Anonymous wrote:OP, we have so many fugly add ons in our close in neighborhood. If you can afford it, move to a new nicer house. Some of the add ons are hideous and are done on the cheap and look it! You don't want it to look like the 7-11 help special (like my neighbors!)

anything more than $30K and you got seriously ripped off.

OP, we have so many fugly add ons in our close in neighborhood. If you can afford it, move to a new nicer house. Some of the add ons are hideous and are done on the cheap and look it! You don't want it to look like the 7-11 help special (like my neighbors!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:150K is too high, should be 40 ky tops

Expect to pay around $200 per square foot - at a minimum. If you find someone who says they can do it for $40,000, question the quality of the product you are getting.

Not the PP, but if I understood OP correctly it would add 160 sq ft, which at $200/sf would be $32,000.

Anonymous wrote:150K is too high, should be 40 ky tops

Expect to pay around $200 per square foot - at a minimum. If you find someone who says they can do it for $40,000, question the quality of the product you are getting.

150K is too high, should be 40 ky tops

That's $500 a square foot just for the framing. Seems high.

If there's already sound framing under the roof, it really shouldn't cost that much. They'll be cutting out and replacing a dozen joists and adding the front and side walls. If it's designed properly the carpentry isn't complicated. That's a LOT for this type of work.

Consider getting pre-fab panels if the structure permits.

Be careful and consult with a structural engineer first. Not all Capes are structurally strong enough to support increased roof weight. There are a number of articles out there about raising the roof, but this letter/response will give you some ideas of the negatives to your idea: http://en.allexperts.com/q/Architecture-2369/2010/1/Raising-Cape-Cod-Roof.htm

This has been done several times in our bethesda neighborhood of 1930's capes, cost seems to range from $75k (that's with no bathroom, so basically just the framing) to about $150k. This was a few years ago when our neighbors were doing it, so prices have probably gone up some.

We're on an undersized lot in Arlington so we're not permitted to expand the footprint of our house. We're trying to decide whether we should move to a bigger house or expand the 2nd floor. To expand the second floor we're thinking to pop up the roof in the back (so that it will be flat instead of A-frame as it is now). I think by doing this and expanding the 2nd floor over our existing sunroom which runs across half of the back of the house , we should be able to gain enough room for another bedroom and a bathroom upstairs (the space would be approx 10 x 16). Any sense of approx how much this would cost?

TIA!!