2012 - Beginning to consider an addition

We're thinking of doing an addition on our house.

Matt's Addition

We're working with a local contractor who does plans. His original plan (PDF files attached below) was quite different from what we originally envisioned: a full-length addition on the west side of the house. It matched the roof angles of the original house, which made for a huge roof area, and David was concerned about how the southwest roof would drain.

Matt's plan spurred David to create a Google Sketch-up model of the house and model two potential plans.

North Addition

The "North Addition" plan is what we originally had in mind. It demolishes the small addition already on the north side of the house and add a 2-story addition in its place.

Disadvantages: The main problem with this plan is that we spend a lot of money demolishing the existing addition and opening up the roof of the existing house. That's expensive work which doesn't add a lot of value.

Advantages: Alleviates concerns about the longevity of the current small addition. Since this is not visible from the street, there is no concern with a mis-matched roof line making it look like an addition from the street.

West Addition

The "West Addition" plan is based on the contractor's work, going out the west side of the house. David just put a box in place to match the gable on the east side of the house, then added a bit more space going north.

Disadvantages: The mismatch in roof-line makes it look obviously like an addition.

We sat down with Matt and he looked at the ideas and has gone back to re-work his original plan. We're looking forward to seeing what he comes up with!

Top-down views

North is at the top of the page.