We added 600 square feet to our 1100 sf rancher. We added a large bedroom, small hobby room/office, a half bath (toilet & pedestal sink) and an upstairs family room. I've uploaded a photo showing the house before and after.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our addition

This is very interesting to me because we, too, have a small ranch house (for lack of any other style, that's what I call it) with a low-pitched roof and only 1085 square feet of space. I'd like to add a laundry room and expand the living room a bit. and I'd love a front porch, the real deal with railings and plenty of space. but I'm not sure how that would look on my plain jane house. so, if anyone else wants to post pics and provide ideas, there are two people on this post who are eager to see!

We almost remodeled a 1950s ranch. Thank goodness we took the advice of our next door neightor, a real estate appraiser, and tore it down. This was also the advice of every GC we consulted. There was nothing structurally wrong with the ranch, but everything about it was dated, including of course the lack of insulation, size of rooms and baths, the mechanicals, you name it.

Think a lot about what value your remodeled house will have as opposed to if you were to move or tear down and build new. Think about living for over a year in a construction zone.

Obviously you want to consider all the options before plunking down a huge sum of money for anything, whether it be an addition or a teardown/rebuild job.

For us-- we like our ranch. It has a solid foundation, nice brick exterior, and we've renovated most of the main floor and walkout basement already. It's nothing high end, but nice. Mechanicals are mostly good, granted insulation is a weak spot.

In this area new home construction costs upwards of $150 per square foot. Add to that the cost to tear down and it would be $250k _minimum_ to build the same size house we have now. I think a second story addition would cost around $150k, maybe less if we do some of the interior finish work.

We haven't looked at real numbers for what we want... we don't even know what we want yet. We're mainly looking for ideas if we decide to go the addition route. But your point is well taken.

Thanks.

Up here in Seattle, ranch houses are called ramblers -- but they're essentially the same thing.

I bought a mid-century brick rambler in 2004 and had it extensively renovated and added a partial secnd story in 2005 before moving in. I worked with a local architect and stressed that I wanted an addition that would maintain the architectural integrity of the original structure, but that would also be as unobtrusive from the street as possible. Since my house was "L" shaped, we elected to put the addition at the back of the house, as far from the street as possible.

My architect recommended against using brick siding on the second story addition because it would be less expensive, but also to reduce the visual impact and weightiness of the second floor. the roofline of the original first floor was extended below the addition to provide a transition between the brick on the ground floor and the shingled siding on the second story addition. It worked out rahter well.

My advice to you would be to work with a good architect. Tell him or her that one of your top priorities is to avoid "the dropped in place" look. Any architect worth his salt will be able to achieve that goal while giving you the additional space and functionality that you want.

jamesk was able to achieve that "tastefully done" addition, but it isn't the full second story the OP asked about. The "tasteful" is probably one of the hardest parts of these renovations. I've seen remodleing ads where the "Before" sure looks better to me than the "After".

Old ranches generally have small rooms and 8-foot ceilings. The kitchens and baths are small by today's standards. One of the reasons we ended up building was because we already lived in one of those and wanted something more "today". (The ranch we eventually tore down at least had large rooms and potential for larger baths.)

Neighbors near our old home did a huge remodel about ten years ago, nearly doubling the size of their house. Now it is the largest house in the neighborhood (never a good thing). The new part is lovely, but it makes the old part look...old. This now-5-BR house still has public rooms sized for a 3 BR house -- even smaller than they were because room had to be found for stairs. It's been on the market for two years. Buyers will not pay for this house what they will pay for an all-of-one-piece house that takes advantage of modern building materials. The owners cannot recoup what they spent.

If you have a historic home, or one of those strange CA-like tax benefits, I can understand undertaking a huge remodel. (I think CA must have some mighty strange houses, many with "unique" DIY work in them, all these years after Prop 13.)

I don't mean to be a nay-sayer, just would like people to look carefully at what the end product will be before they embark on huge remodeling jobs. Many posters have greatly underestimated the costs vs. the resultant worth.

Adding a complete second story to an existing home will totally disrupt your life and cost you more than would either buying an existing home or doing a teardown and rebuild on the existing home. If new construction costs $150 per square foot in your area, you can bet that renovation costs are at least $300- $450 per square foot for what you're proposing. Remodeling is always more expensive than is new construction. You have to deal with tying the old to the new, completely reeingineering the Foundation, framing, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems without drastically altering the existing configuration and try to do it all without actually moving out. Extensively renovated homes never recoup the expensed put into them either, unless a significant portion of it is able to be DIYed. And, time spent on DIYing is time away from your family, job, and real life. It isn't "cost free" to DIY. It's just a different expense. Unless you plan on staying in this house for the next 30 years and don't care what money you spend on it, or code restrictions prohibit a teardown, you'd be better off selling and moving to a home that exists as you need it to be. Or, spend the money for a teardown.

The big "if" is whether the house in question actually is "superior" construction, with any "fine" details.

Both our prior home and the teardown were spec homes. Neither were "perfectly fine homes". I can't tell you how much nicer it feels to live in our all-new, tightly constructed, well-HVAC'd home with 9-foot ceilings.

I doubt the OP will find it an economic advantage to add a second story instead of moving or building new. (Especially if they have to live in the house while doing this.) People who do this for a living have a better handle on costs and potential returns. Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner are going to be undertaking a very big project. They need to know the costs and potential value all their work will achieve.

I guess I am not seeing why a second story addition would have to look bad. If you removed the existing roof and trusses, and built up, you could achieve any look you would want I would think. If you matched or resided so all siding was consistent and seamless, there would be no way to even know a remodel was done from the exterior. At any rate, go to http://images.google.com/images?q=ranch+second+story&domains=YOUR+DOMAIN+NAME&sitesearch=&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
for pictures.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures

You might check out what these folks did, as they kept a blog about the process. If the link doesn't work, you can google "raise the ranch" and come up with their website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Raise the Ranch

Our 1957 california ranch style with vaulted ceilings was 1800 ft. We tore down 1/2 and added a second story on one side for 3500 ft., plus 800 ft. of wrap-around deck since we have a view. We went with one of the best regional arch. firms who specialize in modern. Lots of glass with anodized aluminum frames. It will be an mushroom & olive ultramodern house with metal roof when done. However, it is a very, very messy and expensive process to keep some of the old and add new. If we knew then what we know now the whole thing would have been torn down. It would have been a lot faster and less expensive.

ron -- What did it cost beyond what you thought it would cost (percentages). You are an honest person to admit a teardown would have been the better option. Thanks!

Here's a Pic of an addition with new siding.
http://www.hubleyshomeimp.com/*widgets/gallery/detail.jspy?G=10011726&P=104&F=/gallery.nxg

Here is a link that might be useful: 2nd Story Added

I came across this. Its the best I've ever seen.

Here is a link that might be useful: before and after brick ranch