Add the Extra Room and Avoid Moving! Hurray!

With your photos and sketch, the local zoning officials should be able to tell you the maximum sized room you can build within the current zoning laws. The process involves all of the same things that you find in new home construction: foundation, footings, framing, zoning, permitting, HVAC, flooring, plumbing, electrical, new windows, roofing, etc. You can create your own set of plans utilizing a home design software package, or enlist the services of an architect. Without plans and a checklist in place, the probability of getting the addition you envision is highly unlikely.

Room addition projects can cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars so, unless you are paying cash for your project, you will need to obtain financing. This will require a complete set of plans including structural details to obtain building permits. In many respects, adding on to an existing structure requires far greater skill. You wouldn't want your addition to look like it was tacked on to the side of your house. The goal of a quality contractor is to match the interior and exterior of your addition to products that will match or complement the existing finishes. Also, bear in mind the additional time and effort required for the workers who must work around you unless the house is vacant.

When adding a room it is important to carefully consider the size and configuration. If the new room is built too small, you will be forever kicking yourself for not spending enough time and money for making it bigger when you had the chance. If the room size is too big, you may end up with a house that looks awkward and fails to complement the existing dwelling. Getting a chance to be involved in the planning and design of your new room is exciting and challenging but perhaps the most rewarding part of adding a room to your home is the benefit of knowing you have added value, saved money in the process, and best of all you didn't have to move.

Having a Healthy Relationship With Your Contractor

This is a different relationship than most people have with a contractor. The home design contractor is a trusted member of the team. He gives his input during the design process and based on his knowledge of construction and what really happens on construction sites he contributes valuable information to tweak the design in order to maintain the budget. It is a powerful collaborative effort.

During this process you will become more educated about the impact of each decision you make and how they affect the overall cost of the project. You will be pushed to think through details and make decisions early in the process. This is one of the best ways to control the dreaded "budget creep"!

Additionally the home remodeling contractor will be able to let you know what alternatives are available and how they can affect both cost and design. As an example, suppose you are adding a deck outside your kitchen and also want French doors that will open onto the deck. The initial design idea shows a door which will have to be custom made, with transom windows above. The contractor's preliminary estimate on the deck and door work is more than your budget. However, by collaborating with the contractor it is determined that a simpler stock French door unit will significantly lower costs. As you can see, the contractor is working with you to create a project that call be built within your budget but still satisfy your desires.


Another significant point to consider is that you and the contractor will have developed a good working relationship. All too often in a competitive bid environment the potential exists for a design professional to be aligned with the owner against the contractor in an adversarial relationship. When all parties involved work together on the project from the start this is much less likely to happen.

Company’s Design-Build Process Ensures Success in Home Remodeling

Americans spent an estimated $225 billion on home remodeling in 2008, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Remodeling represents approximately 2 percent of the United States economy and 40 percent of all residential construction. In the next decade, NAHB expects remodeling to overtake new home construction by dollar volume.

If you’re a homeowner interested in remodeling, what does this mean to you? It means that there are lots of companies to choose from so selecting the best company to get your remodeling project completed can be challenging. But if you understand what to look for in a home remodeler, you’ll be able to select the best one for your project.

Understanding the design-build company

Not all remodeling companies are created equal. In fact, not all remodeling companies offer the same services. A full-service, design-build remodeling company offers homeowners the ability to get all of their remodeling needs from the architectural design to the construction of their remodel met through one company that will oversee the entire project—from start to finish and even service beyond completion.

Marrokal Design and Remodeling is an industry leader based in San Diego, California since 1981. For over a quarter of a century, Marrokal’s design/build professionals have impressed homeowners with their attention to detail and unparalleled customer service.

“We have a great core group of people who really work hard for our clients. About 75 percent of our business is from referrals,” says Bruce Howard, Director of Production at Marrokal Design and Remodeling.
Howard started with the company 21-years ago. He says Marrokal Design and Remodeling plays an integral role in helping homeowners navigate their way through a highly confusing industry. “There are a lot of choices just in products, alone, such as tile. It makes it difficult for homeowners to figure out where to go to select a product and then even more difficult to choose which one is right for their home,” says Howard.

Green Building Also Saves You Money!

Of course, simple things like changing your light bulbs to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can help you cut costs; lighting can contribute anywhere from 10 percent to 20 percent of your electrical usage. LEDs will cost a little more upfront but they last more than 11 years and they don’t contain the toxic element, mercury, as the less expensive Compact Fluorescent Lights do.

Centrullo says during the design phase of the remodel, environmental factors such as the sun, wind, and shade, are given special consideration because they will later affect the need for heating and air conditioning of the home. “We’re taking advantage of Mother Nature,” says Centrullo. This creates an economic benefit later for the homeowner.

