How likely is it that I can add a room to my house for $30k or less?

[disneybound31]

Has anyone done this lately? I REALLY want one of those all-window sunrooms, but I think it would run closer to 50k in our area...so I am wondering if any of you out there have added a room lately and what the general cost is?

I know there are a ton of factors, but before I get the 2 building contractors out here to give me the 2 estimates (in our small area there are only 2 that come highly recommended) I want to get a ballpark from you guys, if possible.

We are thinking a 16x20 room added onto the back of our house- they will either have to utilize or tear down our small 8x8 deck (I don't care either way, we hardly use it) and it would be a step down room over a crawl space with a slightly higher than average ceiling- I want one ceiling fan and possibly no ductwork run to the room because it gets lots of shade in summer and we will add an electric fireplace to the room for heat and atmosphere. (We are in East TN with fairly mild weather-but will connect to the central air if builder recommends due to our humidity) I do want alot of the wall space to be large windows- we have pretty woods behind our home and no houses back there to mar the view.

Floor would be a faux hardwood and they will also be tearing up our living room carpet (also about 16x20) and installing the same hardwood-look floor there to provide some flow and also because DH hates how nasty our carpet stays in the living areasso I promised him we could tear it out when we do this addition. But not real hardwood.

The addition would be a closed off room with wooden french doors leading in from the dining area...

Is that too much info or not enough? We have never done any remodel and we are not handy at all so cannot do any of this ourselves. Like the flooring, for example. Have lots of friends who do it, but we are hopeless We can paint...

Our home is fairly small- 1500 sq. feet- and we are running out of room with a soon to be teenager and DD10...when they want to have friends over to visit or spend the night there is just NO WHERE for them to go! This way they have a den/sunroom to hang out in and we are not all crammed into one room.

We live very frugally so we don't want or need a crazy awesome room-just a functional rec room so the kids have more space. Thanks so much for any help you can provide- advice- questions for me....just thanks!!

 

[disneybound31]

Also, let me add that our house is about 12 years old with siding that is standard and easy to match/obtain and a shingle roof- it is basically a starter home, but newer and in a nice, gated subdivision so we DO have to get architectural approval from the HOA, but we are in the 'simpler' end of the neighborhood. Nothing fancy over here.

Homes on our street run $150-200k...(when we bought a decade ago prices were much lower tho)....on the 'fancier' end of our neighborhood the homes run over a million dollars...it's a big jump On our street we joke that we are the ghetto side of the neighborhood, lol...

 

[rnorwo1]

We live in a moderate to moderately high priced area in terms of housing/building costs. Two years ago we closed in an office that had an encased opening, made a door in the hallway to that room (turning it into a bedroom for our youngest) and then added onto the house by tearing down the back wall of the living room (it had a set of french doors and two floor to ceiling windows on either side) and added a very large room (an extra den, basically) and office, approximately 450 sf interior, and also a fairly large patio. We had some built ins made for the new office, used real hardwood floors, had to do electrical, air ducts, etc, recessed lighting, had columns put on the patio, had to rebuild part of the roof for the new angles, and we even redid all of the shingles on the entire back of the house so there would not be differences in the color of the shingles (I thought that was a bit much, but DH and the contractor overruled me!) There was also a good bit of sheetrock, brick, hardi-plank, and vinyl trim work on the exterior.

Unlike when we originally built the house a few years ago, we did very little of this work ourselves (never again!) My DH and FIL did the electrical, and the contractor handled everything else. It cost us a little under $40,000 for all of that, I want to say $38k. And we did not go with the lowest bidding contractor either. So who knows what costs are in your area, but here (again, housing is not cheap here, but not absurd either) I'm sure you could do it for around $30k.

 

[Diegosmom]

Hubby wants to do this to our house and he said it would cost under $10,000 but he plans on doing all the work. Not sure if his estimate is low cause he really wants to do it lol or if it is good.

But my thought on this is if you are paying 40-50K on a 150K home would it not be better to try to see your house and buy another house for say 190K (cause you would have to pay closing). Out house is also 150K and it is 1500sqft but I have seen house around here that are 190-200K and they are alot bigger and a lot nicer then ours. Of course if you really like where you live and hate the idea of moving then this might be an option.

Another thing when my dad redid part of the basement and made a bedroom he put in electric heat for that 1 room (rest of the house is oil heat) and no ac but the house is up north and never had ac. You can buy those small rolling ac units for like $200 that can cool a room.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Part of the problem is...WHERE do you live and what are the building codes?

