Gloriane and Edward Heine like to plan ahead. A few years before the birth of their first child, they bought a basement-less, two-story frame house on an 80-by-128-foot corner lot in Westmont’s Ashford II subdivision, developed in 1984.
The house is in a quiet neighborhood, yet conveniently close to shopping malls, restaurants and rail transportation to Chicago via Metra’s Burlington Northern line; it’s also within the attendance boundaries of sought-after Maercker Elementary School District 60 and Hinsdale Central High School. In short, they like their location.
But now that their son is 2, and with the expected arrival of their new baby next month, the Heines are afraid their quarters will soon seem cramped; once again, they’re planning ahead.
“We find that we are quickly outgrowing our existing square footage and have been contemplating whether to add to our home or move,” Ed Heine wrote.
“We have thought of adding onto the back to increase the size of the dining room, kitchen, family room and the bedrooms above them,” he continued. “We’re also interested in learning whether it would be feasible to dig a basement under such an addition, since we have little storage space.”
We invited Michael J. Abraham of Clarendon Hills-based Culligan Abraham Architects to discuss project possibilities with the Heines at their home on a recent, bright summer morning.
Two stories?
A tour of the three-bedroom dwelling began on the second floor, where the master bedroom faces the front yard and two smaller bedrooms and a gallery overlooking the living room face the rear yard, to the east.
Discussing the idea of a two-floor addition, Gloriane said it would be nice to have a fourth bedroom for the use of overnight guests, although she agreed that the children could double up on such occasions.
“We don’t want to overimprove,” Ed hastened to say.
“That’s wise. You don’t want to be king of the road,” Abraham said. “If you’re happy here and you expect to stay 10 years or so, do what makes you happy; don’t make changes with only resale in mind.”
“It seems most of the people here who’ve made changes simply added space to their family rooms,” Gloriane said.
Returning to the first floor, the homeowners and the architect walked through the exterior kitchen door to a handsome, spacious deck, where they surveyed the well-kept yard.
“You should have no problem going with an addition to the rear,” Abraham said. “You have plenty of space back here. Another advantage you have is the way your house is situated on the lot; you’re not looking into your neighbor’s windows and vice versa.”
Re-entering the house, they considered the present room arrangement. The eat-in kitchen is situated between the formal dining room at the northeast corner of the house and the family room at the southeast corner; the latter is also accessible from a hall between it and the back of the living room.
“What you might want to do is extend your family room 15 feet to the east and extend your kitchen a lesser amount to accommodate a new, informal dining area, in effect creating an L-shape addition,” Abraham said. “That way you could relocate the entrance to the deck from the family room, keeping traffic out of the kitchen.”
Would it be possible to dig a basement below the addition? the Heines wondered.
“Absolutely,” the architect told them. “I’d say the key to the basement is how to get to it. We could locate stairs between the new informal dining and family room areas, making them an integral part of the addition. The whole addition would work around the stairs. These days, you don’t have to hide basement stairs behind a door. A spiral staircase might be a possibility.”
“With kids, I think those are kind of dangerous,” Gloriane said. “I’d opt for regular stairs and we’d put a gate across them until the children are older.”
“You’ll want to give some thought to whether you want a larger dining room,” Abraham said. “If you extend it to align with the kitchen, you’ll wind up with a long, narrow room.”
He suggested the first step the Heines should take is to get a survey of their lot and find out exactly what Westmont’s zoning laws will allow.
“The other thing you want to talk about now is your budget, how you can get the most for your money, and how you’re going to finance new construction,” said Abraham, noting that costs per square foot could run $100 or as high as $150, depending on materials selected.
“Your ideas have helped us focus on what we really have to do to make our home more comfortable for the next several years,” Gloriane and Ed told him. “Finding out what might be possible and learning where to start is a good beginning.”
Thinking about remodeling?
Would you rather remodel than move? Are you thinking about expanding your home, or perhaps redoing a bath or kitchen? Your Place may be able to help.
If you would like an expert to give you specific advice on how to achieve your remodeling goals, write to “Home improvements,” and we might select your home to be part of this feature.
Send us a note telling us where you live, what kind of house or condominium you live in and how you are thinking of changing your living space-inside or outside. (Include phone number.)
We will review the letters and select several, from different areas, to receive a professional evaluation from an architect or similar professional. You will have no obligation to the architect, but we will run an article describing what the architect suggests and what you think of the suggestions.
If you are interested, write to Home improvements, c/o Your Place, 4th Floor, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60611.
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