Session Three: 21st Century Additions in a 20th Century House
March 22nd, 2003by Bob Morris
Create a plan that fits with your lot size and floor plan when adding a new kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, or laundry room to your home.
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| A house is an individual: it has biography, character, and can be related to as a person. It is important to treat a home with respect, and listen to what the building has to say.
People often want to change their kitchens because they seem too small. If you think you have cramped conditions in the back of your house, the solution may lie in adjusting your space to create specialized places and make the space more usable. This may mean that you don't have to build an addition on to your home.
When you anticipate adding an addition, look at the condition of the house in the section where you are building. Certain problems can be remedied as part of the process when building an addition. Judge the quality of the house and its need for adjustments. Remember that size is less important than function. A First Glance Old-House Evaluation ChecklistThere are a number of things to evaluate when planning an addition to your old-style house. Here are the aspects of your house that you should consider: Roofing
Check the general condition of the shingles – curling, cracking, or spots bare of colored stones indicate age.
Look at the number of layers: a maximum of three layers can be stacked on top of each other. When the 3rd layer wears out everything must be stripped before the next replacement.
Look for a cedar first roof at the base layer. If you do have a cedar roof the nailers for the cedar shingles were spaced and must be sheeted over before installing asphalt shingles.
Check the condition of gutters and spouts – bad roofs usually mean bad gutters, and it is more convenient to replace the two together.
StructureCheck for straightness of ridges and flatness of exterior walls. Bowing means considerable change has occurred and thorough inspection is advised. Look for “splayed” rafters caused by removal or failure of cross ties at the top of walls. "Splayed" rafters are also caused by removal or sinking of interior walls.
Note absence of interior walls where you would expect to find them – these may have been bearing walls.
Look for sagging and compression of joists and sole plates. If this is due to fungus or insect attack, major costs may be involved.
In masonry some cracking at joints is to be expected -- look for cracked bricks or blocks and deflection of sections of structure as indicators of major problems.
Check for damage to supports caused by incompetent installation of ducting on plumbing features.
Out-of-square doorways and windows may reveal settling where floor shimming has disguised it.
Uneven settling of porches is common and can be easily corrected. Similar movement of building wings is more serious but not critical, especially in frame structures.
SystemsHeat – check for stains on walls surrounding
the chimney. These indicate leaks in the masonry, flashing, or
both, which suggests a need for flue lining. Presence of a clay
tile at the top doesn't necessarily mean the whole chimney is
lined.
Water - assume all galvanized piping is or soon will be unserviceable.
Electrical - If the service is less than 100 amps, uses fuses rather than breakers, or has a cluster of panels, chances are that total replacement is necessary. These are some potential markers of an older system:
General Plan
Trims/Sash & Door
Planning for AdditionsThe following is a list, in order of importance, of desirable characteristics when planning additions to traditional houses:
1.) Comparability of scale 2.) Likeness to features often found in original plans of the period. 3.) Comparability of texture. 4.) Exactness of stylistic match. 5.) Recovery or enhancement of traditional function of other parts of the structure. 6.) Improvement of practical usefulness. 7.) Addition of value as reflected in appraisal formulas.
Guidelines for AlterationThe underlying assumption is that the value of a house with traditional character is greater according to the degree to which that character is preserved. “Value” here means not only aesthetics, but resale value as well. The following list is a ranking of justifications for altering traditional houses:
1.) Practical safety 2.) Code compliance – unless the building safety official agrees that practical safety is not impaired by authorized non-compliance. 3.) Removal of a disfiguring intrusive feature. 4.) Preservation or recovery of a more important characteristic. 5.) Enhancement of character elements’ durability. 6.) Practical usefulness. 7.) Energy conservation. 8.) Mere convenience. 9.) Modernization for its own sake. 10.) Taste questions related to stylistic history. 11.) Personal taste. 12.) The advice of a salesman.
Hints for a Methods of Securing Bids
Carefully determine your needs (whirlpool tubs and wall ovens should not be afterthoughts). Convert these into a list of specifications.
Secure a proposal from one contractor, being sure to use your list. Where code or practical considerations dictate changes, keep a record of them all. Note that peculiarities of these jobs are used to justify costs or time to complete. Where completion is dependent on the work of other contractors or your own work (in restoration, careful tearout is often done by the homeowner or a specialist), note this in specific terms. Any work only tentatively planned should be listed separately.
Upon receipt of the proposal, make sure all of the steps above have been done – then use it to write a new specification sheet.
Use this final specification sheet as the basis for two additional proposals. If the second or the third bidders suggest or insist on deviating from your specs, press for a complete and specific justification for each deviation. Every difference in specs will make proposals harder to compare in terms of cost and time.
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