Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 9/4/2009

Question
Hi Bruce,
I have 2 questions for you. I am in the 'thinking about it' stage of adding space onto my house. I have a one story, brick veneer home. My kitchen is 12X18. I would like to either extend it out by another 8x18 feet, or add a new room beside it which would be 12x12 feet. Strictly from a financial standpoint is it more economical to enlarge the room #which involves the removal of the outer load-bearing wall# or to add a room on?

2) I have a front porch with a roof. It probably had cinderblock walls, but the outside is brick. The porch floor is cement, but is most likely filled with sand or dirt. If I wanted to close in this porch and make it a part of my living room, would the porch itself be sufficient foundation? Or would a new foundation have to be poured? BTW, I live in South Carolina and there are no real issues with freezing and thawing.
Thanks in advance Loretta

Answer
Hi Loretta, regarding your first question: in both cases you would be adding a room on.  The only difference would be the obvious, the roof of the existing home would have to be supported somehow when the kitchen wall was opened up.  This is not that big of a deal because you can build your kitchen addition with a support beam on the house side.  The house rafters can then be hung, using rafter hangers, on the new addition before the wall is removed from the kitchen.  As far as your second question goes: If your porch already has a roof system and you aren't changing that part of the structure then you should be able to enclose the walls without any added foundation work.  You probably will need to level up the porch floor however because most porch floors slope to the outside for drainage during rain storms.  I hope this information helps please feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com