In my locality if you add or change an existing 3rd story, you have to add a
second means of egress otherwise known as fire escapes.. Your building/fire
codes might have been changed since your house was built and you might be
subject to a similiar code change. Does your local zoning permit as large a
structure as you would like to build on your existing lot? Go to your town
building department and ask a lot of questions first...you may not be able
to build what you want without permission from any number of
people....including your neighbors!


"Ignoramus18484" wrote in message
...
Some pictures of my house are at:

http://igor.chudov.com/misc/house/cascade/

This is actually a three story house. The third floor is basically one
nice big bedroom, plus a shower, a bat, and toilet. 5 bedrooms, 4.1
bathrooms. 3400 square feet above ground plus basement.

The wall studs are 2x4s spaced 16 inch apart.

What I am thinking is

1. expanding second floor to continue over the garage and
2. making this third floor the same dimensions as the whole house,
instead of it being one big room it would be much bigger, same size as
first and second floor.

My questions a

1. Is this feasible architecturally/structurally?

2. How much such a thing could cost (some top limit).

3. Am I likely to get a permit for it?

4. Is this so crazy that I should give up even thinking about it?

5. How much value would be added to the house, compared to the amount
spent, given that the house is in a nice neighborhood comprised of
nice but not excessive 4 bedroom homes.

Thanks!

i