An Occasional Outlier

Here is an interesting article about some of the thought process used when planning a room addition to your home. More articles can be found at http://www.additioncompany.com/Arizona_Addition_Company/Blog/Entries/2010/12/21_Room_Addition_Considerations.html

Room Addition Considerations
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
 
Why build a room addition? There are many ways that this simple question can be answered. You love your Phoenix neighborhood and you want to stay put for a while is probably a part of the the answer. The kids are growing up and need their own rooms, you need an area to entertain, the in-laws want to get out of the snow and visit more often… Whatever the reason, simply put, you need a room addition.

Now that you have the hard part figured out, how do you get started? Well, there are many things to consider when planning for a home addition.  Generally, one of the first things that you want to think about is the lot that your home is built on. The jurisdiction that you live in will usually put limitations on how much space you can take up of your lot, and where on the lot you can take up that space.  These restrictions usually come in the form of a percentage of lot coverage allowed, and building setbacks. Any requested deviations from these rules often require a zoning “variation,” which can be a lengthy process, taking months to complete.

If you live in a neighborhood of Phoenix that has a homeowner’s association (HOA), they will have a set of rules that you will need to abide by as well. Typically an HOA is mostly concerned with the architectural features of your addition. Ideally, they would like for the room addition to have features that match and blend with the existing house, all while improving the value of the neighborhood. Such features may include the stucco, paint colors, window color & style, roof line, roof type (shingle/tile/flat), etc.

These are just a couple of the many topics that will need to be addressed while planning for your room addition. A little research into these subjects will certainly yield the answers and help to give some planning direction.

http://www.additioncompany.com/Arizona_Addition_Company/Blog/Entries/2010/12/21_Room_Addition_Considerations.html