Home Addition Ideas and Options
Key Considerations on Popular Home Addition
Ideas and Plans
By: Mark J. Donovan
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Expanding the living space in your
home is a major undertaking and is an important decision. A home addition or
major home remodeling project is both expensive and complicated however the
short term and long term benefits can be very rewarding. It can provide you with
a new bedroom, family room or kitchen, and can significantly increase the value
of your home. When contemplating a major home construction project there are a
number of home addition ideas that you might want to consider before breaking
ground. |
Key Home
Additions Ideas and Considerations
Building a home addition onto the
exterior of your home can often be one of the most expensive solutions for
creating additional home living space. Besides requiring an architect in
most cases, there are also property setbacks and possible zoning regulations
that may need to be evaluated. In addition, gas and electric utilities may
need to be brought in to move gas or electric lines. Many of these issues
are unnecessary when remodeling an existing portion of your home to gain
living space.
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Alternative Home Remodeling and Home Addition Ideas
Basement Remodeling
A potentially lower cost home
addition idea that can provide additional living space, and can save you money
and hassles, is to finish your basement. If your basement is dry, or can be made
to be dry, and the basement ceiling is high enough, a finished basement is an
excellent home remodeling idea for gaining new living space. |
Attic Conversions
Another home addition idea that is a
great alternative to building a home addition is to finish an attic. Though some
structural strengthening may be required for the attic floor, an attic
conversion project is a great way to gain an additional home living space.
Frequently attic conversions are used to create additional bedrooms, offices,
and even art studios.
Family Room
Additions
Family room additions and bonus rooms
are two of the most popular types of additions that home owners pursue. These
types of additions provide new common space for the family and make ideal living
spaces for entertaining family and friends.
Bathroom Additions
Frequently home owners desire an
additional bathroom. Bathroom additions can be as simple as putting in a basic
powder room, to as complex as a bathroom spa for a master bedroom.
A bathroom addition can be tricky as
it involves the installation and retrofitting of new plumbing supply lines and
drains. Furthermore, a new bathroom addition frequently has to be carved out of
existing living space. This can be difficult to do and usually creates a
significant disruption to the family and home.
Kitchen Remodeling
A kitchen remodeling project is
another popular home addition idea. This can be as involved as building a new
addition onto the home to accommodate the new kitchen, to as simple as
remodeling the existing kitchen space. In either case, a kitchen remodeling
project is an expensive endeavor. Kitchen cabinets and countertops can be very
expensive and require special design and planning considerations.
Garage Addition
An attached garage addition is
another popular home addition idea and one of the most practical and cost
affordable. A garage addition can be left roughed in, or finished depending upon
your financial situation. A garage addition can provide for supplementary
storage place to free up space in the main part of a home.
Garage
Conversions
In some cases, converting a garage
into a finished living space is another option for creating new living space. It
is, however, my least favorite option for creating new living space. A garage
is just so useful for storing not only automobiles, but for storing other items
and enabling a workshop area.
So before jumping into a new home
addition project consider all of these home addition ideas. Some of these
options may present a better and more cost effective solution than your original
ideas and plans. It is also important to note that some will provide higher
rates of financial return than others. However, regardless of your decision a
new home addition typically will increase the value of your home, as well as
provide you with addition living space, so in most cases you can’t go wrong.
Finally, whatever you decide upon as the best home addition idea for you, make
sure you develop a well thought out set of plans and find the right building
contractor. By doing so you will help to ensure that you achieve the new living
space you desire.
For more help on building a home addition, see HomeAdditionPlus.com's
Home
Addition Bid Sheets.
Our
Home
Addition Bid Sheets
provide you with the knowledge and information on how to plan a home addition project,
and what to look for when hiring contractors. They
also include detailed cost breakdown tables and spreadsheets for estimating
your own new home addition building costs.
How to Finance your Home Remodeling Project -
can help provide funds for your new home improvement project if financing is
required.
Related Building Home Addition Articles
Additional Home Renovation and
Construction Resources from Amazon.com
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