My old house is in Florida and adding a room would cost you $50K minimum due to modern day hurricane codes. That just makes the cost of materials hurt. I think it would be $10K in windows alone for a sunroom for impact glass since shuttering them is just as expensive but a bit more work and perhaps troublesome on the install.

That aside--if you know anyone who can help, you can figure out how to DIY part of it to help mitigate costs.

Tips we were given were--DIY flooring, painting, finishes--consider both interior and exterior. Sometimes the dollars add up to significant savings. I did find out that DIY install of the drywall is not cost savings effective since the grunt work is in the mud and finish. However, I think they make a mud where the dust drops to the floor when you sand it so it isn't as messy. But that could yield a cost savings.

In the end we did not add on, because our choice of payment was to be a construction loan and home values began dropping and then plummeting shortly after we looked into that.

Unfortunately, despite declining home values, the cost of the add on did not see the same plummet and would still be just as expensive today.

Before you add on, consult a real estate agent AND a property appraiser. Have them look at your property and then compare it to similar post-add on properties to see what type of value you will add. Sometimes, it just isn't worth it. Other times, it just doesn't really matter other than what makes you happy in your present home.

 

[disneybound31]

Hubby wants to do this to our house and he said it would cost under $10,000 but he plans on doing all the work. Not sure if his estimate is low cause he really wants to do it lol or if it is good.

But my thought on this is if you are paying 40-50K on a 150K home would it not be better to try to see your house and buy another house for say 190K (cause you would have to pay closing). Out house is also 150K and it is 1500sqft but I have seen house around here that are 190-200K and they are alot bigger and a lot nicer then ours. Of course if you really like where you live and hate the idea of moving then this might be an option.

Another thing when my dad redid part of the basement and made a bedroom he put in electric heat for that 1 room (rest of the house is oil heat) and no ac but the house is up north and never had ac. You can buy those small rolling ac units for like $200 that can cool a room.

Yep, what you said towards the end. We love it here. We are also on one of the best lots on this whole end of the neighborhood because we back up to the woods, have a very private backyard and are at the end of a cul-de-sac which means very safe bike riding and basketball shooting for our kids and the other kids who live beside us.

So even tho there are definately nicer and larger houses (of which we cannot afford- we are SUPER frugal and have only 12 years left on our mortgage and $80k left til paid off- we do not want to start over...we plan to have house paid off when kids are still in college) and the thought of packing and moving and TRYING to sell in this market makes me dry heave.

 

[disneybound31]

Part of the problem is...WHERE do you live and what are the building codes?

My old house is in Florida and adding a room would cost you $50K minimum due to modern day hurricane codes. That just makes the cost of materials hurt. I think it would be $10K in windows alone for a sunroom for impact glass since shuttering them is just as expensive but a bit more work and perhaps troublesome on the install.

That aside--if you know anyone who can help, you can figure out how to DIY part of it to help mitigate costs.

Tips we were given were--DIY flooring, painting, finishes--consider both interior and exterior. Sometimes the dollars add up to significant savings. I did find out that DIY install of the drywall is not cost savings effective since the grunt work is in the mud and finish. However, I think they make a mud where the dust drops to the floor when you sand it so it isn't as messy. But that could yield a cost savings.

In the end we did not add on, because our choice of payment was to be a construction loan and home values began dropping and then plummeting shortly after we looked into that.

Unfortunately, despite declining home values, the cost of the add on did not see the same plummet and would still be just as expensive today.

Before you add on, consult a real estate agent AND a property appraiser. Have them look at your property and then compare it to similar post-add on properties to see what type of value you will add. Sometimes, it just isn't worth it. Other times, it just doesn't really matter other than what makes you happy in your present home.

We live in East TN- outside of Knoxville; GO VOLS! Building codes...good question that I do not know the answer to...no hurricane issues or flooding issues. Beyond that? Not sure.

I personally think 'I' could be happy leaving the house as is...but DH and DS13 really want a bit of extra space- they love to watch ball together and when DD9 goes to bed there is no way they can use the tv in our current living room because our house is so small the sound and light from that tv travels down the hall to her room. Plus they yell. At the refs. It's loud.

