SIDEWAYS OR SECOND STORY EXTENSIONS – WHICH OPTION IS BETTER?

Extending the house sideways or adding new storeys into it are both the most popular methods of increasing the living space with the ever-growing needs of a family. This is where the confusion starts as people have no idea whether to go for first and second story extensions or go for general home extension.

Second Story Extensions in St Clair

This confusion would get cleared entirely with the help of this post as we will discuss the core differences between second story extensions and general home extension.

How to choose between another storey and a house extension?

• According to the experts, the foundation of this decision would be the availability of the space in the backyard or around the property.
• This clearly means that if you have a good amount of space for getting a construction done, you are free to start with it.
• But if there are space related constraints or there are laws that restrict you from extending the property sideways, in that case, first or second story extensions would be the only choice.

But there are several other points too that you will have to consider at the time of decision making and some of them have been discussed here.

Structural works:

• Additional storeys require significantly large amounts of structural work on the existing house.
• As far as structural works are concerned, this would also include not only the walls of your home, but also down into the foundations, support for a new floor and altering of the roof.
• Similarly, for first and second story extensions, you will also have to make space for the staircase, right from inside the property and this would consume a good amount of space.
• Adding a second storey can be a cheaper option than buying and moving into another larger home as a number of things get excluded from the overall second storey additions cost.
• Moreover, experts say that second story extensions are cheaper to build as compared to sideways construction but again, you will have to seek approvals and permits, no matter what kind of construction you decide.