Ten years ago, Don Szeszycki moved to Wheaton to make a new life for himself. He found a job and soon after bought a small two-bedroom home in run-down condition. Deft with his hands, he spent the next several years renovating the space to his liking. He also married Linda, who added her own ideas and hard work.
Their cottage, as they like to think of the frame ranch, has since been honored with a Home Beautification and Improvement award by the village.
The couple would now like to enlarge the five-room, 40-year-old home. The original layout measures 24 by 34 feet, with the bedrooms on the west side and the living room and kitchen on the east. A previous owner added a 7-by-9-foot breakfast area with a flat roof behind the kitchen. The utility room and bath are located at the center in the rear of the house.
“It’s nice for us but if we have anybody over, there is no room,” said Don. Linda added that her husband’s working hours have changed, requiring him to go to bed at 7 p.m. She’d like an area where she can watch television and work on projects without disturbing him. “And lots of closets.”
When Linda and Don wrote to us for help we turned to Craig R. Pryde of Perkins Pryde Kennedy & Steevensz Architects Ltd. in Glen Ellyn. We arranged for him to meet the couple and to offer his advice on how to handle the job.
Low and small
While touring the home, Pryde made note of the couple’s primary objections: the low ceiling clearance in the breakfast area and a second bedroom so small it barely holds a futon and a dresser. As the Szeszyckis see it they have two choices: build out on the bedroom side and connect the house to the detached garage, or expand across the back of the house and hook into the breakfast area addition. “Now I need to doodle,” said Pryde, pulling out a pad of paper and pen.
Don pointed out that cost is a major consideration in how elaborate the addition can be but Pryde said it should not be the first consideration. “If I design with a dollar figure in mind, it limits creativity. You should say, `This is what I want,’ and then decide how much of it is attainable. When we look at what it costs, maybe it’s a two-phase scenario.”
After several minutes, the architect came up with a rough sketch for an addition that protrudes both west and south. To meet their needs for overnight guests and storage, he proposed extending the bedroom side of the house 10 feet toward the garage. The existing master bedroom is adequate in size, so the new space here would contain a second bath and walk-in closets. The second bedroom would also fit into the new space; the existing second bedroom becomes a hallway toward a new back door and patio. Storage closets could line the hallway or the new second bedroom.
“I figured the baths had to be back-to-back,” said Linda.
“It’s not necessary because with the crawl space you have more flexibility,” said Pryde. “The connections are made below the floor and all you’re paying for is additional pipes to run where they have to go.”
Between the breakfast area and the new back door Pryde suggested a 17-by-17-foot family room. The west wall of the breakfast area would come down, giving the family room easy access from the kitchen. The new hallway by the bedrooms would open to the family room on the other side, thus creating a desirable loop traffic pattern, he explained. The total new square footage comes to under 600 feet.
Linda’s eyes lit up as she studied Pryde’s drawing. “Do you see how far my noisy room is from the bedroom?” she asked her husband. Don was impressed, too. “You added less than I thought and accomplished a lot.”
Another thought occurred to Linda: “We just re-roofed last year.”
“That’s good,” said Pryde. “You can buy the same shingles.” On the front of the house, where the new bedroom addition will connect, the roof can be extended seamlessly. At the back, the family room roof will extend from the existing ridge but at a different slant from that over the bedrooms and breakfast area. A new roof over the breakfast area will give Don the headroom he wants.
“I’ve read that you should figure $125 per square foot,” said Don cautiously.
“That’s a pretty good number,” said Pryde. “Material costs are about $60 per square foot. If you build it yourself, that’s what you will pay. Kitchens may be $200 per square foot and a living room, $50, because it’s nothing but walls and a window.”
Don calculated the cost of the addition to run about $59,000 and turned to his wife, “You know we can’t afford anything like that. But we could do the bedrooms” and bath.
The work could certainly be done in two stages, said Pryde. If they do the bedrooms first, the house will appraise for a higher value, giving the couple more borrowing power for the family room. What they should not do is put on the family room first because they will be robbing the existing second bedroom for the hallway. “Nobody in his right mind will lend you money to go from a two-bedroom to a one-bedroom house,” he said.