Plus, I know both DD and DS would love to have a better area to entertain friends. Especially as they age into teenagers. Sleepovers are few and far between here because all 3 bedrooms are together at the end of the hall and even playing board games or talking past 10pm really bothers mom, dad and the sibling with no friends over. In a rec room at the other end of the house they would be able to play Wii and talk and snack without disturbing the rest of the house so much. Same idea as a basement, of course, but we can't dig a basement!

I know we really do not plan to move, BUT if we did have an additional room that adds 400 sq. feet to our house and can be used for a den, office, man cave, guest room, etc. that could only serve to boost the value of our property if we did decide to sell, right?

 

[nilseks]

I think the biggest factor will be your foundation. You say there is a deck there, correct? It would be cheap to tear the deck down but for a room that size it could easily cost $15,000 just for the foundation.

If you have a ranch, it's generally easier to go up. My sister had a 1,600 sq foot ranch and she went up and had a floor added over the entire house, plus redid the bottom level and only spent about $100k. Just something to consider--you can get a lot more bang for your buck. Or a lot of times if you have an upstairs but nothing over your garage, you can do a bonus room over the garage for maybe $20k.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

We live in East TN- outside of Knoxville; GO VOLS! Building codes...good question that I do not know the answer to...no hurricane issues or flooding issues. Beyond that? Not sure.

I personally think 'I' could be happy leaving the house as is...but DH and DS13 really want a bit of extra space- they love to watch ball together and when DD9 goes to bed there is no way they can use the tv in our current living room because our house is so small the sound and light from that tv travels down the hall to her room. Plus they yell. At the refs. It's loud.

Plus, I know both DD and DS would love to have a better area to entertain friends. Especially as they age into teenagers. Sleepovers are few and far between here because all 3 bedrooms are together at the end of the hall and even playing board games or talking past 10pm really bothers mom, dad and the sibling with no friends over. In a rec room at the other end of the house they would be able to play Wii and talk and snack without disturbing the rest of the house so much. Same idea as a basement, of course, but we can't dig a basement!

I know we really do not plan to move, BUT if we did have an additional room that adds 400 sq. feet to our house and can be used for a den, office, man cave, guest room, etc. that could only serve to boost the value of our property if we did decide to sell, right?

At best, all you can expect is that it might make the home more appealing. What kind of value it might add can only be determined through appraisal, either casually with a realtor or formally with an appraiser. For example, if that extra 400 now makes you the biggest house in the neighborhood, you may recoup less money than if it was bringing you to average in the neighborhood where there are existing homes that are worth more than yours.

If you really want to know what you can do, call around for estimates. Ignore the crazy high ones and the lowball ones and focus on the middle. The middle will be closest to accurate, although even it is unreliable as a precise estimate. Things always come up that boost the price a little.

Also, the initial estimate will only be a ballpark. It is only when you get down to blueprints and materials lists can you nail down a more accurate estimate.

 

[disneybound31]

I think the biggest factor will be your foundation. You say there is a deck there, correct? It would be cheap to tear the deck down but for a room that size it could easily cost $15,000 just for the foundation.

If you have a ranch, it's generally easier to go up. My sister had a 1,600 sq foot ranch and she went up and had a floor added over the entire house, plus redid the bottom level and only spent about $100k. Just something to consider--you can get a lot more bang for your buck. Or a lot of times if you have an upstairs but nothing over your garage, you can do a bonus room over the garage for maybe $20k.

Good ideas- but because of a 20 foot vaulted ceiling over our combo lR, kitchen, dining room we can't go up and add a floor (also because of the HOA requirements that everbody's roofs have to be the same 'level', no 2nd floor additions) and we can't go over the garage because of the same weird issue. The garage ceiling is like 2 stories tall because the roof pitch had to match the rest of the house...not sure if you can picture it without seeing it...it sounds weird the way I've said it, but it looks normal

 

[disneybound31]

At best, all you can expect is that it might make the home more appealing. What kind of value it might add can only be determined through appraisal, either casually with a realtor or formally with an appraiser. For example, if that extra 400 now makes you the biggest house in the neighborhood, you may recoup less money than if it was bringing you to average in the neighborhood where there are existing homes that are worth more than yours.

If you really want to know what you can do, call around for estimates. Ignore the crazy high ones and the lowball ones and focus on the middle. The middle will be closest to accurate, although even it is unreliable as a precise estimate. Things always come up that boost the price a little.

Also, the initial estimate will only be a ballpark. It is only when you get down to blueprints and materials lists can you nail down a more accurate estimate.

