UGLY to add second story over garage only?
We have been debating an addition to our modest 1000 sq. ft. To retain our backyard space and stay away from crowding neighbors we are considering scrapping the garge to rebuild a few feet over and adding bedrooms and bathrooms above (old smaller bedrooms on the left side of the house to become master). The addition would bump back an additional 18 ft. or so for more living space and new mudroom/utilities.
I love this idea but I cannot fathom how it could tie into the old half of this ranch without completely redoing the roof for simple aesthetics. Our neighborhood is all ranches and split levels, I’m afraid it would be a sore thumb on multiple accounts.
Comments (16)
M Krispin
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Review our second story plan
Comments (15)My first thought was that having two girls share a room that is smaller than their ONE brother's room is going to lead to jealousy issues six to ten years down the road. Plus, I agree that once the girls hit puberty, they are not going to like having bunk beds both because they don't provide any room for friends to sit down and because I rather doubt that any young lady at that "time of the month" is going to want to have to climb up into a bunk bed! It also looks to me like quite a bit of your overall upstairs space is taken up with hallways so I got to wondering if there wasn't some way to take back some of the hallway so as to enlarge the girls' bedroom enough to hold two single beds when the time comes to unbunk them. I played around a little bit with my paint program using the same footprint you started with and NOT moving the stair-case because that would affect everything on the lower level as well. The only way I could think to do it was to get rid of the single bathroom for the three kids and replace it with two 5' x 7' full baths... one opening off of each of the two bedrooms. I know 5x7 is pretty small but it WILL work. I currently have two back-to-back bathrooms exactly this size! Of course, you have to use standard 5 foot tubs rather than the 6 foot long tubs that it appears you have shown but 5 ft alcove tubs are cheaper anyway and the kids are unlikely to complain! BTW, in place of a linen closet in the bathroom, we have a 9 inch deep cabinet over each commode which, along with the cabinet under the sink provides plenty of room for extra towels, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, etc. Having the bathrooms open off the kids' bedrooms rather than the hallway might not work too well if you don't have a powder-room downstairs for guests to use but if that isn't an issue, having two bathrooms will prevent a whole lot of complaining and arguments down the road! Eg., your daughters won't be constantly complaining that your son is a slob in the bathroom and your son won't be complaining that he can't get into the bathroom because the girls are taking so long primping! Although, truth to tell, I've known teenage boys that could spend hours in the bathroom and teenage girls who were the world's biggest slobs. LOL! To get the girls' room large enough to hold two beds plus two desks, I had to borrow a little bit of room from the shower area so was forced to re-sketch the master bathroom area as well. But, believe it or not, with a bit of rearranging, I think I was able to fit everything you had back in while also making your master bedroom significantly larger! Anyway, here is the sketch. I couldn't put in the exact dimensions because I'm not using a CAD program - just "Paint" to sketch over the top of what you had before. But overall footprint is exactly the same as your original so it ought to be easy enough for you to figure out. If I don't have the two bathrooms quite 5X7 then just steal a little more room from the closets....See MoreSecond Floor Addition Over Existing First Story Addition
Comments (11)My house had an existing sunroom, fully insulated and a full basement beneath. It is 8x13. The roof abutted our master bedroom. We added a bath room above it. Our existing roof was in good shape and our siding and roofing tiles were still available. No plumbing preexisted on this side of the house so trenches had to be dug in our front yard through walk way and driveway. Both of those cost close to $10 k to replace. Our costs without counting the architect, 5k, driveway and without having to reroof whole house and reside whole house( if we could not have matched roofing it would have added 7k) was $67,000. We provided and made our vanity out of an antique dresser thereby saving thousands and we painted walls, ceiling and wood work ourselves, estimated painting cost were $1900. We did no bath tub and very little frills. Here are pictures of before and after. We lost a lot of curb appeal bathroom is pretty basic but has great natural light....See MoreHelp with second story reno!
Comments (3)and can only go up on the left side because our ceilings are vaulted in the main living space Vaulted spaces don't prevent you from building over them, you just loose the vault. Turn the new roof ridge 90 degrees so it follows the existing roof, and don't do the gable over what may have once been a garage. Not sure about extending the porch -- would need to see a rendering without. Might even remove the existing porch roof so the window under it is not so hidden, and create a new smaller entry porch as part of the addition. Resist trying to make the house something it's not. Keep it simple. The 2nd floor should be subordinate to the first and not the 1st thing you see when looking at the house....See MoreFloor over remodel - convert a two story family room into one story
Comments (9)@suzanne_m, Never heard of not being able to add sq/ft within an existing structure. What they probably mean is that by adding walls/floors you will be increasing sq.ft. and your tax bill will increase too ... and probably by more than the extra sq.ft would suggest! Maybe they mean you can't add more bedroom due to specific septic requirements, but a loft or upstairs family room shouldn't be a problem. Most likely there is also a minimum height for each space when splitting a 2-story space....See MoreM Krispin
2 years ago
PROPatricia Colwell Consulting
2 years agolast modified: 2 years agoI have to agree there are many steps involved to do what you want. You are right to understand the garage as is cannot have an addition on top . As for how it will look that depends on the skill of the architect and your pocket book.I like the look of the first pic and not the blue house if that helps and the point about proportion is a very good one
M Krispin thanked Patricia Colwell Consultingpricklypearcactus
2 years agoJust a note about the two examples that Patricia Colwell posted, the first house is a multi-level where the rooms below are partially underground, which allows the bedrooms above not to loom quite so large above the rest of the house. Whereas the second house in blue has two full stories on the right next to a single story.
In my area there were a lot of multi-level homes built in a way where the main level is slightly higher than the garage and has bedrooms above. In fact, my first house was like this.
However, the main level of your house is currently level with the lot and so an addition on top of the garage is certainly going to be a lot taller than a multi-level / split level. There is some risk of an addition looking like this (or Patricia's example).
I notice your current roof pitch is quite low as well. I think having a higher pitch and changing the direction of the pitch might help. Potentially if you build bedrooms where they are partially inside of the roof joists, you might be able to achieve something more along this line if you also raise the roof pitch on the main level.
At the end of the day, you will need an architect to tell you what can be designed on top of your current house. Know that this is probably going to be incredibly costly.M Krispin thanked pricklypearcactus
PPF.