When you think of adding a second story to your house, you are likely to picture one on the ground floor. However, some people tend to add a second story above the already existing one. Depending on the situation, it might be necessary but there are certain pros and cons you need to consider before building home addition. Let us discuss them in detail and try to find out whether adding a second story to your house is a good option.
Pros of Adding A Second Story
Offers A Living Space Wherever You Desire
The most popular reason for people to add a second story is to increase the living space. While the second being that you can have space wherever you want. Furthermore, if you want to create a bigger bedroom or a special library for your books etc. the addition of a second story will satisfy such desires. In most Asian countries, homeowners tend to offer the second story as a rented space. Moreover, it can also be turned into a hostel for students. In the end, it all comes down to how you plan to use it. However, a second story will give you additional space to do whatever you want with it.
It Won’t Impact Yard Space
The biggest concern or less desirable element of a ground floor addition is that it takes a lot of yard space. This will create a problem if your yard is already tight and requires further squeezing. As a result, your kids will not have any room to play outside and there will not be any space for gardening either. Every house needs a touch of nature. This gives it a more natural vibe rather than materialistic. Therefore, the good thing about a second story is that it will not affect your yard space.
Cons Of Second Story Addition
It May Be Expensive
Let us get this out of our way first, adding a second story to your house is not going to be cheap. Typically, it will cost you more money than the ground floor. The reason being that an elevated addition takes more effort and resources to build. For instance, the contractor will need to add more support beams underneath the addition. And since the laborers will be putting in comparatively more effort as well the overall cost will increase simultaneously.
An Unappealing Exterior
Even if you happen to like the interior space after the addition but the exterior of your home might look a bit odd. Although the contractor will try his best to fulfill all your requests and finish the project as you were expecting but sometimes the second story might look slightly off. Then again, you might love the space it offers but may also create a problem with the resale.
Important Things To Consider When Deciding
Is The Foundation Strong?
Discussing the pros and cons of adding a second story is one thing but considering the foundation is another. This is amongst several other important considerations that you should be aware of while adding a second story.
Since your house is currently a single-story building, the contractor probably did not consider adding another house on top when they were building the foundation. In such cases, the addition of a second story will most probably require re-modeling, which is a time-consuming and expensive task. One of the most important things to consider when determining whether the foundation is strong enough is by inspecting the soil beneath your home. For this, you will need to hire an engineer who will test the soil for stability.
Find A Good Contractor
As mentioned previously, a second story is a time-consuming and expensive process. Only professional architects and builders should be hired for the process who proceed after thoroughly understanding and analyzing the foundation and its strength. You would not want someone to perform a shoddy job, which compromises the overall structure of the house.
Final Word
Adding a second story to your house will give you the space you require. However, you will need to work out the costs and the benefits it is going to offer as well. Make sure that you hire reliable home addition companies DC for the job who understand their work and build a second story just as you require.
