Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 1/29/2010

Question
Richard,
My husband and I love our 1920s cape cod but with 2 children and 2 dogs we are in dire need of extra space upstairs.  Our children's bedrooms are very small, one being about the size of a walk in closet.  We have 2 large dormers on each side of the house and would love to raise the rest of the roof, or at least a part of it, to that level to give us more space.  However, we don't know where to start or if this is a feasible solution to our space problem.  Is it easier to raise the roof or put an addition on the house?  Where can we learn how to do this ourselves?  Thank you for any help you can offer.   Lisa

Answer
Good morning Lisa - thanks for your question!

Let's get right to it - there are a number of reasons why I'd say no, it's not feasible to raise the roof of your house!

First is that you'd be destroying the character of the Cape house; a big part of its' charm (and I assume, part of the reason you love it!) is because of the cozy, quaint, picturesque scale of the one-and-a-half storey look - it's what Capes are all about and a big part of their value!

You'd have to raise the roof so high that the original scale of the house would be gone forever.  More often than not, projects like these end up as examples of "remuddling" (remodeling gone bad!).

Second reason is structural.  As soon as you turn most of the upstairs into living space, you're going to have to meet the structural code, and that will likely mean rebuilding the floor system...which means tearing out the ceiling...which means redoing the first floor...and on and on (you'll have to move out, too!).

Third is cost!  I assume your budget is limited somewhat?  This project will mean reworking a lot of perfectly good existing house to get more space upstairs...that's wasted money, in my opinion!  You'll have to redo wiring, plumbing, ductwork, etc. to service the larger second floor.  You'll be tearing off a perfectly good roof just to build it all over again higher in the air.

All of the time, effort, and $$ you spend on raising the roof would likely also build you a very nice addition - with a basement, so you'd pick up some cheap storage space.  You won't have to tear up your existing house, and you'll have more options in the design.  The addition can be 1 1/2 stories; you'll add upstairs space as well as downstairs.

But before you do any of this, let me pass along some advice from 20+ years of designing remodeling and room addition projects.  The number one mistake homeowners make is assuming they need additional space and lots of it.  We find, more often than not, that a careful study of the existing house, and carefully planning the reuse of it, yields a lot of "hidden" useful space - most older homes are very poorly planned for modern family needs!

If after carefully studying the existing home and rearranging things a bit, you find you still need space, you're likely to find you need far less space than you thought.  In many ways, that's the essence of good design, and the real value in getting a design pro involved early on.

There are many, many sources of great info on this - I'd start with Taunton Press (they have an online bookstore), they are the premier source of info on residential construction.  You should also look at Fine Homebuilding Magazine, Period Homes Magazine, and The Journal of Light Construction.  They all have online resources you'll find useful.

But don't focus on construction, you need to explore design options first!  I highly recommend these books before you do anything (all available at Amazon.com):

- Not Big Remodeling: Tailoring Your Home For The Way You Really Live by Sarah Susanka, AIA
- New Rooms for Old Houses: Beautiful Additions for the Traditional Home (National Trust for Historic Preservation) by Frank Shirley and Randy O'Rourke
- Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid by Marianne Cusato

Good planning can make this a real pleasure for you and your family...lack of planning, and lack of understanding exactly what you're getting into (remodeling is complex, expensive, and highly regulated) can turn it into a nightmare.

Do your research, talk to pros, and take a deep breath or two - you can do it!

Hope this helps,

Richard Taylor, AIA
www.rtastudio.com
www.rtastudio.blogspot.com
www.rtaplans.com