Vaulted Ceilings, 2nd Floor Infill and new family spaces

Lots of folks have high-ceilinged bonus or family rooms in the large homes that sprang up over the past 20 years and have probably wondered about how to get extra living, bedroom or even just an upstairs laundry or bathrooms out of it. A project I am just starting looks at doing just that.

This family has a beautiful home, extensively updated, and another child on the way. The high ceilings in the faily room and redundant stairway are difficult to heat, unnecessary and create acoustical problems. The vaulted ceiling has been nice for a sense of volume, but feels wasted. Plus the existing 9' ceilings will keep a sense of roomy-ness when closed off for a new 2nd floor. At the same time, removing the dis-used stair can add to the existing laundry room/office behind it, and give us a kids craft and mud-room area.

We are trying to move the laundry upstairs, add a bedroom, and a new family bath. Since the adjacent master suite has a very large 80's bath, the options we will look at may include stealing some of that space and taking the opportunity to remodel it as well. As always, budget rules!

In this project the obvious first step is to slide a shed dormer out of the main roof. The pitch is so steep and tall that we can get a full 8' outer wall and still have a good slope for the new roof.

First run throughs:







Opt 1: 2 BR, bath, full laundry, remodel master bath

More to come!













Opt 2: Keep Master Bath, single bedroom, full bath,
hall laundry (mauve area is existing)



Plan now, and Design-Build

Thanks for stopping by! I have been out of touch here for a while, while we try to revise my main website. Meanwhile, it looks like things are picking up, peaople are starting to do what they have been putting off for a while and looking ahead to brighter days. SO...

Time to plan for the building season! Keep in mind that it could take several months to get throught he design and document process, depending on the complexity and scale or your project. Some I can blow through fairly quickly, but they are the exception, with little detailing, a lot of the decisions being made on the fly or by you or the GC during construction. This is not necessaruily a good idea, but can work for "typical" projects. Anything else, give yourself time to plan, dream and get it right.

I have also started working with a great young GC, Domers Construction, in a Design-Build capicity, where we can do a two part system that can really help control costs and get you the project you want and can afford. I work with you during the design process in a typical manner, except that he and I confer constantly on builidng and cost issues. By the end of a preliminary design, you will have selected a solution you like, and he will give you a budget range. If you agree, we will finish the drawings for permit and construction and he will give you and estimate guaranteed to stay within the earlier budget. The secret is constant communications and input, and coorperation rather than the sometimes adversarial bidding process.

Give me a call if you think it might work for you!

Project Progress

Couple of projects are moving along or have just finished.

The Kitchen renovation/blowout I wrote about in my May 4 article (below) is done. These are outside pictures while they finish painting the inside. The beige pic is "before", the green is "after. It is close, but subtle moving of the back door, exchanging the slider for a French door and adding efficient and larger windows really opened it up. The real proof is in the inside, which I will post when it is completely done.

The Dormer (also below) is now framed out and sheathed. A huge LVL beam let us open the whole room up, and the 1" exterior insulation stops the thermal bridging of the studs and gives us an R-20 wall. The area below the high awning windows is to be opened up to the hall below, though it is tempting to keep it for the attic room! One thing to watch out for with an adjacent gable pitch is to put in a significant "cricket" to guide the water flow away (far right).

Marc (MPF Construction in Abington) is a good builder. This is probably the 4th project I have done with him in this area.

And the Rear sunroom/front porch addition in Ambler is tearing it up. fully closed in, looking great. The contractor, Jon Domers, is a young guy new to me but has turned out to be a very contientious, smart and forward looking builder. I am really lucky to have guys like these on my projects.

Here we used U-.29 windows from Integrity, a combination of spray foam and fiberglass isulation in the walls and ceilings, and even R-30 in the floor. The windows on the left are tall but the sill is high enough to allow furniture, while the ones on the right are lower for a sunroom effect at the south-west table area. The room is light filled with a great view to the to-be-landscaped back yard.

The center gable is a bit shallower than the existing roof, but has to coordinate with the 2nd floor windows. The interior view and feeling is just great when you stand in the room, however. The center is set up for a specialty tile backboard and hearth, and a woodstove. Also, we used standing seam metal for the pitches we could see (front porch and rear gable), and EPDM for the out-of-site flat roof.

Row houses!

Row houses are cool. Our first one was in Roxborough. I learned plastering, electrical (cross yourself, close your eyes and connect the wires...) and resisting the Devil when my neighbor bought new vinyl windows while I rebuilt the original wood ones.

They are also a real PitA. With everything in America growing bigger, they have 30" front doors, 30" halls, 7'6" ceilings, postage stamp back yards, plumbing from before time began and electrical systems that defy comprehension.

That said, they are usually affordable, have great neighborhoods, lower fuel bills, proximity to active urban life, and fewer rooms to furnish.

That said, they could use a couple more rooms to furnish and to stick the kids in or to have friends over.

