As your family expands, your original, spacious home becomes cozy and then claustrophobic. You need more living space, but how? You can try doubling up children into existing bedrooms, or asking Grandma to move in with the baby. Everyone feels crowded, and nobody is happy. One of the many benefits of home additions is the increased private space everyone gets, making for more pleasant home.
Reasons for Home Additions
Families grow at two ends: little ones welcomed in, and older ones returning. Perhaps there’s a need to care for a new baby, or an elderly relative may need care. A newly married child needs help saving money for her or his own place, so the happy couple shares your space for a time.
Yet home additions make sense for other reasons:
- Medical issues require easier accommodations, such as quick entry by handicap ramps into a new, obstruction-free bedroom and bath suite
- A new business needs a new home office
- A new hobby needs its own special place, such as a weight room, sewing room, model train room, or man cave
Typically, in wrestling with space issues, families try many incomplete and unsatisfactory solutions before realizing the many benefits of home additions with custom-built, purpose-built rooms crafted by the right contractor. Sometimes they unknowingly endanger family members by putting them in unhealthy living arrangements, such as relegated to a couch with no privacy, or crowded into an unfinished basement, or stuck up in an unpleasant attic.
Economy
Homeowners have four choices when considering adding onto an existing house:
- Build up
- Build out
- Finish out
Adding extra room above an existing floor, or above an attached, single-story garage, is economical and expedient. Building beautiful new rooms onto the existing footprint can open up the home, if land is available. You can cleverly re-purpose the garage by finishing it for additional space, or take an unfinished basement and make it warm and cozy.
Ecology
A home addition performs a vital role in environmentally conscious building. Re-purposing an existing home by expanding it saves resources, says a study by MIT and Yale University. Expanding the existing home keeps it at what engineers call “in-use phase” longer, and postpone the “end-of-life phase” when the house would be torn down, its parts wastefully tossed in a landfill. The energy, money and labor that went into building the house are all preserved through the thoughtful use of home additions.
Professional Touches
To best reap the many benefits of home additions, depend on a professional contractor. Professional contractors have the know-how and expert crews to tackle all types of home additions. Also consider legal issues:
- Permits
- Inspections
- Building, Electrical and Fire Codes
Few amateurs have the skills, experience and tools to successfully complete a home addition on time, correctly, in full compliance with all local codes and ordinances. Professional contractors save you time, money and frustration, all while producing beautiful results. Ready to consider the quality and comfort of a home addition? Contact Marrokal Design & Remodeling today.