the original foundation just like any other addition, but it’s easier than replacing an entire foundation for adequate structure support of a second-level addition.
Matching existing appearance
Adding exterior home additions involves the choice between having it match the original house or purposely not match while still complementing the style of the structure. A house covered with weatherworn wood or discontinued brick or vinyl, you would need to redo the siding of the entire home to match the new siding on the addition. Such a redo may be worth the investment if your home exterior needs an update. However, experienced architects have innovative ways to design home additions that still fit a home even if they don’t exactly match the existing look.
Small expansion
Home expansions don’t always have to be huge, sometimes just adding on a few feet to a room can provide the space you need to add new appliances or cabinetry to a kitchen or make a guest bath or bedroom roomier. Fitting home additions under existing roofing and overhangs saves money as you won’t need to build a new roof over the addition.