You can also invest in better insulation for your remodel. “Marrokal Design & Remodeling uses an upgraded insulation which makes a difference. The less heat exchange from inside to outside the home, the more money you will save,” he says.

Centrullo says that another big cost-saving benefit for Green Building is to use re-circulating pumps to help you save water. “Most of the time when the water is turned on, it’s not hot right away, so people just let it run until the water heats up,” says Centrullo. The average American family can waste 10,000 gallons of water each year just waiting for it to get hot, according to Home Builders Association of Metro Denver.

Re-circulating pumps are devices that push the water through the pipes and re-circulate it back to the water heater instead of pushing it down the drain. That process can amount to a couple hundred dollars of savings in your water and utility bills. “These are simple devices that we can install. They can be left on all the time or set to come on at certain times throughout the day,” says Centrullo.

Imagine never having to pay another utility bill? That is becoming a reality rather than just a thought for many homeowners. In fact, news reports reveal that some families, thanks to solar thermal (for heating water) and solar photovoltaic (PV) (for producing electricity) are generating even more power than they use. These days, homeowners are considering solar panels to supply electricity to warm their pools, generate home electrical needs, and even supply power for a plug-in electric vehicle.

A Room Addition Plan of Action

Building a Room Addition can be one of the best investments you can make in your home. Building a room addition, such as a family room addition, or bonus room can add wonderful new living space to your home. However, prior to starting a room addition, a homeowner should first formulate a room addition plan. There are several key factors that should be considered prior to breaking ground.

Developing a room addition plan should include both interior and exterior considerations. With many room addition projects a homeowner can draw up the basic room addition plans, including the floor layout and the physical exterior shape and size of the addition. However, if the roof lines and/or foundation footprints on the existing home or the new room addition are complex, an architect may be required. An architect may also be required to ensure that the finished room addition aesthetically melds well into the existing home. This is a key factor for resale value. If a room addition appears as an afterthought to the home it will be aesthetically unappealing to the neighborhood and to someday prospective home buyers.

When planning a room addition, the permit / inspection process will typically include an overall building permit, as well as electric, plumbing, and insulation permits. In order to complete the building permit process you will need drawings or sketches of the room addition. Besides overall sketches of the room addition with overall dimensions, the drawings will also need to include cross-sectional views showing the framing type and physical sizes of floor joists, roof rafters, and wall framing construction. You will also need a bill of materials and a cost estimate for the construction. The building inspector will use this information to determine if the construction will meet all construction and safety codes. The building inspector also uses the Bill of Material and cost information to assess the amount of the permit cost.

Room Additions Are Rewarding but Also Tedious

With the economy today the homeowner should think of adding a room rather than go through the process of buying a new home when the need arises. Especially if your home has the floor plan you like and it is already decorated to your tastes. It would actually be cheaper to add a room than buying a new home. And you could make the room the size you want instead of having to accept a home that has rooms either bigger or smaller than you like.

When building room additions the first thing you need to do is buy a building permit. All states and most all municipalities require building permits when adding a room or doing any carpentry work on your existing home. You will also need to know how deep the frost line is because you'll have to pour a concrete footer for the foundation to sit on, and it has to be below the frost line. The person you purchase the permit from should tell you how deep to pour the footer. That too will need to be inspected. You can pour the concrete up to the floor level for the foundation or use blocks on top of the footer. Your choice.

Building room additions is not an easy job. There are many aspects of adding a room, or rooms, that must be considered and planned for. For the person who is comfortable performing carpentry work, you can build your own room. But there are a few things to consider when building an extra room.

The Magic of Room Additions

There is a growing quest for most homeowners and their families who have outgrown their homes to simply have a room addition done rather than sell their homes and buy a bigger one. The hassles of going through a house sale and packing half-a- lifetime worth of treasures and junk is simply too much to handle. It goes without saying that selling an old house and buying a "new" house would most likely mean relocating to a new neighborhood or a new town. Most homeowners would prefer to just add rooms or spaces that they need.

A family of 5 living in a house built for three would definitely find the small house cramped and stifling. If this is the case then you need an additional bedroom or two for your growing family. You might also find the need to provide an extra guest room as preparation for those unexpected overnight guests say, your mother-in-law (?)

There is just not enough space for all the extra stuff that you and your family have acquired over the years. The attic or the basement is brimming with boxes of old things and memorabilia that you just cannot part with. If only you have an extra storage room in the house then you could convert the attic into an extra bedroom or your home office. If only you can extend the utility room for bigger storage then you can convert the basement into your dream entertainment or media room.

