Your home may have provided you with enough square footage in the past, but now you may want to expand it. Perhaps you want to create a dedicated entertainment area or a new room for a private office. You might also be thinking of selling your home sometime in the future, so you might want to make it more marketable to buyers. Whatever the reason, enlarging your house will definitely improve it if you complete the job correctly. Contemplate these ways to add space to your house, and select the one that makes the most sense for you.
Enclose an Outdoor Area
You may already have an outdoor porch or patio area that you don’t use much. These areas can act as workable foundations from which you can create more interior space if you enclose them. You may want a casual location next to the living room, in which case you can make a sunroom by building the walls and even the ceiling out of glass panes to let in lots of natural light. You can also create a true room if you join the new space to the central HVAC system and make sure it’s directly connected to the rest of the house.
Construct an Addition
In contrast, the most large-scale way to add space to your house is to commit to building a complete addition. You could go for a bump-out that widens an existing room laterally or a home addition that stands adjacent to the main home. Either of these options will have a great return on investment, since they’ll increase your house’s overall square footage. You also have more freedom to influence their designs, since additions are completely new structures. At the same time, you should be aware that they’ll have higher costs and take more time than other approaches.
Finish Your Basement
An unfinished basement is a prime candidate for renovations when you’re trying to expand your home’s space. You don’t need to build an entirely new framework—you can just repurpose the existing one. The basement is a fitting place for an extra room once you do the right work to finish it. Covering the exposed concrete with drywall and flooring will make it feel like more than just a glorified storage space. Check local regulations to ensure you fix up the basement correctly so that it counts as extra square footage.
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