subject: On The Importance Of Room Addition Plans And Design [print this page] If you want to increase the resale value of your house or just need more living space for the convenience of your extended family, adding on to an existing structure is a great way to increase square footage and value to your home.
Any form of home addition, whether its a master bedroom addition, second story addition, or even a sunroom addition, is a complex construction project. Sometimes building a room addition is even more difficult than building a small home. For one, the connection details with the existing structure are tough, and therefore the room addition plans must be extremely accurate. For instance, the wall and roof heights are a very important factor to consider. The roof line, overhang, gutter board, soffits etcall must match perfectly on the outside with the new home addition. Sometimes a bedroom addition has a crawl space which needs ventilation to eliminate moisture problems and dampness, so the crawl space should be connected with the crawl space of the existing structure.
There are other things to consider when building a home addition or even a small room addition that never are an issue when you build a new home from scratch. Working around people and finished surfaces requires extra care; dust and utility (electric - plumbing) interruptions must be kept to a minimum and even the heating and cooling system is taken in to consideration. When working on the room addition plans the architect and home contractor must remember to evaluate the heating and cooling system needed for the new bedroom addition or home addition. Extending the existing heating and cooling system into the room addition may not be enough because the furnace and air conditioner were sized accurately for the original house, but they will not provide enough air for the new addition. If you are adding several hundred feet of new floor area, you would need a significant upgrade of your heating and cooling system. Another crucial aspect of room addition design is making sure the ceilings meet at the right height. This requires careful calculation of the foundation height from the point where the "break-through" or "connection" will be. Otherwise the floors do not line up.
So whether its a bedroom addition, second story addition or just a bathroom addition, it is a serious task that definitely requires a lot of expertise and experience.
