Average American couples buy a house containing one master suite, one full bathroom, one kitchen, and one living room. Most of them don’t bother with the second floor as all those extra spaces bring you extra maintenances, extra hassle. But as time changes and your family grows bigger, your little home just doesn’t suffice anymore. For you are left with only two choices at some point. Either move or add more spaces. Adding space may not always be the option available, but moving is always stressful. Many of us don’t want to leave our memories behind. Adding a second story to your home is a way to increase your home and make it more valuable. So, here are some tips to make your second story addition experience easier.
Adding A Second Story To Your Home
The way to get a permit obtain licenses can vary from location to location. So, pricing can be different based on where you live in the country. Besides, your total cost will largely vary on the style you’ve chosen, or the details you’re having and of course, the company you are working with. So, it is always best to do your research beforehand.
Why Add a Second story over a horizontal room addition?
We can understand that building an entire story may seem overwhelming. I mean, when you add a second story, you bring the entire 1st-floor wiring and maintenance to the upper floor. Also, you cannot just build something from scratch; you also have to match the existing structure work. Otherwise, it will look worse than the “Weasley House” from Harry Potter! So yeah, it’s perfectly understandable when you doubt such projects. However, what many people don’t know is that building up is actually a lot cheaper than adding on. Why? Well, when you build a house, most of your money goes into the ground, meaning you invest a lot in the foundation. So a strong first-floor foundation is fully capable of upholding a half or a full second floor. And while building a second floor, you mostly just extend up the existing walls, it’s less complicated. That’s why you can save 150,000 to 300,000 USD by building upwards.
How to Add a Second Story to an Existing House?
So let’s add that second floor. While thinking about building a second story, you have to think about your needs and priorities. Why do you need an extra floor? Is it because you want to move your master bedroom upstairs? Do you need to build bathrooms up there? Do your kids need space? With all these questions, you also have to learn about the condition of the existing framework. Also, where do you want the staircase to be? These questions will give you not only a better grasp of what do you want but also a better understanding of how much it will cost you. Typically, a master bedroom with en suite bathroom will cost you around 56.000 to 96,000 USD, a simple bedroom will cost about 10,000 to 24,000, and a normal bathroom will take 18,000 to 50,000 USD. Also, you will be needing relocating your amenities and adding a staircase. So adding a second story will need you to spend give or take 160,000 to 300,000 US Dollars, rarely ever chipping down the six. But it is a lot better than leaving and selling your old home and spending 500,000-900,000 USD for a house that you could have turned your old one into.
What to keep in mind?
A project big like this needs careful consideration. Here are some things to keep in mind while building your second story:
- Layouts. You want your new floor to match your floor below. Try to maintain a pleasing proportion. Keep at least some kind of connection between the upstairs and downstairs.
- Be careful when it comes to obeying the housing regulations. Your community may or may not have a significant height code that you need to follow. To learn about those rules and restrictions find your local building code.
- Try and do not ruin the aesthetics of your deck/patio while building the second story. You might have built your first story uniquely without ever considering the probability of adding a second one. Try to keep that part only adjusted to your new floor.
- Keep track of your investments. It is so easy to get distracted by the decors and extras and spending way more than anticipated when you do any kind of remodeling. Try not to get carried away with all the Elle decors’ suggestions and stick to your budget.
- It is best to hire a professional as adding a second story as it is not an easy task.
Conclusion
Building a home doesn’t only require bricks and blocks; it also requires dreams. Leaving your home is, in a way, leaving those dreams behind. So, to save all the memories you have and just add a second story to your house.
