Deciding to add an entirely new room to your house is an exciting project that can completely transform the layout, look, and feel of your home. A new room sometimes signals a big life change, such as a new resident in your home, young or old, or a new means of making your home more suitable. Both luxury and functionality are common reasons for creating a room addition plan. There is no reason why a new room shouldn’t bring your unique and beautiful design to life.

Such a large project, however, requires careful and intense planning and consideration of all of your options before selecting the plan that is best for your home. Whatever the project, consulting and utilizing the design and construction skills of a trustworthy contractor is always a good idea.

With the help of a professional, you can ensure that your room addition plan satisfies all of your wants and needs and will make the new addition to your home beautiful, efficient, and fully functional.

Spark Creativity

The first thing you need when undertaking a room addition is finding inspiration for both design and functionality. For example, you may need to search for inspiration as to what room you want to add on to make your home more luxurious.

Consider adding a sunroom to bring the outdoors in. This creates a space to enjoy natural light while staying cool during the summer or warm during the winter. On the other hand, you may have the need for a new room. This could be a bedroom for a baby, a place for an elderly relative, or a room for storage needs.

Even with a need for an essential room, the need for inspiration is still a must. A new room with a purpose primarily for functionality will require some serious inspiration for the look and size of the room. Regardless of the purpose, seeing examples of other room additions will help spark your creativity and provide you with new inspiration and ideas when planning your own project. Whatever the case, careful and meticulous planning is required to ensure that you find and work out any problems before construction begins.

Check Regulations

Depending on where you live, your community may have a set of rules and regulations dictating certain specifics regarding your room additions. There is a good chance that these will alter your design requirements.

Additionally, your community likely requires certain permits for major additions to your home. Keep these in mind during the designing and building process. Disregarding them could result in major fines—and a major inconvenience. You should certainly be aware of these regulations and how they can affect your room addition plan. However, the help of a knowledgeable contractor can help you better integrate these requirements into your design.

The best contractors know your area well and are familiar with the regulations that must be complied with, and will help you better understand these rules and match your design needs to the legal requirements. However, it never hurts to double check the designs yourself against the community regulations. Always ask your contractor questions if you have any concerns, especially when it comes to regulations.

Build Out or Up?

A major consideration when designing your room addition plan is deciding whether to build a new room out on the side or build upward, effectively adding a new story to your home. This decision is affected by the lot that you live on, the existing floor plan of your home, and your budget.

There are many different considerations for both building out and building up. For example, if you have a pool, building out may be difficult to do.

Most importantly, your community’s regulations may have the largest impact on whether you decide to build out or up. These are often specific in their regulations and established guidelines, which may limit your ability to build up or out. Consider the benefits and drawbacks of both, as well as your home’s current situation and your community’s regulations, before making a final decision.

Create the Room Addition Plan

You have a number of options when it comes time to actually create the floor plan for your room addition. There are a number of online or downloadable programs and software that can help you bring your vision to life. During this phase, make sure your creation stems from your inspiration and your realistic restrictions.

However, many times, the best option is to relay your wishes to the trusted contractor and allow them to create a safe and efficient plan that meets all of your needs. Your contractor should be well versed in the regulations for your community. This relieves some of the expectation for you to understand the regulations.

A room addition plan requires much more planning than you may realize. These plans often extend far beyond the simple layout of the walls, door, and windows. Hiring the right contractor is an excellent way to avoid any potential safety hazards and keep in line with building regulations that you may not know about.

Conclusion

Whether you are planning a new room addition for function or for fun, you have quite a few large decisions to make. From design and look to form and function, a new room requires intense planning. You must make sure it suits your needs and checks all the boxes for legal and safety reasons.

Checking your room addition plans’ compatibility with regulations in your town is a daunting task. Starting from scratch on your room addition plan is also a large task. For a project of this magnitude, it is a good idea to dispatch the service of a respected contractor who can bring your ideas to life.

Contractors should understand your area and get to know your wants and needs as well. They help you balance your budget, restrictions, and ideas to create the best room addition plan possible. Building a new room addition is a massive undertaking; but with the proper planning, you’ll end up with the perfect addition and the home of your dreams!