I am planning to add a 2nd floor to my ranch style home. We (my wife and I and our two kids) are hoping to stay in the house during the construction. As I have managed a large rehab project on a house I did not live in, I am also planning to be the general contractor for the project. Does anyone have any tips on books or articles that suggest how to plan such a project to allow the house to remain livable (and allow me to stay married)?
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Replies
I'm going to start by saying I have never lived in a home with a second story being added.
I have worked on them, Once the roof is off nobody has ever stayed. Maybe someone here can put me in my place but I would strongly advice not living in the home while the second story is going up from the time the roof is off until its dryed in.
Thanks for the advice. The roof is only going over half of the living space and the garage. We have a family room, bedroom, and full bath in the basement under the section that is not getting the 2nd story. I am hoping that this helps us.
Does anyone remember an article in FH about the guy who added a couple built up beams inside the roof trusses on a ranch and picked the roof with a crane. I seem to remember they had the 2nd floor walls panalized, the joists ready to roll. I think they picked the roof, set it on tires in the driveway, framed the floor, set the walls with the crane and set the roof back on the new walls.
With a well planned system, you could possibly get things to where you would only need to spend a week at the in-laws or the hotel but I think most professional and conscientious remodelors would refuse such a job with you trying to live in it and manage it for them.
If you don't know what you are doing for something this big, you should hire a pro and get out of his way.
Excellence is its own reward!
We did this once on my Sister's house.
We took the existing roof off 8' at a time - It was a straight gable. Then we built 8' walls on both sides and framed the roof over that section. Then we put plywood over the new 8' section and covered it with tar paper. The open wall was covered with tarps.
We did one 8' section a day like that, so the house was never really open to the weather for long. Wasn't a perfect system, but they had no major leaks.
Your marriage had better be in good shape BEFORE you tackle something like this. And you'd better both be behind it 100%, or you won't BOTH be living there during & after the remodel..........
Don't steal. The government hates competition
Tom, some words of encouragement. It can be done. My wife and I did it 5 years ago. Boss is right you both better be commited to it. We added a second story to the center 1/3 of our home (ranch).
Part of the success was having a great framing crew. Demo through rough framing took 5 days. They also papered the roof. Don't get me started on roofers :)
We did not move out but did stay out of the house while they were actually working.
Watch the weather closely before they start, tarp every night no matter what. We had a micro burst afterwards that took some paper off but with mops, buckets, duct tape etc you can stay ahead of the rain if it happens. Funny how a bunch of the subs had stories of rain coming through ceiling boxes when they did their own homes. Funny now.
Good luck and have fun.
J.
Tom,
I've done about 30 add-a-levels and the only time people move out is when your tearing apart a good portion of the first floor also.
People don't have to move out unless they can't take the noice .
I say this to you because I'm a framing contractor and we can get a baisic 1200 sf add-a-level done in 4 days.
My reccomendation to you is to higher a good qualified framing contractor and let them do it so that they can get your house closed in and water tight as fast as possible. Make sure they have done plenty of add-a-levels. There's companies around here that just does add-a-levels all year around.
Don't even think of doing it yourself unless you work along side the framing crew.
Joe Carola
Edited 3/24/2003 7:45:14 PM ET by Framer
Second floor additions and dormers is what I was building when I first got into the trade.
In the five years I worked for that Co.,never did the people move out of the house.
One family had 2 sets of twins and a newborn!Kid slept through most of every afternoon from tear-off to"Thanks for everthing".
Like some have said, make sure you and your wife are of one mind before this project starts.Sure at times you will want to change things one way and she will want to do something else and these little things can get out of hand.Especially when you both see this big new space on top of your house for the first time and all kinds of new ideas flood into your brain.
One couple would fight every day about this or that,two days after we had built the stairs to their new domain,pulled up in the morning to see the man of the house getting dressed in his car(he was a Chicago cop).They did get a divorce a few months after we were finished but I believe they probably would have ended up that way second floor or not.
My boss had a unique way of building a second floor.
He would cut a 12" or so section of roof out at the plate line for the entire length of the addition to be built.He would then lay out the plates so the studs would go to one side or other of the roof rafters,except in the case of windows.
We would then build the walls on the roof with no bottom plate, stand them up and nail the studs to existing plate,sway and brace the whole thing as we went,put in ceiling joist every 6" or so then build the new roof and paper it.While a few guys were shingling ,a couple of guys were sheating the walls.
Once the shell was closed up guys would go "inside" and tear off the old roof and weather permiting, the siding would be installed at the same time.
I personally wouldn't build my addition this way for a number of reasons(which I'm sure other posters will point out)but with only a small amount of area to cover in the event of rain,his method kept us working all year round through rain and snow.
Thanks for the great advice. This web site has provided some great ideas for me. If anyone knows of a framer in the Cincinnati area that specializes in adding second floors please let me know.