Raised Ranch Addition Need Assistance

14 years ago

Hi we have a raised ranch and love our location so instead of moving or buidling we have decided to add onto our home. We would like to extend the right side of our home to create a master bedroom loft and below open up our living room and kitchen areas. Problem is we do not know how to go about this without making the house look too long. Any suggestion would help! Thanks

Featured Answer

eal51

13 years ago

Lived in 2 raised ranches over the course of 27 years. Didn't do anything to the first one but we did to the second. We added a 2 car garage (24 x 24) to the house, but set the garage back half the width of the house - approximately 14 feet. That allowed us to double the size of the family room downstairs, added a 4th bedroom, and office and a bath downstairs. And it didn't kill the backyard space.

You have many possibilities without adding too much length to the house. A lot will depend on how many bedrooms you need and how you wish to configure your upstairs living area versus you downstairs area.

Good luck.

Enjoy the journey.
eal51 in western CT

Comments (7)

ron6519
14 years ago
Hire a good architect with an onsite inspection. It can't be done over the internet.
Ron
chrisk327
14 years ago
What Ron said. sort of...

a good architect should be able to approach the problem and offer the best solutions.

Having said that, if you are making a huge house on a small lot, sometimes you can't help it.

In my area since the lots are 50-70 ft wide and 100-125 long, most of the additons are in the back on 1 side. It doesn't make the house look huge from the street, but dependong on the lot size can really take a bunch out of your backyard.
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I'm afraid I have to disagree. Tearing down perfectly good houses just because it's expedient seems terribly wasteful to me. Not only are most older houses built more solidly than a lot of the flimsy houses that get thrown up nowadays, they often include nicer detailing and better finish than common building techniques allow on more recent construction. Let's also not forget, that if you tear down a house, most of it will end up in a land-fill. The original poster says that they like their exisiting house. It's solidly built, is attractive, and that they've already invested in renovations that suit them. Why would they want to move? Ranch houses don't always have small rooms and low ceilings. Even when they do, sometimes just tweaking the floor plan a little bit, enlarging windows, or other relatively simple solutions can make a huge difference. Personally, I'd much rather live in a nice older house than one of the huge boxy things springing up on small surburban lots everywhere across the country. Older houses may not have two story atriums, "spa" bathrooms, or twelve foot islands in the kitchen, but they had good proportions, room for a spacious garden, were built solidly, and had a grace that few "today" houses posess. As for some of the other generalizations made above, foundation reengineering most likely wouldn't be necessary. Brick veneer houses already have much thicker foundations than most other types of houses. The foundations have to be built thicker to support the weight of the brick veneer. Framing may or may not be an issue. Many houses built mid-twentieth century were framed using much sturdier timbers than are used in construction today. HVAC, electrical and plumbing aren't particularly onerous. These sorts of things are routinely improved and reconfigured in exisiting structures all the time. That being said, I don't recommend that anyone live in a house while major remodeling is going on -- but many people do -- and survive to tell about it. If budgets are tight, it can save a lot of money. If you tear down your existing home, obviously, the possiblity of realizing that savings doesn't exist. The idea that extensively renovated houses never recoup the expense put into them is just nonsense. I know of an awful lot of people who make their livings by buying up older houses, extensively (and in some cases expensively) renovating, then selling at a profit. Naturally, it depends on location and not getting carried away so that you over-improve for a particular neighbourhood or existing market conditions -- but good houses with fine details, in good neighbourhoods will always command top dollar. My advice is still to consult with an architect. An architect will be able to tell you what's possible or isn't possible. He may even be able to suggest solutions to your needs that will save you money. It may not be necessary to add a full second floor. A partial second floor and a small bump-out somewhere on the existing house may be all you need. A few hours spent with a good architect may yield surprising results. If you like your house, tearing it down is probably the last thing you want to do.
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Judy G did you find "track home?" Like so many words ending in "ct," the word "tract" often gets butchered. I won't even tell you how much "Duck Tape" gets my goat! When I learned that a company actually named theirs that, I was quite discouraged that we would ever get duct tape pronounced correctly. Everyone does it, so don't feel I am picking on you, Samantha. I like Rinq's ideas. But since you cannot move the bedroom wall to the left, you just move it toward the back. Notice that the dining room has moved entirely to be behind the kitchen, so the dining area is now part of the living room. It makes that room bigger without moving the plumbing, That saves a ton over moving the living room into where the bathrooms are. The only possible problem with this plan is that the garage walk-though door is now in the laundry. It may be that you need it, by code, to go into the garage. Is there going to be another door from the house into the garage in your plan, Rinq? I see a little bit of space in the hall between the door to the half-bath and the wall to the garage where a shallow pantry cabinet can go. I had 12" deep ones in my last hose and they held a lot.
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Find out from the market if you are creating a white elephant by adding just the garage to the side of the house. You can do this by contacting your Realtor to get an idea of how these type of additions work in the marketplace (take value away or add value). Even if you think you are going to be there "forever", the future is not known. I agree with the sentiment to find an architect so your home won't look like the 3rd bay was plopped onto the side. A bit about cost vs value: I would be surprised if you managed to recoup anywhere close to 50% of the cost to add the 3rd bay. Potentially you stand to lose value entirely as in your home wouldn't get as much in a sales price as a home that looks more cohesive with only a 2-car garage. Every neighborhood is different. It's possible that your neighborhood sales wouldn't penalize your addition. Only way to know for sure is to look for similar sales. Know this before you make the addition. JMO
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firstmmo
14 years ago
It might help if you drove around and looked at some of the homes that are similar to yours. Have any of these been remodeled? If, so, you might pop a note into their mailbox asking who their architect was. Also, asking around and seeing if anyone knows of anyone who has a good architect. I found that my realtor had a huge rolodex of people that led me to the person who I eventually hired to draw my remodel. Sometimes it's a friend of a friend of a friend who leads you to the "right" person. Some builders are "full service" and have a list of architects that they use for their projects.

