As is typical for the housing market, there has recently been a shift in homeowners from buying larger houses to simply creating additions. There was a time when homeowners would sell their small houses and upgrade to larger houses. Now, homeowners are deciding to increase the square footage of their current house with small home addition plans. This is proving to be a sound investment strategy. However, it is essential that you understand your budget and stay within it. Many homeowners do not realize the cost of an addition. You should have some ideas of what you want, but do not get your heart set on anything until you talk to a contractor. If you get a random idea in your head of what the cost will be for an addition, it may not be accurate or realistic. It is best to consult with a contractor or two to determine how much your addition will cost. Once you have your budget determined and you know how much you can spend, it is time to make some other considerations before moving forward on your small home addition plans.
Assess the Current Foundation State
One of the first things you should do before creating your small home addition plans is assess your current foundation. If you see any cracks, peeling, or other problems with it, you should consult a professional to address the necessary foundation repairs. You do not want to put an addition on your house if it has foundational concerns. If you see a large level of concern with your foundation, you should also check your basement to see if there are any problems, such as mold buildup or moisture issues. When you are considering an addition to your house, you have some options. You can build up, bump out, or put a true addition to your home. Each of them has different requirements for your foundation. If you are putting an addition on to your home, it requires some amount of masonry foundation building and digging down below the frost line. This adds up quickly and takes up as much as 15% of the budget.
A bump-out provides the ability for you to add a small space without a new foundation. This type of addition extends over the edge of the house, bringing space to an existing room. If you do not have enough space to push your house out further into your yard, you may have to build up. When you build up, it is essential that you ensure your foundation can support an additional story. The best way to determine that is to have an engineer assess your foundation to determine what reinforcements may be needed.
Hire the Right Contractor
Hiring the best contractor for your small home addition plans is critical. Before you consult with a contractor, you may want to consider consulting with a realtor. They can be useful in determining if your addition is reasonable. A professional can review comps for your area and determine what other houses sell for and have to offer. It is crucial not to overspend for your neighborhood, especially if you have plans to sell your house in the future. If you plan to live in your house for 30 years, it might not matter as much.
You invest time, money, and emotion into your house, so it is essential to have your addition appropriately done the way you want it. You want to get several bids for your expansion. Contacting one contractor and going with whatever price they give you is a mistake. You get a second opinion on most other things, so why not your house? You want to interview the contractor and ask some questions. You want to know the payment schedule and how payments are handled. You want to ask about how they handle changes to the plan. You want to know what building supplies they use. You should have all of your questions answered and feel good about them. If not, you should find someone else. If you are adding on to the foundation, you want to ask questions about their excavating service. You also want to know how many people will be in your home while the work is happening.
Consider Installing a New Fence
As part of your small home addition plans, you may want to consider installing a fence. There are many benefits to a fence, including privacy and security. When you are putting on an addition, that could be a great time to add a fence to your yard. There are some considerations to make when thinking about installing a fence. You have to consider where you want it, how tall you want it, and what kind of fence you want. There may be restrictions in your neighborhood or county about the fence you can install, so you want to check those first. You may also need a permit to install a fence.
If you live in a town or district that is highly populated, you most likely need a fence permit. If you live in a more rural area and have a large amount of farmland, you probably do not need one. If you choose a privacy fence for your backyard and it is over six feet tall, you will need a permit. If you stay under six feet, you will not need one. If you want to put a privacy fence in your front yard, the permit regulations may be different. It is better to know upfront if you need a permit than to start the work and have problems down the line. When you hire a contractor, they should handle the permits for you.
Work with an Arborist
When you are thinking about your small home addition plans, you may find that you have trees or other landscaping in the spot where you want your addition. You want to make sure all of this vegetation is removed property before you start the work on the addition. If you have trees that you want to keep, you may need to have a professional come and move your trees properly.
You may decide that you do not want the trees anymore and just require tree removal. No matter what way you go about it, you want to ensure that you have a professional handle the work for you. Some trees needs to be treated more carefully than others when being moved. Even if you just want the trees removed, you want to ensure that the tree is removed and the roots are destroyed. You do not want the roots to cause you problems later on.
Decide Whether to Add HVAC
Even with small home addition plans, you may have to make some decisions about your existing electrical, plumbing, heating, and air conditioning systems. You may need to extend these utilities into your new space. This may cause some areas of complications. You have an electrical service panel that serves these systems, and it may not be big enough to handle an expansion. Your existing heating and air conditioning may not be able to accommodate a larger space.
Your contractor will do a calculation to determine if your existing systems have enough power to handle the additional load. If it cannot, you will have to decide between upgrading your existing system to handle the load or putting in a second unit. Most contractors suggest adding a second unit because it provides many more advantages. You can also add other means of heating, such as a gas fireplace. If you do not need air conditioning because of where you live, you may only need more heat. You can add fireplaces to provide additional warmth. It also updates your decor while providing you additional heat. Depending on how old your house is, you may need to update the pipes and wiring. Older houses used metal wiring instead of the wiring coated with plastic used today. The material used for pipes has become more modern as well. While putting an addition on your home, you may also need to update these out-of-date utilities.
Choose Great Paint Colors
When you think about your small home addition plans, you might overlook items such as paint for the walls. When you spend a significant amount of time and money on your addition, you want the finished product to look as nice as possible. You may want to consider custom interior paint for your finished walls. There are many products available today that make painting much easier than ever before. When you are considering paint for your walls, you may want to consider a colorful option. If you plan to paint the room yourself, you should consider selecting paint that is easy to apply and dries quickly.
When considering a paint color, do not forget to consider the type of primer and paint you select. You want paint that applies evenly, looks professional, and is easy to clean. Still, color is your biggest consideration when selecting interior paint. Even if you know what color paint you want, there are many shade options for you to choose from. You can use color swatches to narrow down your options. Consider purchasing a pint-sized paint tester to try out the color at home to be sure that is the color you want.
Invest in Great Flooring
When you are working on small home addition plans, you do not want to overlook your flooring options. Unfortunately, there is not one kind of flooring that is ideal for all rooms. You may want to consider hardwood as it is a classic look that is always popular. However, if your addition includes a laundry room or a bathroom, you may not want to consider hardwood because it does not hold up to moisture.
You may also want to consider resinous flooring, also referred to as epoxy flooring. This type of flooring is ideal for a variety of rooms in your house. These rooms includes kitchens, bathrooms, garages, and patios. It is becoming a more popular option for flooring. This floor is incredible durable, especially in high traffic areas. It is critical that the floor is installed properly, or the floor will not last as long as it should. When done properly, this type of flooring is resistant to all wear and tear, including peeling, cracking, and corrosion. After the epoxy is cured, it can even withstand some chemical damage, including acids.
Purchase High-Quality Window Treatments
Once you complete your small home addition plans, you can improve the decor of the new space with window treatments. There are a large number of window treatments available for you to use in your addition. You can find anything from custom curtains to hard window treatments, like shutters. You can even layer both types together.
When considering what window treatments you want, you should consider the design and decor of your house. While there are many trends you could follow, your preference should remain your focus. You also want to ensure that your window treatment is functional and meets your needs. You can have the most beautiful window treatments, but they do not block the sun, and they may not be useful to you.
When you are considering small home addition plans, you should take all of these tips into consideration to ensure that you get everything you want and need in your new addition. When you take each of these elements into consideration, it can make the process much simpler. It is critical that you find the best contractor for your needs and budget. Most importantly, you want to ensure you are getting all the things you expect from your addition. It can be exciting and stressful, but when you know what you want and your budget, it helps keep you on target for the home addition of your dreams.