This is helpful info-thanks. Adding that footage would put us about in the middle. Some bigger, some smaller. Most homes on our street are 1800-2000 sq. feet. A few 2400+ and a few of us hover around 1500-1600 sq feet.

 

[mrudman]

Has anyone done this lately? I REALLY want one of those all-window sunrooms, but I think it would run closer to 50k in our area...so I am wondering if any of you out there have added a room lately and what the general cost is?

I know there are a ton of factors, but before I get the 2 building contractors out here to give me the 2 estimates (in our small area there are only 2 that come highly recommended) I want to get a ballpark from you guys, if possible.

We are thinking a 16x20 room added onto the back of our house- they will either have to utilize or tear down our small 8x8 deck (I don't care either way, we hardly use it) and it would be a step down room over a crawl space with a slightly higher than average ceiling- I want one ceiling fan and possibly no ductwork run to the room because it gets lots of shade in summer and we will add an electric fireplace to the room for heat and atmosphere. (We are in East TN with fairly mild weather-but will connect to the central air if builder recommends due to our humidity) I do want alot of the wall space to be large windows- we have pretty woods behind our home and no houses back there to mar the view.

Floor would be a faux hardwood and they will also be tearing up our living room carpet (also about 16x20) and installing the same hardwood-look floor there to provide some flow and also because DH hates how nasty our carpet stays in the living areasso I promised him we could tear it out when we do this addition. But not real hardwood.

The addition would be a closed off room with wooden french doors leading in from the dining area...

Is that too much info or not enough? We have never done any remodel and we are not handy at all so cannot do any of this ourselves. Like the flooring, for example. Have lots of friends who do it, but we are hopeless We can paint...

Our home is fairly small- 1500 sq. feet- and we are running out of room with a soon to be teenager and DD10...when they want to have friends over to visit or spend the night there is just NO WHERE for them to go! This way they have a den/sunroom to hang out in and we are not all crammed into one room.

We live very frugally so we don't want or need a crazy awesome room-just a functional rec room so the kids have more space. Thanks so much for any help you can provide- advice- questions for me....just thanks!!

We added on to our house approx. 6 yrs ago, and it cost us just about $31,000.

What that price included was a 12x16 area that was divided and made into a bathroom and a walk-in closet. Included pouring a foundation (to code), bricks along base of house, siding the addition, the roof on the addition, window for bathroom, 2 new windows for our bedroom (wanted them to match since it was built off our bedroom), running the heating ducts into the new addition from our basement, water lines, electricity, toilet, shower, counters/cabinets, flooring, walls, oak trim throughout, and shelving in the closet.

Oh, and we're in a suburb in NE Ohio, just to give you an idea of COL, etc.

 

[need2cruise]

We just added 1400 sq ft to our home (family room, master bdrm, walk in closet, master btrm) and it has cost us close to $20k. We did all the work ourselves, from the digging of the foundation, to the electrical, to the roof, putting in plumbing, etc. It upped the value of our home considerably and we have a lot of equity in our home!

It is a pain in the butt doing it all yourself, but we know that it was built right the first time around and didn't skimp on things.

 

[need2cruise]

Good ideas- but because of a 20 foot vaulted ceiling over our combo lR, kitchen, dining room we can't go up and add a floor (also because of the HOA requirements that everbody's roofs have to be the same 'level', no 2nd floor additions) and we can't go over the garage because of the same weird issue. The garage ceiling is like 2 stories tall because the roof pitch had to match the rest of the house...not sure if you can picture it without seeing it...it sounds weird the way I've said it, but it looks normal

You can always put in a slab flooring since this is only for one room in the house. You just won't have a crawl space under this one section and since you aren't using it to make a bathroom, it shouldn't be an issue. If you were going to have plumbing there, then you would want the crawl space for the pipes.

 

[Kies99]

We added two rooms in the fall-2009/spring-2010 timeframe. We had an old, 1 room addition that was our family room. It ran across 1/2 the back of the house and had a door that opened out onto a brick patio that ran the second half. We wanted to close in the patio thereby extending the family room across the back of the house. Above that new portion we had a large bathroom put in that attached onto our master bedroom.

We had a contractor dig out and lay a new foundation (keeping the "old" addition), frame in the rooms and due the new roof and siding. A subcontractor ran all the plumbing and installed the shower (he came back later and installed the sinks).

My FIL and I did all the inside work (electrical, drywall, floor, painting, fixtures).

All told ran right around $50-60K.