Your family could have grown in size, but your home did not grow along with it. You will have several options. You can choose to keep your family members cramped together. You could opt to move to a bigger home. On the other hand, you could choose to add some rooms to give you more space. Adding rooms to your house is a major project you should only leave to the experts.
Are you thinking about making an addition to your home?
The experts at Orange County Home Remodeling can help. We have the expertise and experience to build any part of your house. We are a one-stop shop for all your room addition needs, from planning, designing, and constructing the additions.
When a Room Addition is Necessary
There are several reasons why you could need a room addition. The main reason is to accommodate your growing family. In addition, perhaps you need to create a home office to enable you to work from home, and you do not want to limit your existing living space.
Perhaps your son or daughter is about to graduate from college, and you would like to accommodate them before they can move out independently. Likewise, you could be planning to accommodate your elderly parents so that you can accord them the necessary care and companionship.
Sometimes, the additional room could be a game or family room. You do not have to accommodate an additional person to require a room addition. If done correctly, a room addition can add significant value to your home, meaning that if you decide to sell it in the future, it will fetch a high price and sell faster.
Our contractors are here regardless of why you want to add an extra home. We are committed to ensuring 100% satisfaction with your new home additions.
Whether To Add A Room Or Renovate The Existing Space
Before you opt for a room addition, you should take time to consider whether other options like renovation and remodeling can work for you. Maybe all you need is to put a new wall in, move the wall, or knock out an existing wall. You could also consider renovating or finishing unused spaces like your basement, attic, or garage. Perhaps the guest bedroom you never use is all you need to convert into your desired space. Besides moving to a new house, a room addition is expensive. However, sometimes room additions are the only option for adding space to your home.
Room Additions Vary in Complexity and Price
Room additions could vary significantly in terms of price and complexity. The room addition's cost will also depend on the room's intended purpose. For example, an office, bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen will have varying costs. The cost will also depend on the extent of the renovation. The purpose of the room determines the room's additional cost because of costs like cabinetry, electrical, and plumbing that are unique to each room. The room addition cost will also vary depending on the extent of the required demolition and whether you will need to move or remove the existing walls, the plumbing, and the electrical components.
Room additions can be complex and overwhelming, which explains why they are not DIY projects. It is a structural construction task that requires you to bring in expert structural engineers to help you determine what needs to be done to add extra footage to your home. You can change the whole layout of your home by just adding a few square feet.
Many homeowners underestimate the support required to add extra space to their homes. There is more to room addition than framing, skim coating, drywall, roofing, and beams. In most cases, you will add an extra room with no slab beneath it to support its weight. In other cases, you must move the flooring surface from your existing structure to the new one. If you decide to add to your existing roofline, you will add stress to your existing elements.
For room addition, experts who understand the engineering process can help you decide where to add more footage and how much is easier.
Some of the specific factors that will determine the cost of a room addition include the following:
- The size of the room being added — A bigger room addition will cost more because it requires more materials and labor
- The location of the addition will also determine the cost. For example, the cost of building out will differ from building up.
- Where you reside — Some parts of the state have higher construction costs due to varying costs of building materials, fees, permits, and taxes.
- The features you include in the room addition — The more sophisticated the room addition, the more costly it will be.
- The slope of the land — If you add the room on sloping land, it will likely be more expensive than building out on the flat ground.
Even if a room addition can be costly, you can keep the costs down without compromising quality. In addition, a room addition will resolve your limited space issues and elevate your home's value. Therefore, the cost of a room addition is worth it.
Building Up or Out
When you add a room to your house, you can choose to build out or upward. Ground-level room add-ons are more common than upper-room additions. The main reason for this is that most homes only have one story. In addition, it is easier and more affordable to build on the ground level, especially for rooms like kitchens and bathrooms.
A second-story addition or building up is viable for other room additions like bathrooms. Whether you should build outward or upward will vary depending on factors like your specific needs and the layout of your current home.
When you decide to build out, the room addition process will begin with digging a room-shaped hole where we will lay the foundation. Next, we must extend the existing foundation to ensure the new room has a solid base. However, building a foundation is not always necessary when adding a new room. For example, if the room addition is significantly small, we can create a room addition that does not require a foundation, which will help you save significantly on your construction costs.
