Home Addition Basics

Home Addition Plans
Maybe you live on a thousand acre ranch, but most of us have a finite amount of space and we are constantly trying to maximize what little of it we have.

First, consider all the ways in which you can expand the ground floor. Whether you are thinking of selling soon, sometime down the road, or never, it is a wise idea to add extra space to the ground floor because as you age, you will be less able to climb the stairs. If you have a single level home, this won't be a problem.

Second, realize that this addition will eat into your yard and change the shape of your home. Most home additions are toward the back of the house, so most likely the look of your home from the street will not change. If you have a large yard and can spare several feet of it, this is no problem, but if your yard is small you need to determine property lines (don't forget vertical property lines) so that you don't waste your money. Also, if you have a very small yard, and your planned addition will leave you with almost nothing, consider taking up the rest of the back yard and getting a little more spacious addition.

Building onto the Second Floor
Another idea is to build up. These home additions are a little trickier in that the weather really needs to cooperate since a portion of the roof will be open for a small amount of time. This is a great addition for a master bathroom or for extra bedrooms if more children are on the way. Depending on the situation, building up can sometimes be less expensive per square foot than building out because there won't be any need for foundation building.

Hidden Costs for Room Additions
Think of what happens to someone when they get pregnant. Their body was one size, now it has a very different layout. This person will need more to eat, need bigger clothes, it will be more difficult to regulate her temperature. A home addition can do the same thing to a typical day-to-day budget. You will need a little more heat or air conditioning during certain times of the year (excepting sunrooms, which are typically warmer than other parts of the house), you might have to recarpet several other rooms to match the new carpet in the addition, and your furniture might not work as well with the added space.