Additions: Top reasons to ‘improve’ not ‘move’ (Guest post on Chron.com)

Original Article appeared in the Houston Chronicle

Your home was perfect and met your needs when you bought it. As the years went by, “life happened.” Maybe you want a little more space in your home. Maybe you absolutely love your home, considered moving to a new home due to lack of space, but discovered that it would be far cheaper to simply upgrade your home with a new addition.

Maybe you are starting a new journey with a home-based business and could use an office. There are many reasons for building an addition on your home.

You are already intimately familiar with your existing home. You know its ins and outs, pros and cons. You have loved your home all these years, but now you need extra space. When buying a new home seems like too big of a hassle, you can always have one or more new additions built onto your home. Maybe you never have considered building a new addition.

Here are some reasons our clients choose to add an addition to their home:

Kitchen or living room space is too small

Sometimes when we buy our home, the space in the kitchen seems fine. Then, after living there for a few years, we begin to see the space limitations. Perhaps you always wanted a breakfast nook, or extra room for a kitchen table, but due to the limited space in the kitchen, you have had to forgo these ideas. Maybe you even wanted to add a stand-up freezer or freezer chest, but again found that you didn’t have enough room. In many homes, the kitchen is in the back of the house where you can expand the space with a new addition.

This is much easier to do than selling your existing home and finding a new home with the ideal kitchen. If the kitchen is not located in a space that can be expanded, you can have an addition built onto your house and re-purpose the old kitchen into more family space.

Anything is possible when adding a home addition.

Addition of new – or returning family members

Perhaps you are expecting a new addition to your family or already have a newborn in your family. The lack of another bedroom has you faced with two choices: either pack up, sell your home and find a new one, or build the perfect addition to your home. New bedroom additions are among the easiest to add to your existing home, especially for two-floor structures.

You could even give up your bedroom and design the perfect bedroom for you and your spouse, which makes this even sweeter. Ever fancy having a walk-in closet and your own bathroom attached to your bedroom? All of this is possible with a new addition to your home.

Everyone loves luxury

Some luxurious ways to expand your home include adding a master suite, an enclosed patio or a larger living room with a new fireplace. When you think of home additions, it’s not just about adding a room here or there; it also can be about enlarging existing spaces.

Dan Bawden is a graduate master builder, certified graduate remodeler, certified Aging-in-Place specialist, and a certified Green Building professional.

This article was provided by a member of the Remodelers Council of the Greater Houston Builders Association. The Remodelers Council is dedicated to promoting professionalism and public awareness of the remodeling profession through education, certification and service to the Houston community. For information on this article, contact Lorraine Hart at lorraine@idealconsulting.net. To join the council or to find a professional remodeler in your area, visit www.ghba.org.