"Alex" wrote in message
oups.com...
the addition of a second story over part of the house. We're looking
at adding an area above the garage and possibly partially over the
living room, which total would be maybe 550-600 sqft added.
Some questions though... what do we need to consider or check with
first? Finding a place to add stairs indoors might be tricky, and the
outside since the house is brick might also be a feat.
AFAIK we don't have any city permits or anything smiliar. Any ideas
along these lines?
As for cost, has anyone done this recently or know round about what
such an addition might cost?
We can only give general answers and maybe provide some questions you need
to answer.
The area over the garage may be a bigger problem than the area over the
house. When you add a second story to a ranch home the only hidden expense
is sometime beefing up the door and window headers and maybe adding a little
more support to the center pier system. The exterior stud walls and center
dividing walls can normally handle the load. Also it is normal to have to
beef up the ceiling rafters to a floor load spec.
When you talk about doing it over the garage there is a tremendous
difference in the structure required for the floor load and the existing
ceiling load. Often a steel beam is required for "center pier" portion of
the garage in order to hold up the floor above.
If you can't solve the stair problem in a pleasing manner scrap the project.
More than likely you will need a building permit from someone, electrical,
HVAC and plumbing permits and inspections. Robert, a regular reader and
sometimes poster lives in Texas he might be better able to address that
issue.
Cost is going to be directly related to the engineering problems that must
be addressed in order to build the structure. It is going to be a lot more
than you think. Remodeling costs per square foot are considerably higher
than buildings costs. I know you want a number so I will make a WILD guess
of something between 60 and 125K. Maybe better to find another house.