Is this realistic: a large home addition where the original house becomes a wing of the new one

Parent Cafe
1

Could we take a 1970s home (ranch or split-level) and attach a new house, making it look as though it is one, with the idea that saving the old structure would spare some building cost for that square footage, using the old “wing” for some kid bedrooms and a family room?
Would the architecture costs and/or a new exterior be prohibitive compared to simply tearing down the existing structure?
Might the act of digging a new foundation close to the old house damage it?
Would we need a contractor/builder prior to making such a purchase?

We are just trying to think outside the box - long story :slight_smile:

2

That’s a very old practice, at least in New England. If you drive around rural roads here, you can see little houses attached to bigger houses (and barns), and in some cases, the smaller houses are the oldest structure. The big house-little-house-back house-barn configuration was not always built in that order. Often, as the family grew more prosperous, they’d add the grander house to the front of the smaller one. Our Sherborn, MA house was like that, but this was done in the 1790s.

As to whether it’s practical or affordable for your situation, you’d need to talk to an architect and a structural engineer. But it’s definitely doable and can look really nice.

3

Yep…there is a house down the road from me…the small cape house is now a side to a huge colonial.

4

The large costs involve tying the foundations/crawlspaces together, tying the rooflines together so that they look cohesive and the plumbing (if you need to tie into the main line in an existing slab).

Is there any way that the new kitchen can be somewhere near the old kitchen plumbing? It’s not the end of the world if you have to run new lines.

Also, is there a septic tank or sewer disposal issue for enlarging the home on the existing?

It’s very common in my area… but we have very strict coastal requirements. If you can leave a minimum of 50% of original house you don’t have to go through Coastal Commission review. There are a lot of creative additions built surrounding the original 50% of houses around here :slight_smile:

5

In my area if you save any part of an existing house your property taxes remain at the existing rate of the original structure for a fixed number of years… That can include just a part of the original footing.

Meet with an architect in your area. You don’t want to end up with a “box on a box.”

6

One of our neighbors did that when we lived in Birmingham. Apparently the regulations were much more lenient on remodels than new construction, so they left enough of the old house so that it wasn’t considered new construction. They built around the old part and it pretty much looked like a new house.

7

You would probably spend more on the architectural and building costs than if you just demolished the original house and started over. And then there’s a good chance, you’ll compromise the design of the new house in order to facilitate keeping the old structure.

Not worth it IMO.

I have seen an old house kept in its entirety with a new house separately built on the same lot. Big lot though.

8

My wife and I refer to our house as a “Frankenstein” house. What was once a small 3 bed one bath has more than doubled in size over the years. The downside for us is that it wasn’t ever done in a comprehensive way. So the layout is a bit weird with quite a bit of wasted space. I think I could cut my square footage down by 25% and I wouldn’t miss it at all. So make sure what you are building actually works. If you leave 1500 sf of space, but it gets cut up or used weird and you only really are productively using half of it, it may not be worth it. Plus I have some issues with the HVAC, plumbing and electric being cobbled together.

Having said that, it certainly happens and may be the best course. But I would check with a builder first. Also make sure you won’t hit any zoning or building code issues that would prevent you from doing what you want.

9

My parents did it. My brother was the contractor. The original house was very old and was itself a bigger structure added to a smaller structure (originally the town jail.) My parents added a huge kitchen with a bathroom and bedroom above and tied it to the original seamlessly. It was a really neat house.

10

@sushiritto That was another thought, building a separate house, as we were thinking about separate structures anyway, something of a “MIL apt,” more for extra kid bedrooms and a man-cave/gym, potentially a “barn” (2+ acres). It probably isn’t doable to keep an existing structure, though there are nearly no empty lots in this particular place and in the current super-tight market, the few available options are already-remodeled 70s houses with an already-remodeled hugely-increased price (200k over the pre-remodel price).

The particular area is 5 min from the kids’ high school, where we have 9 more years (we are 25-30 min away currently). Outbuildings and horses allowed, no HOA. Septic and well, with option for water tap - I’ve already looked at the tap fees but I have no familiarity with septic, never lived in a house with it.

I wonder if we could give a split-level the facade of a barn.

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A split level house is not worth keeping in any shape or form. It is the worst possible house design.

12

^That’s what I’m afraid of. I’m currently eyeing a FSBO split-level, not yet on the internet - I figure it’s only a matter of time before they sign with a realtor. In its current exterior condition, it’s not likely to sell at the asking price they told me, but if they lowered enough, it would be gone in a hot minute. The lot would be ideal for us.

I can’t figure out how to get beyond the wide swings in building cost per sqft estimates I find online without actually talking to a builder. I need to google a how-to-build-without-getting-taken-for-a-sucker guide.

13

I’m a little confused and, just in case you don’t know, I’m from CA.

