Hello,

I hope your day is going well and thank you in advance for helping me.

My brother passed away and my mother really needs me around so we came up with an idea of adding a second floor to the family home. It's an oversized ranch. It's fairly large to begin with but I can't exactly start a family at 34 while living in the basement (finished or not). So in comes the addition.

The idea is to add a second floor over the current 2000SF of living space. In addition, continue the second floor over the attatched garage which is about 300SF.

There are two other thoughts as well. I'd like to enclose her porch (rip it down and build an addition on the back and extend the second floor on that as well.

The last thought is that I would like to make the attick livable at some point. I figure if we are adding a new roof, might as well make it pitched to live.

So the questions are this.
Generally speaking, what would it cost to rip off a roof of all 2300 SF and then add a second floor with the attick pitched.

How do we make the attick livable?

Is there a cost per square foot?

The foundation is Portland A - Built 1978 - The house is solid - I understand that there may be extra support needed if the home wasn't built beefy enough.

We will add a kitchen, two and a half baths, medium grade carpet and some hard wood.

I'd love some insight and hopefully I asked the right questions.

Oh yeah, house dimensions are about this.. (house is L shaped) Main body of the house is 65x30 and the part that makes it L is about 16x14. The garage is 16x16

Thank you,
JD

JD, this job is so complex to begin with - made worse by the questionability of the house being able to support this addition, that I don't think you'll get anywhere near a guestimate on the cost with just that info.

When adding on, going up is a whole lot different than going out. You need General Contractors to come out to give bids.

I have no clue on cost per sq ft on a job like this, but I've been involved in a lot of big jobs, both new construction and add-ons... It will be super costly. If it were $80,000 or so, would that change your mind? That figure is my conservative guess... give or take $25000

Rick is right. Without knowing where this home is, its structural soundness and other factors, any guesstimate we give you is just a guess.

Almost all contractors will give you a free estimate of the job. I would make sure that you only deal with licensed contractors if your area does licensing. I would then throw out the low and high bids and decide from the ones in between.

Remember there is more than construction involved here. You will need electricians, plumbers and finshers as well as the construction people.

Rick and Scott,

Thank you for repsonding.
To answer your question Rick if I thought it was as low as 80 thousand I would put on a third floor too. That would be a steal and a half if you ask me. I mean even at 105,000 I would do it quickly. Very quickly.

Scott makes a good observation that I'll need electricians, plumbers and finisher alike, I thought that was already understood, would the 80 to 105 guess still be on target with them involved?

Again, we can't say. Construction costs vary widely from region to region. The contractor should give you an estimate for the whole job, including architectural plans (you will need those to get building dept approval), permits, etc.

Frankly you are wasting your time asking us, when you should be interviewing contractors.

Okay then how about the attick.

The dimensions of the house are cooky. Basically it's 58X29 (internal) then there is the garage 20x18 and the master bedroom that pokes from the front left of the house 15x12, also the back of the house has about 2' that poke out for one of the bedroom.

Looks like this (hopefully this comes out right). 2300SF Approx + Attick

____ <---- houses shape minus garage
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So what am I required to do to make the attick livable for the most part. Roof pitch, build walls higher, I have no idea... Front to back the house is 29-30 feet in most spots then there is the other spots... Anyone?

And thank you again so very much. I know these questions are rough...

It depends on how much space you want in the attic. If you bring the roof down to the top of the second level, you will need to create knee-walls that will reduce the usable floor space. Assuming the roof ridge is 7-8 feet above the second level. The less pitch the more usuable space.

If you and your mom have a place to stay for 6 months it may be more cost effective to tear your house down, but leave one wall standing.
With one wall standing, in most areas, this qualifies for a re-construction permit and lets you be grandfathered on some newer local regulation enforced on new constrction.

Ski,

How would ripping down 2300 SF of living space be more cost effective? Would that be a large exrta expense?

Sounds like you should get a builder in to assess the whole project and give you an accurate idea of costs/feasability etc. I doubt you're going to get an informed reply on an Q & A forum?

So you are basically suggesting adding a whole new floor, then a finished attic on top of that? Giving you 3 living levels not including your basemet?

Here is what I think. If you really want to do this, you will need to hire a structural engineer to see if your foundation can support this. But not just the outside foundation, this will add a of stress on the center girder as well.

The former owners of my home decided to finish he attic, not even add a level, just finish what they already had. All I can say is that you can see signs where the floor sagged considerably to the point that I now have 9 floor jacks supporting a home that's only 700 square feet on the ground floor.

Im sure your project can be done, but Im wondering if it wouldne be better in the long run just to litterly tear down the excisting house and start over. Or sell out and purchase a house that is already suited to your needs.

You should consult an architect before you do anything.

I was just thinking if your putting a whole second story on plus a liveble attic, why not just tear the house down and start new.
If the project say costs $350.000 but you can tear down the original and build new for 400-425 to me it would be worth it.

In that case you can also look into modular homes. Your utilities are already there. When the home is ready, it is possible to have the house torn down and the modular brought in all in a week. When the house is set its needs to be finshed as far as the marriage walls are concerned and all utilites hooked up to the modular mechanicals. Something to consider.