Home Additions: Building Up or Building Out?

When it comes to home additions, your new addition contractors will present you with two options: you either build up or build out your home. While the two methods may seem similar, the two are actually different, and there are instances and situations where one method is better than the other.

In this post, Design Build Remodeling Group discusses the differences between the two and the situations when one method is more suitable than the other.

Building Out

This method increases the footprint of the ground-floor level of your house or building. A majority of new additions involve this method as many are first-floor additions that expand the property’s footprint. Extending living spaces as well as bathroom and kitchen remodeling projects all require you to build out your home.

Building out requires some mechanical work, and you may have to give up a portion of your yard or front lawn to increase the space in your home. This method has some advantages over building up. Since you’re extending the space of your home, building out has the least disruption to your existing space.

Building Up

This method of expanding your house footprint involves adding another story to your home, hence the term building up. You aren’t restricted, however, to adding new stories to your home. Another way to build up your home is to add a living space above an existing porch, sunroom or garage.

Building up doesn’t require you to give up a portion of your yard, but it may disrupt or radically change your existing space, such as the area below the new story. Additionally, your house needs to undergo a preliminary inspection as some houses have an upper limit to how much weight can be added. Some towns and suburbs also have a limit to the allowable height for houses so keep these in mind.

Design Build Remodeling Group of Maryland is one of the top home remodeling contractors in Maryland. Whether you need to build up or build out your home, you can count on us to make it happen from the planning and design – all the way through to the final inspection and clean-up.

Call us today at (443) 230-4070 to learn more about our services. We offer kitchen remodeling services in Bethesda, MD.