Are you contemplating expanding your home with an addition in the coming year? With 2021 coming to a close, now is the perfect time to take a step back, regroup and contemplate your next renovation for the new year! If your current home has begun to feel a little crowded, home additions can be a fantastic way to create extra space and avoid the hassle of moving. With some careful planning and the right design in mind, home additions can increase your property value, as well as your quality of life and comfort within the home.
As a skilled renovation team, Peak Improvements offers extensive home renovation services across the Edmonton Capital Region, including assistance with expanding your home with a home addition. Below, we’ll talk a little bit more about home additions, including some of the common challenges faced by property owners looking to add on to the existing home. Read on to learn more!
What is a Home Addition
In the simplest terms, home additions are specific renovations designed to increase the overall space available in your home. There is a wide array of ways that this can be accomplished, including conventional lateral extensions that add a few rooms, bump-outs, sunrooms, building a garage and more. Finding the right fit for your home depends on multiple factors including your existing foundation, the condition of your home’s structure, municipal bylaws, and of course, what you’re hoping to accomplish overall.
While there is quite a bit that can be accomplished with a home addition, they’re not without their share of challenges, especially if you’re working with an older style property that hasn’t been updated in several years (if not decades). Common factors that may cause difficulty for your renovation include:
Modern Code Vs Grandfathered Designs
If you’re in an older home that hasn’t had any major modern upgrades since completion, you may run into a few hiccups depending on the nature and scale of your addition. Modern code standards are quite stringent on a wide variety of elements including electrical, plumbing, load-bearing features and more. Even though your current home may be exempt from certain upgrades that are now considered standard due to a grandfather clause, there is at least some likelihood that any new addition would be subject to these newer standards may not be compatible with your existing framework.
Cost and Time Frame
With a skilled team conducting your renovation, it is entirely possible to develop a cost-effective plan for an addition, but it’s important to realize that such projects do tend to be on a larger scale and will likely require a fairly decent budget upfront. As well, given the increased scope, working on an addition may take a little longer than other kinds of renovations.
Foundational Issues
Finally, when you go to inspect your property for development, you may discover that your foundation has a few issues that would make building an addition unsafe or infeasible. Should this be the case, your contractor can work with you to find an alternative that better brings your vision to life.
Ready to Expand Your Home?
If you’re ready to learn more about home additions, including what may be possible for your own home, Peak Improvements is here to help! Contact us today to learn more!
