Differences Between Horizontal and Vertical Home Additions

A home addition can transform your home and make it better fit your needs and lifestyle. There are two main ways to add onto a house: adding a story or increasing the footprint of the ground-floor level of the building. 

Building Out

Most home additions are first-floor additions. With this sort of remodeling project, your contractors will typically dig up the yard in the area where the new addition will be located. They will then install a new foundation and construct the walls and the roof before removing your home’s current walls and linking the addition to the rest of the house. Building out like this is less disruptive than adding a new story to your house.

If the addition is small enough, then foundation work may also not be necessary. Building out like this means that you’ll lose some of your yard, however. As one of the most experienced new addition contractors in our area, we recommend studying your town’s codes and regulations. These codes dictate what proportion of your lot you can build on for your project.

Building Up

Even though you aren’t building out, your contractor will probably still have to strengthen your existing foundation and wall structure to support the extra weight of the new story. With this kind of home addition, you won’t lose any yard space, and you won’t have to worry about floor-area-ratio limits. However, you still need to study the laws, codes and regulations of your town. Many towns limit the allowable height for houses.

Design Build Remodeling Group of Maryland can help you with all of your home addition and kitchen remodeling needs. We specialize in the design and construction of large-scale residential remodeling projects for single-family homes, and we have an excellent reputation for quality workmanship. We have decades of experience in the industry. We serve many areas, including Bethesda, MD. Call us at (443) 300-2268 to learn more about our services and products or to request a consultation.