My wife and I are beginning to evaluate how we are going to modify our house to accommodate our growing family. We live in a center entrance cape that has an external chimney. There are two bedrooms on the first floor one of which has been converted into a TV room. Our two boys are sharing a room on the second floor which is really a “pass-though” room that leads from the stairway at one end of the home to the master bedroom at the other end of the second floor. Our goal is to create two additional bedrooms on the second floor; one for each of the boys. The house was originally built as a one floor structure and has been modified in the last ten years with the addition of a shed dormer running the length of the back of the house to create the current second floor living space.
For many reasons we have decided that we would like to keep the house and make it a home where we will remain for many years. As with any project there are constraints which are partly what makes the project attractive. Many interesting problems to solve! Based on our setback constraints and our desire to preserve much of the yard, we believe and have been led to believe, that replacing the roof with a gambrel roof will enable us to achieve our goal while while adding minimal additional foundation. It is possible that we could achieve our goal with another shed running along the front but aesthetically we think we want to be a little more ambitious.
So heres the question; are we nuts? Anyone have any thoughts?
Parkinson’s Law: ‘Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.’
Edited 12/14/2004 9:43 pm ET by TreeMcGee
Replies
Tree,
I'm certainly not qualified to answer your question, but I've found a book that's on my Christmas list to get ideas on my Cape remodel. I've seen it at the bookstore and it has lots of very good pictures and ideas.
http://www.taunton.com/store/pages/070554.asp
(pssst, it's about 9 bucks cheaper on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1561584363/ref=pd_wt_3/002-7230845-6365632?coliid=I22FV6U91CTT1K)