Home Remodeling & Construction Blog

Many properties in suburbia have limited room for an addition. The yard is just big enough for a patio or porch and a little bit of grass to enjoy. But when your home becomes too cramped for a growing family and the darkness of the basement is unappealing, what type of home renovations will help? Virginia general contractors are the professionals that can guide you through an attic addition project and change the face of your home forever.

What Types of Attic Additions Can Be Done?

Bungalows and two storey homes, as well as side splits and back splits, will usually have an attic space. Typically it is filled with insulation or old, dusty boxes full of memories. But that area above can be renovated and expanded to create the perfect casual living space with interesting angles and unique nooks or niches.

General contractors will help you decide whether to add dormers to your home, creating a more interesting roofline and adding space on the top floor, or simply to finish the attic as it is laid out. Does your existing attic have full eight foot high ceilings or will you need to raise the roof and add up? Sometimes the current attic space can be expanded to one side (often towards the back of your house) to create a bedroom, home office or playroom. This requires limited roof work, which can get expensive depending on the current condition of your roofing material and framing.

Adding dormers is an excellent way to get more light into the current space. These windows project out from the current roofline and provide room inside for a decent sized window. Often dormers can be incorporated into the attic in such a way that more seating, storage and floor space are a result of construction.

Important Considerations

Attic additions should be done when the weather is warm and dry. It’s not entirely impossible to complete them in the winter time, but this will require extensive protection from the snow and plenty of wasted energy on heaters, etc. Most Virginia general contractors will suggest that all of the exterior work on an attic renovation is completed before any cold weather hits. And many will suggest waiting for the spring to start on construction.

Roofing is an integral part of this project. Even if the attic space is big enough that dormers and added trusses are not required, it’s wise to make sure the level of insulation in the attic is up to par. The condition of the roofing material will also be inspected to see whether replacement or upgrades are recommended.

Electrical and plumbing may be added to this new space. Hiring a general contractor will ensure this work is done by a qualified professional that follows the building code and designs an efficient and safe system.

Rejuvenate your home with an attic renovation that makes the most of the space you have. Virginia general contractors are here to help design, schedule and construct the ultimate home addition that builds the value and the structure of your house up.

So you have decided to go ahead with one or more home additions. In Virginia, there are plenty of architects and designers that can bring you closer to this goal. In anticipation of the work actually beginning, you may ask yourself what you can do to help the project begin as smoothly as possible, and just prepare in general for the arrival of a whole construction crew.

Staging the Yard

In all likelihood, your addition is going to invade some portion of your existing yard. Add to the space that the crew is going to need to set up their work and move supplies around, and you might as well clean up the whole yard, just to be safe.

• Anything that can be moved off of the lawn should be. All toys, grills, outdoor furniture and other such debris must be kept indoors or in the garage.
• If the area where the addition is going to go up has shrubs or other landscaping in front of it, consider removing all of it. A direct path to the work site is a necessity for the crew. It can be quite a bit of work, but if you are up to the challenge it can save you time and money.
• Alert all of your utility companies that you need them to mark all of their lines on your property. This is a wise step to take even if you are not excavating the ground, as it will let the crew know which areas to avoid.

Interior Preparation

Most additions are constructed in one of two ways. Either the entire existing wall between the space that will become the addition is knocked out, or a smaller opening just for a door is made in the wall to allow entry into the new room. Whichever method is used, it is all but impossible to keep all of the dust and small debris from finding their way into the rest of the house. You can however take steps to severely reduce the amount of foreign matter that enters your home.

• Invest in rolls of thick plastic sheeting and hang strips from the ceiling to the floor as a way to block dust. It is imperative that they not block the crew from the work, however.
• Laying down carpet scraps that can be purchased fairly cheaply at carpet stores is a brilliant way to reduce damage to your existing floors. Lay them down wherever the contractors pass through to reduce the mud and dirt mess.
• Empty as much of the furniture from the rooms nearby the construction as possible. Building an addition is a big job that can have unexpected occurrences. You will rest easier knowing that your things are safely out of a potential path of destruction.

