Remodeling your attic or basement to get more space
Posted by Mike Bruno on Fri, Aug 14, 2009 @ 12:16 PM
If you need more living space and want to keep the costs down explore remodeling your basement or attic.
Basement remodeling is great for offices, exercise rooms, playrooms, studio's, craft rooms, entertaining, family room and in some case can be used as an additional bedroom. If you do plan on building a bedroom in the basement make sure you understand follow the building & fire code. Bedrooms need two means of egress and smoke/co detectors. If you don't know what "means of egress" is you know you need to hire a qualified builder who can walk you through the process.
Attic space is in some cases the hidden gem. You can utilize the attic space for the same things as a basement remodel however you get the opportunity to install more windows and skylights to bring in the sun. There are code requirements for headroom and egress as well so make sure you plan properly and build according to code.
Overall attic remodeling and basement remodeling typically cost much less then building an addition, take less time and can increase the energy efficiency of your home. Another positive is that the impact to your daily life is minimize where as with an addition you may not be able to use portions of the house for extended amounts of time or have to move out completely.