Why not build an addition

It’s been a while since I posted anything on the blog.  We have done a few projects which I need to get posted.  The biggest one which will be blogged about first is the addition.  After long debate we decided to add on to the house instead of buying a bigger house.  This made financial sense.  Since I would do most of the work myself we would save a ton of money versus buying a newer, bigger house.  The housing market in my area was and still is experiencing a shortage of homes for sale which obliviously inflates the prices.  The other reason we chose to do the addition is that we love our neighborhood.  We didn’t think we could find one that would match our current happiness. 

Addition details:

We decided the main things we wanted were a larger kitchen and a first or second floor laundry.  After finding that moving the laundry from the basement to the 2^nd floor would be too difficult, we decided to include a laundry room in the addition on the first floor.  The addition basically bumps out the majority of our back wall 8ft.  Our total SF (not including finished basement) before the addition was ~2323.  After completion of the addition our total SF is ~2650.    

Here is the layout:

I wanted to provide some pictures we used as inspiration for the design:

 http://www.houzz.com/photos/247957/Craftsman-Charm-transitional-kitchen-los-angeles

http://www.houzz.com/photos/209764/Ackerly-Park-~-New-Albany-Ohio-traditional-kitchen-other-metro

http://www.houzz.com/photos/382924/Kitchen-Transformation-farmhouse-kitchen-burlington

After we had the layout down I went ahead and submitted a permit application.  This was actually easier than I thought it would be.  I performed the project as a homeowner builder and did not hire a contractor.  This made the permit process easier and I believe less expensive.  The permits cost me a total of $500.  The permits I needed to pull were - electrical(3), building, and plumbing.  I also had to provide an energy model showing which types of insulation and windows I would be installing.

In this post I will share pictures of the first activities.  The first thing I had to do was relocate the underground electrical service to the house.  The existing meter and service were located on the wall that I had to demo, thus the reason I had to relocate it.  I contacted the electric utility and had an onsite consult. I learned that I would have to do most of the work to relocate the service.  They only pull the new wire from their pedestal to the meter and disconnect panel.  They also relocate the meter from the old location to the new.  They charged me $800 to pull and terminate the wire!  I had to rent an excavator, excavate a new trench, install 2-3" conduits, and backfill.  I had an electrician friend install the new panels and sockets.  Here are some pictures:

Back of house before addition:

 You can see the old meter above.  Right in the middle of the wall I needed to demo.

 The second thing I needed to do was relocate my AC compressor.  I hired an HVAC company to come and move the unit.  I poured a new concrete pad and they came and moved the unit and also installed new line sets to the new location.  Here are some pics:

 In the next post I will get into the addition excavation and footer installation.

Thanks for reading.