I also perused the internet for local architects and looked at their work. We live in an area with tons of ranchers. It wasn't hard to find someone who did remodels of these because it's just about time for most of these ranchers to be re-done! Anything made in 1960 needs a bunch of updating about now!

An architect who has experience with these ranchers will help minimize any problems associated with making the house look too long. In addition, I'd advise that you go into your city planner's office and find out what the codes and rules are for your area--are you allowed to add on? Have you already maxed out your square footage? Your footprint? What are your setback requirements? The planning division will have all that info, and they can also tell you what your property has been zoned for.

Also, start looking at magazines and on the net for pictures of styles and things that appeal to you--make a binder of all the remodels that your love. This info can be very helpful when you go shopping around for an architect. It can show the person you talk to whether you are going to take this ranch-style remodel in a more modern direction, in a more farmstyle direction, in an authentic mid-century modern direction, etc.

Good Luck!
cmg13
14 years ago
I feel your pain. It is so difficult to add onto a Raised Ranch! If you add out the side, it looks too wide. If you add out the back, you eat up your backyard. Either way, you may be creating redundant space downstairs that you simply do not need. My husband and I have struggled with this issue for years but have finally settled on a plan to add out the back. You can read my blog if you like (see link). Basically, we are expanding out the back to create a master suite. Our fourth bedroom will be a guest suite on the ground floor. Good luck, and I would love to hear what you come up with!

Here is a link that might be useful: Raised Ranch Renovation Blog
suz_natural
13 years ago
Can't really add to the advice you've received so far except to say that I understand your dilemma. We batted around the idea of expanding our master bedroom/ensuite and a half zillion other possibilities. We finally decided on improving our outdoor living via our backyard. BBQing "upstairs" off the kitchen and eating downstairs on the patio has become our biggest complaint living here.

cmg13, thank you for posting the link to your blog. I've scanned most of it and look forward to reading more of your insights. We have the same house! Don't have one of the necessary accounts to leave a comment :( Would love to know about your backyard. You have a "daylight basement", I assume?
Jen Loomis
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Eal51, do you have any pics? I'm starting to think about adding an attached garage to my raised ranch. Where did you put the door connecting the garage and house?

Raised Ranch Addition Need Assistance

eal51

Comments (7)

ron6519

chrisk327

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