| With the economy today the homeowner should | | | | First, you will need to consult with a heating and |
| think of adding a room rather than go through the | | | | air-conditioning expert to decide whether or not you |
| process of buying a new home when the need | | | | may have to enlarge the outside unit of your central |
| arises. Especially if your home has the floor plan you | | | | air conditioner, as well as the furnace. If so, you'll |
| like and it is already decorated to your tastes. It | | | | need to have that work done by a licensed |
| would actually be cheaper to add a room than buying | | | | professional. You will also need to add the ducting for |
| a new home. And you could make the room the size | | | | your air conditioning and heating system. |
| you want instead of having to accept a home that | | | | When building room additions you will also need to |
| has rooms either bigger or smaller than you like. | | | | hire a licensed electrician to do the wiring. It's a |
| When building room additions the first thing you need | | | | dangerous job, so don't try to do it yourself. Besides, |
| to do is buy a building permit. All states and most all | | | | it has to be inspected afterward. You can save |
| municipalities require building permits when adding a | | | | yourself some money by drilling the holes through the |
| room or doing any carpentry work on your existing | | | | wall studs and running the wiring to the electrical box |
| home. You will also need to know how deep the | | | | if you know what your doing. But the electrical |
| frost line is because you'll have to pour a concrete | | | | connections have to be made by a licensed |
| footer for the foundation to sit on, and it has to be | | | | electrician. |
| below the frost line. The person you purchase the | | | | You'll have to decide what pitch to use for the roof |
| permit from should tell you how deep to pour the | | | | over your new room. You will have to tear off part |
| footer. That too will need to be inspected. You can | | | | of the roofing on the existing roof so you can tie in |
| pour the concrete up to the floor level for the | | | | high enough to get at least a 6/12 pitch. That's a 6 |
| foundation or use blocks on top of the footer. Your | | | | inch fall for every 12 inch length of roof. |
| choice. | | | | Building room additions is a great way to increase the |
| Building room additions is not an easy job. There are | | | | value of your home. A 12 ft. x 15 ft. room addition |
| many aspects of adding a room, or rooms, that must | | | | will cost about $15,000 but will increase the value |
| be considered and planned for. For the person who is | | | | even more. How much more depends on the location |
| comfortable performing carpentry work, you can | | | | of the home, size of the room and the quality of the |
| build your own room. But there are a few things to | | | | work done. Good work will always bring rewards. |
| consider when building an extra room. | | | | |