Reply to Massive home addition causes confusion in Fairfax County neighborhood

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here's a question for the Greenbriar residents here: have any Ashley homes been renovated to include a full second level? And do you know what it entailed- particularly regarding foundation improvements?

It's obviously a moot point now, but building up the second level, including rebuilding the garage area with a second level, could have given a similar level of usable space. Not as much, but more. And I don't think aesthetics has a much of an impact on prices as others here, I agree it does have an impact.

If the foundation could support it, that might not have been grossly more expensive. Although the garage almost certainly would have still needed strengthening. Spitballing, that's probably still ~50% more cost for less space in the end.

And if you could rebuild the sunroom into a main room, it would have achieved a similar amount of space  (but that also probably would have required demo and a new foundation).

That's kind of what one of my coworkers did with a different house, although without the garage rebuild. (He rebuilt his very large sunroom and added a full second level, which more than doubled his effective square footage.) But even though that was done more than a decade ago, it was still much more expensive than this seems to be budgeted for.[/quote]

If you can’t afford it, don’t build it. Save up until you can.

I live in a neighborhood with similar houses to those in Greenbrier. Many of my neighbors have added to their houses. None of them look completely out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. And none of these people are rich. Mostly middle class or even LMC, a few who may be UMC. It is entirely possible for a middle class family to build an addition that fits in so well with the neighborhood that you might not know it’s an addition if you don’t already know. 
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You should design it for Mike. Same cost per square foot addition. I’d like to see that too, mainly because I’m pretty damn sure it doesn’t exist.[/quote]

I am not an architect and I know better than to think that I am capable of creating a safe and sturdy addition to a house. I’m sure if these owners had talked to an actual architect, they could have had a plan put together. And they could have avoided a lot of the actions, or lack thereof, that got them to the point where they are now.

And if they couldn’t afford it right now, then save up for another year or two. They had a 2400 sf house that would have been perfectly comfortable for a year or two longer. There are four adults and two young children living in this house, so lots of room.

And I can only imagine how uncomfortable the house must be now, with part of it gone and a large part a construction site. This all could have been avoided by just waiting a little longer and doing it correctly instead of cheaply.

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