Remodeling/ Major addition! Where to begin?

[Powerstroke]

My wife and I have finally decided to take the plunge and overhaul our current home. We can't sell in this market, our home was slightly overvalued in '06 when we bought and has lost at least 20% in value since then. Our home has a great foundation, is in a great neighborhood and has unlimited potential since I have the oldest and smallest home in the area. My house is the old farmhouse that sold the land to create the development that all my neighbors live in. So, I can only go up from here.

The house I'm working on is my first house so I have no knowledge about the process of remodeling like this. The only step we've taken so far is getting my brother who is an architect to take measurements of our house and start some design work for us. We have a single story house with a 750 sq. ft foundation and a finished basement. Our home is on a 1/2 ac We want to push out the front two walls 12-15 ft. and add a second story.

Where do we start? Where do we go from here? Are there any good resources you guys know about? Has any one done this kind of major overhaul?

[TR21]

Powerstroke,

I would get a builder on board right of way and have him in meetings with your architect. Make sure he has good subs to work with and is in good standing with the better business bureau.I designed my addition on my house and used Plekenpohl builders to do the actual construction. I was extremely impressed with these guys, quality work, all schedules met extremely careful not to disrupt living conditions during construction.

[luckey]

If you haven't already done so, stop by the "building permit" guys to first get an idea of what you can and can't do.

[Jameson]

My advice as a former landscaper who has been called many time to stop water leaking in between old foundation and new foundation is to strongly consider tearing down and starting new, or atleast not to expand on your current foundation. I'm sorry if that isn't the advice you were looking for, it is my opinion as the best way to go.

Good luck!

[Powerstroke]

A this point, we are not considering expanding the basement in this project.

My brother has already met with the building inspectors and received as much info from them as he could get. Apparently they aren't very busy.

I know I need to get a survey done and start looking for a builder but there are so many out there its hard to know where to begin.

[robbo17]

Powerstroke-- Send me a email- My Dad is a General Contractor and we can help you out.

[email protected]

[Macgyver55]

We added a second story on our first house. It was a major undertaking, but with a lot of great advice from my cousin (our contractor) it went very well and the result was great.

We had a small house and needed more space but had nowhere to expand but to go up. First we had to decide on our budget, then he started by drawing up plans for the layout, and we tweaked them to our liking. The way we did it was pretty unique I thought. After taking a lot of measurements from the existing house, materials were ordered, including trusses and sheeting. All 4 exterior walls were prebuilt on the ground and the trusses and other plywood was laid out for accessability. Then the cool part. They went around the entire upper rim of the house and removed the soffits and overhangs and cut loose the old trusses.

Rocket crane showed up at 7AM ready to go. They strung cables through the roof, and lifted it off in one big piece and set it down in the front yard. They then picked up the preassembled walls and set them in place. After squaring and securing them, they picked up the trusses and set them in place and nailed them in. Plywood was lifted up and laid, tarpaper was installed and the crane was out of there in 5 hours. By 4 PM the same day the house was sealed up and weathertight.

It worked out great for us, and in the long haul we were able to recoup every penny we spent and more when we finally moved.

In addition to that, my dad and I tore apart the entire old roof, one board at a time and reused the wood to build a garage at our cabin. I don't know that I would ever reccommend doing that though....what a job that was, it took DAYS just to tear it apart!