Expert: Richard Taylor, AIA - 2/21/2010

Question
We have a 3-bedroom house in suburban Philadelphia of which parts are dated 1792. Tha main part of the house (the oldest part--but I don't know that the attic itself was original) has an attic which is accessible by stairs, has a pretty substantial wood floor, but is only 6-7 feet at its peak. We love this house and it is in good condition, and we are happy with small, which it is, but we really need an extra bedroom for children. How impossible/ expensive would it be to raise the roof several feet, given that we already have stairs, a wood floor, and we won't do any plumbing? (Our heater is already oversized for house--we replaced it several years ago and got the larger size). Will they likely make us bring everything up to code, including other parts of the house, like our old stairway from first the second floor?

Answer
Hi Lisa - thanks for your question!

You have a very common problem - a growing family and a house bursting at the seams!  While we try hard to reuse as much of existing homes as we can before adding on, there are just some problems that require more space - like yours!

The quick answer to your question is that yes, you will more than likely be required to bring everything up to code including the floor and roof structure; the stairs; insulation; electrical, etc.  Attic floors aren't sized for the loads that the code says must be considered for bedrooms, so the floor/ceiling structure will probably need reworked.

That's a pretty big, messy, expensive job - especially when you're raising the roof!

In fact, by the time you spend the $$ to add this small space upstairs you might find it more cost-effective to add on to the house on the first floor; a small bedroom here would be more useful later in life as a guest bedroom, study, home office, etc.  Plus you may be able to put a full basement below it, doubling the useful space.

Since an addition like this wouldn't effect the existing house much, you shouldn't have to upgrade anything else to code - that could save a lot of money!

Of course my interest was piqued when you mentioned the "1792" part...that makes me think you "shouldn't" raise the roof, for reasons of historic integrity.  218 year-old homes are rare treasures, part of our American heritage.

But that doesn't mean you can't upgrade the house for your needs.  You just might want to do it a little differently, without changing the character as much as a raised roof would do.

You may find that funds are available for remodeling a historic home - we have programs like that in my state, I would be surprised if PA didn't also.  Check with your state Preservation Office (or whatever it's called) for info about this.  Since historic homes are often faced with situations like yours, there's money to ease the burden on the current owner, and help preserve them for future generations.

Kudos to you for appreciating the value of this old home and for wanting to hang on to it!

Hope this helps,

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