The Cost of a Room Addition

Most customers have a pre-conceived idea of how much their room addition will cost. The truth is that most customers guess the price of their addition to be 50% to 80% of the actual cost. A standard room addition will initially run 100.00 per square foot up to 150.00 per square foot with the size and design being the variable. There have been quite a few additions be in the 200.00 plus per square foot range.

The bases for the difference in square foot price has many variables, being existing home structure and design for tying in the new addition, complexity of the roof design, what the exterior of the existing home is made of and finally what the interior of the addition will have in it. There have been customers that decrease the size of the addition to bring the price down but when the project is so small, there is a point at which decreasing the size makes no difference.

It takes a certain amount of effort to start and run a project and also to meet minimums for subcontractors and suppliers. The plus for small additions is to increase its size will have a very small effect on the price. Typically we refer to a small size being 150 square feet or less with these being in the 200.00 per square foot price range. The 100.00 to 150.00 dollar price range usually works in the 300 square foot and above in size. The price also increases with the square footage price with the adding of exterior projects such as porches, decks and landscaping packages. This of course does not add to the square footage of the project but does drive up the square footage price. This pricing does not include any bathrooms or kitchens with it, as this is its own project inside the addition.

Making the Most Out of Adding a Room

There will more than likely come a time in a persons life that they will need to consider the possibility of adding room additions to their home, this will more times than not allow a person to expand and gain a little extra room in their home. These can be on a small scale, or can be on a much grander scale depending on persons particular needs.

There are also dozens of reasons why a person will consider this type of expansion, the most likely option, is that they are looking to add a room for a home theater or expand a current room to make it larger. The most common type of expansion involves the living room; there will either be an additional one built or the current one expanded.

Before you leap and make this decision, you need to first make sure that you are prepared for this type of remodeling to be done to your home; this will involve a lot of time and expense to be invested in this and will also involve you having to rearrange your life to accommodate the expansion.

There needs to be a clear plan that you will need to make sure that you have in place, this will as a result allow a person the chance to consider carefully the changes that they are looking to make. Get a program that will allow you to draw out what a particular change will look like when applied to your home; this will let you be sure before work begins.

Room Addition Trends!

Many people have the tendency or trend of improving their homes by remodeling them by adding rooms such as family rooms, so that their houses can accommodate more guests. This remodeling company offers designs and construction services for addition of rooms to your house. Many people find it ideal to find the space to locate additional family rooms near the bedroom of their children. Once they do this, the children can use the space left for study and other activities. These room additions prove to be very useful in the future.

The other top trend when it comes to room additions to a house is the addition of an additional place where guests can sleep if they will not fit in the spare bedrooms. This is possible if you place the right type of furniture into the family room. You can get a sleeper sofa that two people can sleep in comfortably. The other type of furniture that you can look for is ottomans or chairs, which fold out to become single beds.

You may also find it necessary to add more space to your family room to accommodate a larger dinning area. This is possible if you design the living room to have enough space for a large table. The table is useful for dining especially when you have many guests and will be useful as a study area for children. In order to use the space occupied by such a table efficiently, you can place it against the surface of a wall where you can pull it out when you need additional space.

The other top trend when it comes to room additions is the expansion of the family room to the outside. You can accomplish this through the addition or sliding or French doors. The patio or deck outside the family room will make the room look and feel larger.

Do You Want to Add a Room to Your Home?

There are a lot of people that are at their wits end when it comes to the amount of space that they have in their home, they always seem cramped and often times are desperate for a solution. Instead of selling your current home, why not consider the benefits of room additions. This can often time be a useful concept that will allow a person to get the answer that they are seeking.

The first thing that you need to consider is the type of room that you are looking to adding. There are several different types that a person is able to use in order to get effective results from their efforts. These can provide a person with multiple options for their home.

One popular type of these additions is a living room, this is considered to be the premiere type of adding to a home, even if it is turned into an additional bedroom, there is a lot of advantages that are able to be experienced.

When you are ready to make this step in the building of your home, make sure that you plan things out the correct way, this will help to ensure that your plans will go off without a hitch, if you fail to plan properly, then there is a good chance that you will have problems later down the road.

The actual use of this room may be for a family theater that you have always wanted, or maybe to extend your current living room to allow for more space, regardless of the reasons, there are several different types of plans that will allow you to do a wide range of things in the building of your additional room. This as a result will lead a person to make a decision that they feel is right for their home and for their needs.

These are a few of the things that needs to be kept in mind when you are making the decision to invest in room additions to your home, if done properly, this will be a wise investment that will pay you back for years

There are many great benefits that are able to be enjoyed when a person makes the decision to pursue the use of an addition for their home in order to relieve a little of the congestion that tends to accumulate around the home. Especially if there are kids involved, kids almost need a room of the house just for them these days.