How does a barn figure into the equation, would that be the structure that’s connected to the original house?

Is the lot 2+ acres? If so, then you have plenty of room to build a 2nd larger structure, depending on your zoning laws.

Can you subdivide the 2+ acre lot? If so, it might make more sense financially to build the 2nd structure on the newly created lot.

I remember a old house in a city here in Silicon Valley, this area of the city had an “architectural control committee.” Typically, the people on these committees aren’t builders, designers or architects, so well, they tend to be very, er, uh, myopic. Yes, that’s a good word for it. This committee made the builder save a portion of this “architecturally important” old house. In the view of most, it wasn’t. Anyway, the house ultimately turned out great, though it could have been better, if started from scratch, but the amount of extra work and the compromises that had to be made on the design showed, at least to “Architectural Digest” crowd.

Thankfully, no HOA in your case. IMO, they’re terrible. I’m not familiar with septic, that’s rare here unless you live out in the “boondocks.” :))

Just remember, it’s about time and money. You could make almost anything work with time and money. :slight_smile: Ultimately, I think you can run the risk of a “Frankenstein” house or “Winchester Mystery House” syndrome. And that’ll hurt resale value.

14

^We are not in CA. If we were building entirely from scratch on this FSBO site, we would probably end up with two structures, one being a main house and a second building that involved an apt of sorts with a couple of bedrooms and a gym. That could be in the shape of a barn or there could be an additional something out back (where some structure currently sits that from google satellite resembles a large chicken coop LOL).

No subdividing any smaller than the 2-2.5 acres (which is fine). There would need to be building approval from the municipality, but the zoning allows for outbuildings and horses, so as long as it’s not unattractive, I don’t foresee an issue with anything we would want to do. There’s a super cute new-ish farmhouse and barn a couple neighbors down - I think their barn might actually be a garage.

Good thought on checking whether the zoning says anything about bedrooms or apts in outbuildings.

I want a covered porch facing the mtns :slight_smile:

15

It sounds lovely, from what little I can gather. Negotiate your best deal and tie it up. While under contract, say 60 days, you can talk to an architect and investigate what you can and can’t do with the municipality and check the well water, septic tank, etc. I’m no expert on wells and septic tanks, but I can assure you, you don’t want one to leach into the other. :))

If something bad is discovered, then you can go back to the seller maybe negotiate better terms. I will say, FSBO’s are difficult, because the owner always thinks he or she has a gold mine and they may get insulted if and when you discover something is wrong.

16

That is called a “pending feasibility” offer. Your county or city might have sft restrictions for detached auxiliary structures if they have living spaces. In our old place, one could build an ADU half the size of the main house. Most cities around here limit adus to 800-1,000 sft. Do your research. If the house is a true split, that type of homes are the blight of real estate and almost impossible to convert into anything good looking.

17

Thanks, Bunsen! Easy enough to look up. One dwelling unit per lot and “no accessory structure shall contain residential living quarters.” Can have accessory stables for horses but not for kids lol (we have a big family). Fine then, bedrooms in the house, and put the gym and office in the accessory structure, which appears to be ok and dh would love. Max enclosed accessory structures (which do not include small sheds, etc) limited to two and a total of 2000 sqft. Can also have a garage in accessory, though I’ll require at least one garage attached to house. From what I’m seeing, we could probably get special approval of a site development plan or a variance or something, but I don’t see a need for us to go that far.

If we were to build something, maybe the process would keep me from driving my junior nuts during the coming year.

18

In my (expensive housing) town we have a lot of what are nicely termed 60s starter raised ranches and splits. On a neighboring street there are several that have been remodeled with additions. I can think of one where they reno’d the existing house and added on and it’s OK. I can think of another where the architect said essentially – why are you trying to save this horrid thing. It’s going to cost the same to knock it down and build what you really have in mind. People have done both. I think the best bang for the buck on the strange split things is to start over! YMMV!

19

There is a house near us (like the new England house described above), but they built the new part close to the old one and then built a connecting “space/hallway” to avoid the foundation issues and to marry the styles of the 2 pieces. It is beautiful inside and out. Original house was stone from late 1700s.

20

In our town grandmother apartments aren’t allowed. Building new or remodelling same code, same zoning for the most part. If it were me I’d hire an architect and have them do a zoning analysis and maybe even some sketches of possible layouts. Setbacks, Floor Area Ratios, height requirements, boards of architectural review may all have an impact on what you can do depending on where you live. Half my work is additions - so a big addition vs a tiny addition is not that scary in my mind. You plan for utilities, you make sure that there room for storm drainage or septic tanks. If anything is sketchy about the original house you may want to talk to an engineer - the architect will know if that’s required.

I’ve done additions on split levels. In fact there’s one design that I’ve met in three different locations and we did something different each time! Some people really love splits.