We can create, frame, and add the addition to your house. However, we will retain the old wall until we finish as much of the room as possible and ensure we do not expose your home to harsh weather conditions.
You can avoid using the space in your lot by adding a new upper-story room or building an entire story. By building up, you do not need to expand your foundation. However, it would be necessary to strengthen the foundation since it will bear the additional weight of the upper room.
Sometimes, we have to tear down the ceiling beneath the room addition to strengthen the wall or to create space for the plumbing and electrical wires. If you add an upper story, you must set aside some space for the new staircase.
Whether You Should Build Up or Down
In most cases, building out is the best option. However, there could be times when it makes more sense to build up than go down. There could be some limits on the following:
- How high you can build, but this is rarely an issue.
- How far your house should be from the front, the back, and the sides.
- The percentage of your lot that the house can cover.
Other factors, including proximity to the wetlands, could be an issue when determining whether to build an additional room. You must consider many factors when choosing whether to build out or up. Our experts are experienced in making both horizontal and vertical room additions. Whichever design you choose, you will benefit from our vast experience.
How To Plan For a Room Addition
So, you have decided whether to build out or upward. The next step involves planning your room addition while considering all the details. You have to plan the following:
- The location of the new home.
- The exact dimensions of the home.
- Where to pass the plumbing pipes and the electrical wires.
- The type of flooring you should install.
- Where to put the windows and the doors.
- Any other decision that you need to make.
Our room addition professionals can make a blueprint of your new home addition. We can also provide a computerized preview of the additional room's appearance. Sometimes, our experts build a small 3D model to show you what the finished product will look like.
By creating a detailed room addition plan, we can estimate the associated costs more accurately. When adding the new room, we will ensure it blends in with the old siding, exterior paint, rooflines, and stucco. We will also ensure a seamless extension of your existing plumbing, HVAC, and electrical systems into your new space. Finally, we will ensure harmony between the new room and your home's interior and exterior designs.
When designing and implementing room addition plans, we ensure they align with the local zoning laws. Therefore, we will not get you into trouble with the authorities. We begin by obtaining all the necessary permits to ensure we construct a room according to the code.
We only use the highest-quality materials from reputable manufacturers when building additional rooms. Therefore, feel free to inform us if you would like to use specific materials. We will give you a list of options to ensure the additional room meets your needs.
Important Considerations When Planning a Room Addition Project
You need to make several considerations when planning a home addition project:
- First, you must maintain the uniqueness and authenticity of your home, even with a room addition. For example, for a historic home, you will want to preserve its appearance and feel by ensuring that the room addition blends in with the architecture instead of disrupting it.
- A room addition should be designed and constructed to not appear like a home addition. You would not want the additional space in your home to look like it was an afterthought. Instead, you want a harmonious and seamless look even if you added the extra room decades after building your original home.
- You should not work with the first remodeling company that you come across. Different remodeling companies could significantly differ in terms of pricing. Therefore, you should get several quotes from different remodeling companies.
- Working with all-rounded contractors who can handle everything from building the blueprints to constructing the room addition can save you time and money.
Why You Should Hire Us To Complete Your Room Addition Project
Adding a room or two to your existing home is not an enormous project like building a house from the ground up. However, it is still a major project. You want to ensure that the room addition is well integrated into the existing house and does not compromise the structural integrity of your home or foundation. You also want to ensure that the room addition suits your specific needs. You can only achieve this by ensuring that you work with an experienced company that has handled many room addition projects before.
We have been in the home remodeling business for years. We can handle any home addition project. Here are some of the reasons why you should choose our services:
- We do not take any of our customers for granted. Instead, we focus on meeting our client's needs and expectations.
- We are a fully licensed, insured, and bonded remodeling company.
- We do not subcontract our project — We will handle your room addition project from the beginning to the end.
- We do not pressure our clients into making a decision. Instead, we take time to understand their unique needs and ensure that our services meet them.
- We will not keep you waiting — We will swing into action right after you contact us.
Find a Home Remodeling Company Near Me
Do you want to add more square footage to your home without compromising its structural integrity?
You can count on the home remodeling experts at Orange County Home Remodeling. We have extensive experience handling different home remodeling projects. You can never go wrong by choosing our services. Contact us at 657-660-3481 to speak to one of our experts.
