(Garage Apartment Protected)
Since this has become an option we're actually exploring in detail I decided to make this its own thread because the whole process is a little complicated and besides RTT's thread I don't think it's ever really been done here. Our neighbor across the street is a builder and civil engineer who did this and a whole lot more 7 or 8 years ago, and when I asked his thoughts on the thing and he said it basically comes down to whether the foundation and lower walls will be able to support the weight. So it looks like I get to go have fun in the crawlspace measuring and making a drawing of everything down there this afternoon.
Why are we even thinking about doing this? In a nutshell, our place is big but the layout is really bad. Due to the fact that it was added on to twice there's really only so much you can do even if you tear everything out and start over, and the results would not be great (we looked into this 5 years ago). A teardown would also not have been cost effective and it would have also thrown out things that we liked. Due to location we have zero plans of moving.
Benefits? Picking up a room that can be closed off for kid stuff/toys/my games is a big one. Sound carries way too well in our place and there is nowhere for kids to go when we have people over. Wife gets a room that's completely hers to do crafts and whatever she wants instead of sharing it with a small guest bedroom. Kids bedrooms as-is are also poorly laid out due to door, closet and window locations, and one of them has about a 4x4 notch taken out of a corner for a coat closet that we get a lot of use out of. Storage has been a huge issue, besides what I've added there is next to none anywhere. Laundry goes upstairs, master closet storage increases by 50%.
There's also a decent view towards the river and downtown so I made a 2nd floor terrace on the model that looks out in that direction. Curb appeal would be greatly improved - if this project doesn't happen there would be another one at some point to take care of roof structure issues (bad tie-ins between original vs. existing additions and an overall shape that does not drain well) and hopefully change its shape to something that looks decent.
Beyond what I'm working on we had two additional projects planned. One was the roof thing which I hoped would be 5-8 years from now depending on overall condition, the other is the den/dining room that I was hoping would happen next year. I was already going to work with a designer or architect on both and the work was going to be contracted out. With this everything would be done at once, and I wouldn't spend a chunk of next year working joist, subfloor and flooring issues on bedrooms that wouldn't be that great after the project was done.
The biggest drawback is that it's a bit more space being added than we know what to do with (media room, anyone?). No clue what cost would be and how the original part of the place was built could derail everything.
Anyway here are a couple of pictures... the unfinished Sketchup model and one of the houses that I based a few things off of.
Since this has become an option we're actually exploring in detail I decided to make this its own thread because the whole process is a little complicated and besides RTT's thread I don't think it's ever really been done here. Our neighbor across the street is a builder and civil engineer who did this and a whole lot more 7 or 8 years ago, and when I asked his thoughts on the thing and he said it basically comes down to whether the foundation and lower walls will be able to support the weight. So it looks like I get to go have fun in the crawlspace measuring and making a drawing of everything down there this afternoon.
Why are we even thinking about doing this? In a nutshell, our place is big but the layout is really bad. Due to the fact that it was added on to twice there's really only so much you can do even if you tear everything out and start over, and the results would not be great (we looked into this 5 years ago). A teardown would also not have been cost effective and it would have also thrown out things that we liked. Due to location we have zero plans of moving.
Benefits? Picking up a room that can be closed off for kid stuff/toys/my games is a big one. Sound carries way too well in our place and there is nowhere for kids to go when we have people over. Wife gets a room that's completely hers to do crafts and whatever she wants instead of sharing it with a small guest bedroom. Kids bedrooms as-is are also poorly laid out due to door, closet and window locations, and one of them has about a 4x4 notch taken out of a corner for a coat closet that we get a lot of use out of. Storage has been a huge issue, besides what I've added there is next to none anywhere. Laundry goes upstairs, master closet storage increases by 50%.
There's also a decent view towards the river and downtown so I made a 2nd floor terrace on the model that looks out in that direction. Curb appeal would be greatly improved - if this project doesn't happen there would be another one at some point to take care of roof structure issues (bad tie-ins between original vs. existing additions and an overall shape that does not drain well) and hopefully change its shape to something that looks decent.
Beyond what I'm working on we had two additional projects planned. One was the roof thing which I hoped would be 5-8 years from now depending on overall condition, the other is the den/dining room that I was hoping would happen next year. I was already going to work with a designer or architect on both and the work was going to be contracted out. With this everything would be done at once, and I wouldn't spend a chunk of next year working joist, subfloor and flooring issues on bedrooms that wouldn't be that great after the project was done.
The biggest drawback is that it's a bit more space being added than we know what to do with (media room, anyone?). No clue what cost would be and how the original part of the place was built could derail everything.
Anyway here are a couple of pictures... the unfinished Sketchup model and one of the houses that I based a few things off of.