Prepare Your Mind

A major home improvement project like a home addition isn’t going to go up overnight. If the schedule extends through holidays or inclement weather the remodel can take even longer than expected. This frustrating situation is normal, and you shouldn’t let it get to you. You might also find that the mess generated by a major renovation is a little more than you can take, but try to relax and let the work continue, it will be over before you know it, and all worth it in the end. Your general contractor should have experience with home additions in Virginia, which will also put you mind at ease.

The recession settled in some time ago, and with it came all of the paranoia and doubt that comes with an economy that isn’t growing like a weed. Homeowners that were planning an gigantic square footage doubling Virginia addition a couple of years ago are probably holding off on their plans until things start to look a little more optimistic, when they can afford to go bigger and grander again.

There might be a better way than just sitting on your hands and waiting for the sky to clear. Try contacting your local general contractor in Virginia, and you may find that you aren’t as far away from your goal as you thought.

Green Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Expensive

If you are going to proceed with a large home improvement project, it is best to do it as green as you possibly can these days. Energy efficiency immediately springs to mind when the word green is mentioned, but new home construction can go way beyond that. It also has to do with indoor air quality and other factors that have to do with organic living.

Try to keep in mind that just because your new home addition in Virginia is more energy efficient that your bills will go down. Adding that much space to your home, no matter how good the insulation in the walls, the quality of your window seals, or the energy star appliances you have installed can save you from the fact that a larger house is just plain going to eat up more energy.

An addition to your home in Virginia is just too big a task for anyone to handle alone. Your general contractor can get in contact with all of the expert individuals they need to help you get the best home improvement for your buck. Also remember that if green is your goal, try to reuse as much of the old house as you can when adding on. Remodeling an existing structure is always greener than building a new one anyway.

Have Your Cake and…..

There is character and memories attached to your Virginia home that you don’t want to leave behind. Why not just make what you have bigger, instead of trying to build new or find a home that isn’t going to need as much renovation as the one you have now? If you oversee the work yourself, you can make sure that it is done to your satisfaction.

A lot of people may prefer to build a house from scratch to get the most energy efficiency out of a structure, but it isn’t really necessary. Especially when so many Americans seem to think that there are, too many new houses built already. You may not need a Virginia addition, if your existing home can be sealed and built on to give you the added space and green living that you desire.

If you’re a seasoned home owner then you know how easy it is to outgrow your home and find that you’re quickly running out of space. It’s hard to admit that you’re accumulating too much stuff, or even too many family members (sometimes they won’t go away). Either way, you eventually need to acquire more space and home additions in Virginia are a great way to get more space out of your home.

Some people have a mind for internal renovation where they put down new carpet, remodel the kitchen to make new space or paint to open the rooms up but you might want to put those bandaids on hold while your tackle something that will truly benefit you - the home addition Read more…

The advantage of modern American homes is their ability to be enlarged, upgraded and enhanced, especially with home additions in Virginia.  For hundreds of years, people have expanded their living area on their land to create as much usable room as possible.  Perhaps there is a new baby in the house, or dad wants a game room, or mom feels her kitchen is too small.  Maybe the children are tired of sharing a room or you need more storage space.

Whatever your reasoning for an addition in Virginia, contractors are waiting for your ideas so that they can increase your space.  Additions have become so popular that there are television shows and websites dedicated to the many projects you can undertake. Read more…

The time has come to quit talking and start doing. Now that you’ve had discussions with a designer as well as a contractor you’re all set for your home addition.  Virginia contractors work quickly, but you’re still at the point of fretting over whether or not there is something you can do to speed up the process and get the job done that much faster.

Get The Property Prepped

Where home additions in Virginia are concerned, where you’re building out from your house, it’s a good idea to try to make the contractors job easy on the property. Read more…