Home additions that don't look like additions

[ReyDelSol]

Can this be done? Can there be home additions that increase the size of a house and improve its usefulness without looking like an after thought?

I'm interested, but almost every addition I've ever seen looks like crap.

 

[Ponyhorn]

The Jeopardy! home addition looked nothing like the real thing. Talk about false advertising.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

Yes, it's completely possible, but usually you have to pay a little more for because the architect/contractor/etc must pay special attention to existing context and detail.

PM me if you want to know more.

 

[jimmyjazz]

When I designed our second-story addition, I made every effort to make it seem like the addition was part of the original house. I'm no architect, though. Still, I think it works pretty well. The first floor was built in 1922, and we added the second floor two years ago:

 

[ReyDelSol]

jimmy - that looks good.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

jimmyjazz, if only most other homeowners/clients/architects/contractors had your sensibilities, this thread wouldn't even be necassary. Nice job.

 

[texfight2003]

We remodeled/added on in 1982. We had a friend -architect who did the work. He went to special pains to make it look homogenious and pulled it off quite nicely. He graduated from LSU and he said they integrate a lot of engineering with their archutecture degree. I think it made a big difference in the practical side of our project. I also think it cost more .

 

[Smurfette]

If you drive through the Bouldin neighborhood you can see a good deal of additions that look like additions and a good deal of additions that look really great. I think the trick is knowing you're going to have to give your whole house a makeover to have it look right.

 

[WooHorn]

Possible, but much more expensive. There are really two aspects: inside and out. The inside is really overlooked. Are office, laundry, etc. just tacked on to the back of the house or is the house designed like it would be from scratch with family room, breakfast room, master bed, overlooking backyard? I have been in plenty of houses where you had to go through the new guest room and home office to get into the kitchen from the garage. The outside is somewhat easier, but it involves changing the rooflne to make the addiition look original and matching the original materials. Matching brick is difficult and expensive. Most new construction uses hardy board which is great, but won't match cedar, etc. perfectly. You see a lot of additions with a higher roof because they want the new space to have 10 ft. ceilings while the old house has 8 foot ceilings. It is a lot of work to aviod this and may involve raising the roof on the entire house.

 

[ldogg53]

I just added 230 sqft on to the back of my house... I'll be posting up full before/after pictures soon... this is the same ugly house I posted some pics of back in December... we've been working on it for 6 months now...

at any rate, the key is the layout of the house... some are easy to add on seamlessly, and some will look like ***... we were able to push back 10 feet on my house to make it work... roof lines tied in almost exactly the same except that the original house had a 4' eave and code requires no more than 2' now.... bricks were NO problem matching up and were cheap, unfortunately my mason didn't do as good a job as I'd like in matching the mortar... and I might add that the original brick on my house is a Mexican clay brick that no longer exists, but there is a very similar one and when you blend the two you cannot tell a difference..

 

[Mizzou415]

Yep, it's going to cost more but it can definitely be done.

 

[Longhorn_Fan68]

In reply to:

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[ldogg53]

LF68....

we not only added on 230sq ft... but we also gutted the hallway bath... removed the existing master bath... converted some closets... opened up some walls... built up some walls to create a study... raised the cieling in the living room... replaced all the windows... gutted the kitchen... installed new hardwood floors... did complete tile work... replaced most of the HVAC system (ducts)... had to run a lot of new electrical and plumbing... and of course it is all permitted through the city so we've had that pleasure too...

and no I haven't done it all myself... but I have done most of the grunt work... all the demo... digging the foundation... putting in the rebar... hauling trash... installing appliances... building shelves for closets... painting.. caulking etc..etc...

 

[7Titles]

The reasons most additions look like crap is because it is expensive to do it right.