Home Additions To Fit Your Budget

There are many reasons to consider home additions and remodeling. Sometimes a growing family simply needs additional space. New babies are born, kids grow up into teenagers and need more room, elderly parents move in or college kids move back in after they graduate. Selling the existing home and buying another one isn’t always the best option. 

For one thing, in today’s market, it’s difficult to sell a property at all, much less than for enough to pay off the mortgage. Plus there are lots of hidden expenses in relocating into another house. Paying for the moving company can be costly, switching all the utilities over, buying new window coverings and landscaping touches for the new place can all add up. Besides, if you love your neighbors and reside in a nice community, you certainly don’t want to pull up roots simply to obtain another bedroom. It often makes more sense to remodel and there are some budget-minded ways to accomplish this.

- Convert the basement: If you have an unfinished basement, you have lots of space ready to convert. It won’t be nearly as costly as bumping out the walls because it’s already under roof and connected to all the main systems such as electric, gas and plumbing. All it really needs are division walls, carpeting, drywall and finishing touches such as painting. Hooking this room up to plumbing and HVAC systems should be fairly easy since everything is nearby. Your dark and dingy basement can become an apartment for your elderly in-laws or adult child returned home. It could also become a smaller bedroom and a family room or home theater.

-Transform the attic: Do you need another bedroom for one of your kids? How about turning the attic into a quaint bedroom for one or two of the children? With a window, this peak-roofed room can have a bird’s eye view of the neighborhood and can be every child’s dream come true.

-Garage conversion: If you have a double or triple garage, you may want to consider turning one portion of it into a bedroom or guest quarters for grandma and grandpa. Some of those gigantic garages have plenty of space for vehicles, storage and one cool bedroom. All that’s really needed is finishing since it has a roof and electricity. Just like the attic and basement, since it’s so close to plumbing and HVAC, it shouldn’t be difficult to run ductwork and pipes into this space.

- Bathroom or kitchen rejuvenation on a dime: You can greatly improve the look of both bathroom and kitchen simply by painting the cupboards and adding new hardware and knobs. Painting the walls a cool new color will add another element of modernization, as well.

Expanding the space within your existing house with home additions makes sense in terms of finances and staying in a place you love. Using a bit of creativity and hiring a competent contractor will allow your family to have more room to live and grow without changing your address.