Things to know before Storey Addition

Are you planning to have an additional storey in your home? Storey addition can be a really hectic task because you need to look at several factors before deciding what to build, how to build, when to build and with whom to build. We explain several factors that you must consider before adding a storey to your home.

Local Building Codes and Permits

The first thing that you should know before deciding to go for storey addition is Local building codes and permits. Your added storey might block the light plane for your neighbour and this might have been explained in the local building code. You might violate the rules for built-up area as well. Building codes might sometimes prevent you from using a certain material of a certain size. You have to check all these either by yourself or hire a consultant engineer or a municipal engineer before deciding to proceed.

Budgeting and Finance

The most important thing in a storey addition is budget and financing. Storey addition is a work where the volume of quantities in a work are small and the rates are often higher than usual. Besides this, all the construction works, be it small or big, will have unforeseen expenses that arise differently in all sites. The unforeseen expenses often arise due to poor planning or a mistake made by previous construction work.

Architectural and Structural considerations

Architectural and structural works are the main things that determine the final looks and functionality of storey addition. Choosing the architecture of storey addition is often an easy task because you either follow the same architecture upon which the building was based or choose from a limited options because the added structure has to sync with the architecture of existing home. The structural considerations is also mostly the same, but if you are going for a cheaper option, you might plan for a different structure.

Alternative Living options during construction

You might feel disturbed while the construction activity is going on or you have to compromise your privacy and that will not be an easy thing to do. You have to plan an alternate location to shift your family or you have to have suitable temporary partition in order to make your family comfortable while the construction activity is going on.

Contractor Selection

You will be in a dilemma while choosing the contractor. Contractor might show you years of experience, but they might not have experience working with the material you are demanding them to work with. Some contractors are very poorly managed and they might take longer time to finish the storey addition project. You can check our article on how to choose a contractor for your home addition project.

Load Bearing Capacity of Building

The load bearing capacity of the building is considered a prime concern whenever you want to add a storey. If your foundation or columns don’t have capacity to bear the extra load, they might result structural failure like cracks or sometimes a permanent structural damage. Municipal authorities might require you to carry out the structural analysis further.

Thermal Performance, Insulation, Heating and Cooling

You might have to install HVAC in the added storey. You need to include this in the planning. You also have to be prepared for the extra electricity bill. Your engineer can calculate whether your existing HVAC system can be extended or you have to have a completely new HVAC system throughout your home after the storey addition.

Roofing and Cladding

Some building codes might permit you to use a particular kind of roofing for added stories while other building codes might permit the same roofing that was used in the rest of the building. The roofing applied on the previous floor might be reusable or might not be, depending on the material. Tiles might break during uninstallation process and you might have to add new tiles. But metal roofing are completely reusable. You might want to change your clay tile roofing to metal roofing or asphalt shingle roofing because they are considered more durable.

Flooring and Stairs

Flooring and staircase is the main component of storey addition because they consume a major portion of the storey addition budget. You have to choose the place where you are making a staircase cabinet. You might also decide to make stairs through a common meeting point of the first floor. This is specially suitable for open floor plan.

Plumbing and Electricity

Plumbing and Electricity together consume only about 8% of the total budget. But you have to plan the path and placement of plumbing pipes and electricity fixtures. You have to make sure that plumbing doesn’t go a long way or the pipe material should be reduced.

Earning and Future value of your building after storey addition

You might consider adding space in your building not because you need extra space for your family, but because your building is located in prime location. If the rent for your area is very high, you should definitely add storey to your home. For deciding whether you should add a storey to your building, you should find out the opportunity cost of your money. If the rent price is greater than the opportunity cost, you should consider adding storey to your building. If the rent price is lesser than the opportunity cost, then you must abandon the idea of storey addition.

Insurance

If you are adding storey, the insurance authority might not accept the same premium for your home insurance. You either have an option to terminate or to upgrade the insurance plan for your home. Make sure you discuss this thing with your insurance company to make sure your plan will still be intact.

How much does a second storey addition cost ?

It all depends on the material that you use to add a second storey. But if you consider adding the storey with the same material used as in constructing the first storey, you need to separate 60% cost of the total cost for construction of the building plus or minus the time value of money.