We love our homes! Maybe that’s why we want to make them better.
Remodelling and adding extensions to our homes improve our home’s looks, feel, and usability. It also improves its value.
These jobs are called home extensions, now what exactly is a home extension? Well, they’re typically referred to as the increasing of the floor area of your home. Often times, the word “addition” is used to describe adding an extension to your homes.
When determining the type of extension you’re going to make, the first thing is to determine its cost. You can perform a quantity takeoff, which is used to calculate the quantities of items so you can get labour and material prices. If you’re trying to keep costs low, this is the best way to do it. The alternative is to have a contractor do it and they’ll usually include some additional markups for the project.
Here are some great ideas.
Top House Extension Ideas:
- Add kitchen extensions
- Conservatory
- A loft extension / conversion
- Victorian home dining extension
- Add a guest house or studio
- Add a bedroom over an attached garage
- Build a garden room or annex
- Side extension
Add Kitchen Extensions
Kitchens are one of the most important parts of any house. It’s a place that most of us spend a lot of time in. The most important part of a kitchen above design is the functionality of it. Adding an extension to your kitchen can give you larger square footage work with. It will leave you room to add more counter space with an island. Islands are great gathering areas, especially if you have an open floor plan.
Conservatory / Sun-room
Conservatories are extensions that typically have a lot of glass to let in sunlight. That’s why they’re also called Sunrooms. They are used as Studies, Offices, and even additional family or living rooms. One important thing to consider when adding a Sunroom is having a lot of windows brings in a lot more heat form the sun. This can bring up your electricity bill from higher air conditioning usage. There are eco-friendly types of glass that repel many of the UV rays and heat. Make sure your architect considers this.
A Loft Extension / conversion
Extra storage space is always welcomed for the occupants of the home. Even if you decide to sell your home, this extension of lofts and conversion of extra spaces into storage spaces will add to the great value. The best part about a loft extension is that you are not using any external space.
Victorian Home Dining Extension
You can use narrow unused space of your house and convert it into a Victorian Home Dining Extension. Adding a glass roof and huge glass windows with blinds will increase the space and provide you with an additional dining area.
Add a Guest House or Studio
A small guest house or a studio apartment alongside your property will add to the value of your property and give you an additional much-required guest house. Since the extension is on the external part of your house, it requires much less maintenance as compared to your main house.
Add a Bedroom Over an Attached Garage
Adding a bedroom increases your home value by 20-30%, and if this extension can be done without using an inch of your garden space, what more can one wish for! To achieve this, the best option is to utilize the space above your attached garage and convert it into an additional bedroom. In more than 90% of the cases, the space above the garage is left vacant, so use it efficiently, and you have an additional bedroom.
Build a Garden Room or Annex
A garden room is an extension of your garden area outside your home, which provides additional space for multiple purposes. The additional garden room or an annexe can be utilized for versatile purposes like a storage room for your garden tools and implements. It can also be used to be converted into an outdoor office space. Annexes can similarly be versatile and add value to your homes.
Side Extension
Side extensions can be very space conserving as well as a great asset in increasing your home floor area. Side extensions can be of open or closed types. They can form an outside dining area or an outside sitting area. A well-built side extension can also prove to be a semi-living-in area during pleasant weather.
Conclusion
Home extensions are neither expensive nor tedious; all you need to focus is on choosing what best suits your requirements.
One last piece of advice would be to make sure to take a building permit from your local authorities before finalizing any extensions.
