Can You Build A Room Over A Porch?
Whether you have an expanding family or a need for a home office, there are several benefits to extending your home instead of selling up and purchasing a bigger house. Naturally, there are numerous ways to add square footage to your house. The best option for you will be project-specific, and there are several factors at play.
Building a room over a porch is a great way to add space to your house. This can be done in most cases, provided the porch foundations can support the weight of an additional structure above. By consulting with professionals, you will ensure your new room functions well and looks great.
Several considerations go into the decision to build a room over a porch. Numerous factors will have an influence on the success of the project overall. By carefully incorporating the design of your new room into your home, you will address your needs for extra space without the need to relocate.
Can You Build A Room Over A Porch?
It is highly possible to build a room over a porch. This option, other than building over a garage, is one of the best ways to increase the space in your home without drastically increasing its footprint. You will also avoid several of the issues that tend to arise when you build a brand new addition from the ground up.
Whether you require extra storage, an apartment for visiting family members, or a private office or getaway for yourself, building a room over a porch is a great way to expand your home without breaking ground.
Building a room over a porch will require consultation with several industry experts. It’s highly recommended to employ an architect to ensure the design is functional and aesthetically pleasing and ties in with the rest of the home’s overall design. It will also give you the option of screening in the porch and creating a conservatory, orangery below.
A structural engineer is needed first to ensure that the existing foundations are sufficiently strong to allow them to support the additional weight of the new room. Suppose the existing foundations are not deemed sufficient. In that case, there are measures to strengthen them and ensure they will have sufficient load-bearing capabilities for the new room.
However, such interventions with existing foundations are extremely invasive, time-consuming, and expensive.
Provided your foundations can support the addition, the porch’s structure will need to be checked to ensure it too can support the new room. Additional structural elements will most likely need to be added to ensure sufficient support.
Your new room will need to fall in line with the local building regulations, and it is up to you to ensure that this is so. Certain jurisdictions may have height restrictions and won’t allow second stories, so you will need to check to see that your new room proposal falls on the correct side of the regulatory authorities.
Once feasibility has been established, the contractor will begin by removing the roof of your porch. Next, they will use a method called “platform framing” to create the floor for the new room. The construction will continue from that point as per normal.
Considerations For Building A Room Over A Porch
Several considerations go into constructing a new room built over an existing porch.
Firstly, you must consider whether the foundations can withstand the forces of an additional room placed on top of them. Next, you must consider the porch structure and whether this can support the new room. The additional structure will most likely need to be added to create the needed support.
Besides the structural aspects, you will need to consider the new room’s design and how this ties into your existing home. Which rooms will be located next to or near the new room? Will it function effectively in terms of the home’s floor plan and its flow of space?
You will need to consider how the room will be used and how this will relate to the rest of the home. A qualified architect will ensure that this room functions well and fits in with the rest of your home.
When it comes to aesthetics, you will need to ensure that the addition will positively contribute to your house’s overall aesthetic. A well-designed addition will look like it was meant to be part of the house from the beginning.
You must consider every aspect of the design, including windows, dormers, columns, exterior trim, shutters, etc. These features all need to be proportionate with one another and the rest of the home, ensuring the entire project is visually appealing.
Benefits Of Building A Room Over A Porch
Several benefits come with building a new room over your existing porch. Firstly, you will not need to build new foundations as you would with a ground floor extension. This will save you money. At the same time, you will not increase the footprint of your home.
This can be especially beneficial if garden space is already limited. A new room over the porch will preserve space in your garden that can be put to better use for gardening and other similar activities.
The additional room will also increase the value of your property due to the increased square footage and extra room. The increased property value is further enhanced if your additional room is properly designed. A well-designed room built over a porch can potentially increase your home’s aesthetic value and curb appeal.
This is only true if the new room has been properly designed and incorporated into the existing house’s design.
One of the biggest benefits of building a room over your porch is that you don’t have to move to a different house to have the space you need. Moving home can be a majorly intimidating prospect if you enjoy your neighborhood and your home and all its associated conveniences. By expanding your home as needed, you can avoid this process altogether.
Building a room over your porch is also an opportunity to make other changes to your home simultaneously, such as increasing first-floor ceiling heights and making any other necessary exterior changes.
Conclusion
Whatever your reason for hoping to build a room over your porch, the good news is that it is a possibility in most cases. Before you can begin, you will first need to check with the porch foundations possess sufficient strength to support the extra weight.
Once you have established this, ensure that your new room will work with the design of the rest of the house in terms of aesthetics and function.