In the rowhouses I have designed new or renovated, the common issues are: new rooms off the back, a new kitchen and maybe a PR on the main floor, laundry upstairs and a person-sized bath on the upper floors. Oh, and throw in a roof deck for the fireworks. I have also deepened the basement (not for the faint of heart!), replaced the front brick facade and cleaned up the Living room-to-kitchen visual axis.

In a new home in the Italian Market, this axis gave us an archway to the dining room, large pass-through at the kitchen, and large windows opening the a deep back yard. Nice if you can get it, but a cool growie or sculptural element on the back garden wall can be rewarding as well.

For adding new rooms to the back, the typical one is over an already expanded kitchen. The structure is already there and it is a logical place for a bedroom, bathroom, office or what have you. It usually depends on the existing bedroom and bath layout what you can do there. The other cool thing is that since they are so simple you can go very modern or very traditional and have it work.

For a deck, use either the next floor up rear room roof, or, if you want an additional bedroom or family room there, add stairs to the main roof. That's where the view is! All in all, it is a cross between a sailboat and a Rubik's Cube, but with care you can open things up a bit and make the (cozy) home of your dreams.

Now is the Time to Build!

What?!?

What I mean is, there are several good reasons to do your project now.

· Despite the recent gloom, many of us still have seen long term appreciation in the values of our homes, so additions may well give you the value you are looking for while not out-pricing your neighborhood (if carefully planned).
· Life goes on regardless, the kids grow, need room, living spaces just don’t work for your lifestyle anymore. In many cases, the neighborhood you are in is terrific, and a careful addition will allow you to stay. If you need it, you will get the value out it.
· If you could benefit from the addition, renovation or expansion, so will others, so the resale value and saleability of your home will be improved. That said, do not do an addition for speculation; do it because it will enhance your home and life.
· If well planned and executed, you will get better use and pleasure from it than the stagnant or dropping stock market!

At Black Dog, our approach is to be practical, beautiful and as cost-effective as we can. This does not mean cheap, since building is always a significant investment. It means the design is well thought out, not excessive and suits your requirements.

That’s value.

Dormer Progress report

The project is built and is a huge sucess! The upstairs famly/playroom is almost 6' deeper and had great light and a view to the park. It will make a good master suite later. The smaller windows light the 2-story stairwell and the entry is updated. The owners also took the opportunity to upgrade to Hardie plank siding, extended eaves and new windows, and promise that the pergola will come!
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The previous posting referenced a dormer project. It has evolved a bit,with the simple goal of expanding the upper floor leading to an awareness of how important the entry is. The new roof meant we had to redo the entrance, so we are enlarging the roof, keeping the simple shed look, and adding a pergola across the front.

This references a classic front porch, and enhances the impact of the entrance. It also keeps it open for landscaping while shading the south facing windows.

The window pattern above reflects the spaces behind: the awnings are over an open shaft for the stairs, while the double-hungs are in the playroom, tons of light and a great view to the park across the street.

Since we are replacing the roof anyway (which started this whole thing!) we are also adding overhangs to the gables, part of a little style change from the basic ranch that we began with a neighbor (the green craftsman buglaow on the Residential Design page).

There are some structural challenges to this type of addition, notably the floor must be adequate or beefed up,and adding this dormer to the existing rear dormer meant either a massive ridge beam or a smaller one with posts. The solution depends on the layout of the house.

So, a simple idea has plenty of challenges, but plenty of benefts as well. Keep in mind that things are rarely as simple as the basic idea seems to be, but then, with some thought, the rewards can be just that much greater!

Less is more

A recent article in Parade Magazine made me think about just how much is needed when we do an additon or renovation. Their basic point was that the recent recession has made us more conservative financially but more to the point, looking harder at the value of what we do and have. The contrast is easy, of course, and almost cliche'd: pre-recession= big cars, larger homes, pulling money out of thin air via rising housing values. Post-recession= more careful spending (duh!) and looking more at function and rationality.

Looking back at the past couple of years, I have certainly had to do with a lot less. I bring this to the table with projects now, sort of an existential paring knife. Two possible projects make me think of this. One is the expansion of an attic dormer across a ranch house for more useful space. Another time this would have been ripe for a new 2nd floor. This time we realized the existing space is actually really interesting, and the value of the structural machinations, new windows, flooring, systems, etc, for a dormer could be worth it. Still, the big question to be asked, are you staying or not? Sort of like a car. You spend a rediculous amount of money for something that only wears out. No future value, but considerable present value. In a house, you can get both, but the break-even point should be if you will get to use it, because you won't get your money back as an investment.

The other project is an in-law suite. The folks are helping support one of the mothers-in-law, and realized it would not only save money for her to move in, but would bring her closer to her grand kids, and as a bonus, be a valuable addition to the house, one that any family could use. There is always a yin and yang, of course. The design must give both parties autonomy as well as proximity, but in a healthy household, the value is both present and long-term.

The priorities should be quality of life, I think. That is best helped by good design that may include expensive things, but at a minimum must include opportunities for the special moments in life.