help! considering purchase but worried about reno possibility

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MikeNC

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Hi Everyone,

Great forum! I am thinking about buying a great house but unfortunately, the size just isn't big enough for us. I say it's great because the property is just unbelievable and the house itself is quality. What I'm thinking about doing is raising the angle of the back portion of the roof to create a second floor. The attic is one of those old school, completely open attics (no cross beams or really anything in the way at all... just 2x10 beams at about a 45 degree angle on the actual roof line.) It is currently about 10' at the center so there's plenty of room. I've attached a drawing I did in MS Paint of what it looks like and what I'd like to do.

Is this even possible? My mom said it would likely cost $200,000 to get it done but that seems incredibly high. Has anyone ever done anything like this? What were the costs?

Thanks!
Mike

lQ8T3.jpg
 
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It's called an expanded gable, and yes $200,000 sounds way to high. Is she a builder per chance?
Someone really needs to be on site to look at this idea. Most attics were never intended to support a full inhabited living space. It's the ceiling rafters I would be most concerned with. If there to narrow then it will crack the ceilings below.
 
Sounds like you are talking about a rear shed dormer like the pic below. $200,000 is very high I'd $50,000 to $80,000 depending on your finishes. Typicly you have 2 bedrooms one on each end and a full bathroom in the middle.

This dormer goes on the rear of the house and if you like some people put dog house dormers on the front in the center of each bedroom for the look they really don't add any functional space.

halfDormer2.jpg
 

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