A couple of months ago I wrote about a home renovation on Queen Anne Hill where the new owner has completely rebuilt around the original framing of the first floor. For me, for sure, after seeing what’s been done, I can can see the virtue of leaving the first floor as it was. They have added onto the back. It’s getting more popular here is Seattle to leave the “charm” of the original craftsman front of the house. Then you add onto the Kitchen that opens into a more modern “back of the house.”
In this particular place there is a slope in th back that allows for the addition to come right off the back of the original roof line. You step down into the addition, but it transitions at the kitchen anyway, and there is a staircase to the second floor, so you don’t really notice.
Phew, that was more introduction than I wanted to do, but it needed to be said.
There is a house we have been working on near Green Lake that is more what I would like to discuss. It is a small two bedroom house with a bathroom shared by both bedrooms. From my figuring it would be the perfect house to jack up, and add a first floor to.
Under the house are large timbers. It’s a pier and post foundation. It sits up off the street so you could raise it only six feet and excavate four feet. You’d pour the foundation, do 2X6 framing, rewire, re-plumb, and set the “craftsman” back down.
Truth be told you could extend four feet out the back and make the whole thing huge. In my mind, if you excavate the original look of the house could remain almost the same. You can maintain the charm. Now the cost may be subject to discussion, but the way I figure it’s possible to jack up for less than a tear down, rebuild.
In this particular case the cost of the property will be somewhere around $350K. I originally figured about $120K to jack up, re-sheet rock, wire, and re-plumb. Site work $20K, wiring $30K, plumbing $30K, framing $15K, sheet rock $10K, with a $5K trim package.
It may not be pretty, but I think the value is there because of the location. It addresses all the systems, gives a good foundation, and would be retrofitted for earth quake. OK, maybe I’m off by $20, but you are still all in for less than $500K.
At the 800 sq ft that is there now, the additional sq ft would be at $188 per sq ft, the over all house would be at $313 per sq ft. That is less than the $500 a sq ft for a down town condo, and you have a yard, and a semi new construction home, close in, near Green Lake.
