Your Guide to Adding a Second Story to Your Home

1. Your Guide to Adding a Second Story to Your Home

2. If you’re running out of space at home and need more rooms to accommodate your growing family, a second story may be a great alternative to moving to another, larger property, and being forced to leave the home you love. However, adding a second story to a building is always going to be somewhat complex, and there are a variety of factors to be taken into consideration before you start hiring a general contractor to begin the work. In this brief guide, you can find out more about adding a second story to your home:

3. Check whether it’s even possible to add a second story to your home The reality is that not every home will be able to have a second story added to it; they may not have been constructed in such a way as to accommodate one, or it might not be legally possible. Firstly, if you’re interested in adding a second story to your home, you’ll need to have an engineer inspect your home and check whether it’s able to take the load of a second story. They’ll carry out checks of the structural work and ground support, and see if the ground floor is able to take the weight of another floor on top of it.

4. Then, either you or your chosen general contractor, will need to check whether it’s legally permissible to build a second story in your particular location, as there may be certain restrictions that apply in relation to the height of the house.

5. Estimate the cost of the project Renovating your home can be costly enough, but adding another floor is a whole different thing. While it can certainly be cost-effective when compared to moving to another home, it is never cheap. Many homeowners who have the idea of adding a new story to their existing home, vastly underestimate how much it will cost, and this can cause no end of problems when it comes to creating a realistic budget. Then, when homeowners realise the true cost of the project, they are tempted to cut corners on materials and contractors, in order to help them afford the project.

6. Arrange for alternative accommodation Even if you decide to add a simple second story to your home, with no fancy rooms or complex structures, it can take as long as 6 months for the work to be completed and before you’re able to move in and start using the space. With this in mind, it’s important that you have somewhere else you can stay during this time, unless you can endure the disruption, chaos and noise that is part and parcel of a standard story addition. Don’t forget to factor this in when planning your budget.

7. Second story addition options: There are several ways in which you can add a second floor to your home, and these are as follows: Remove the entire roof, and add a new one. Costly, this is not always an option for those on a tighter budget. Take off the roof and do the renovations, such as the walls. This includes adding wall and flooring. After this, you can re-install the old roof back in the framework. Instead of constructing on top of your story, an easier and more cost-effective solution is to have the pre-fabs made off-site. This is easy and cost-effective. ● ● ●

8. Ensure that the second story matches the rest of the home First and second stories should always complement each other, so it’s important to check for consistency when sizing the windows, doors and frames and when choosing the appropriate materials. Adding a second story to your home is almost always an effective way to gain more space and save money in the long run, and when you work with an experienced renovation company, it can help give you the extra space you crave and turn a cramped, home, into a luxurious and comfortable, forever home.

9. RZ Construction Group Inc is the best fully inclusive construction contractor and home addition contractor. From initial design to final clean up, our results speak for themselves. We are fully licensed, insured, and bonded to provide both commercial and residential construction services to customers in Astoria and the surrounding area. We also offer apartment renovation in Queens NY. Proud to serve New York State for 25 years. No job is too small nor too big. If you are looking for home additions in NYC or want to know more about our wide range of professional but affordable construction and repair services, reach out to us at (718) 938-9887.