The initial steps of planning a home addition include essential considerations of zoning laws, property line setbacks, and how these factors affect the placement and design of your addition. By understanding the restrictions and possibilities of building on different sides of your property, you can make informed decisions on where a home addition would be most feasible.
Let’s explore practical implications such as the impact on existing structures and how the location of an addition affects both aesthetics and budget priorities. This ensures you can optimize your design and material choices to meet local regulations while achieving the desired outcome.
Navigating the Zoning Process in Planning Your Home Addition
Zoning Permits
Getting a zoning permit can be tricky, and sometimes prevents projects from happening. Consult your local zoning department to obtain up-to-date information and clarify any requirements that may apply to your property. Your city, or the county (if you live in a rural setting) is the authority who issues zoning permits. Things like septic, covenants, floodplains, and wetlands can add complex layers to your zoning situation. Do your homework, and if the authorities deny your request, consider asking a professional contractor to help you.
Learn Where Not to Build a Home Addition
Where to begin starts with eliminating where you can’t build a home addition. Most areas have zoning laws in place that dictate how close a house can be to the front, side, and rear property lines. In most cases, the front is the strictest since there can be utilities, sidewalks, or parking implications to front home additions.
Side Home Additions
Side home additions can vary greatly depending on the area and how the neighborhood was laid out when it was developed. Row houses in a city may allow you to build the addition up to 2’ away from the house on the side, but require you to add extra fireproofing materials. Another house that is in a large lot community may require 50’ from the side property lines since each home sits on a larger lot. In most areas, building must be kept between 5-15’ away from the side property line. This can be verified by talking to the local building department.
Rear Home Additions
The rear property line typically has the most leeway and the most room to work with. Looking immediately at how the house sits on the lot, how close it is to the side houses, and where the fence lines are can help to start narrowing down where the addition can go. After you have narrowed down that it can go on the right side of the house or the rear, then you start looking at the breakthroughs and how it would tie into the existing house in each location.
How Side or Rear Additions Impact Existing Elements in Your Home
If building an addition on the side impacts the closets in your existing bedrooms so you have to relocate those (and those rooms are already small), that may be a negative to the side addition option. The rear addition may have a window off the family room that could easily be turned into a door to the master suite and not impact or sacrifice anything in the existing house like the side addition would with the closets.
Materials and Budget Considerations
When it comes to materials, if you are building a side addition, you’ll emphasize the exterior aesthetics (even more than a rear addition) since it is visible from the street.
The rear addition may have less emphasis on what the exterior materials are and can allocate the budget more to the interior finishes (rather than the exterior finishes of the side option).
While ensuring your home addition complies with local ordinances isn’t the most delightful part of the process, completing it gets you closer to your dream home!
Enjoy a Well-Designed Addition That Adds Space, Function, and Beauty to Your Home
If your current home isn’t serving your needs ideally, and it feels outdated or cramped, an addition may be the perfect solution. You can stay in the neighborhood and home you love while gaining the space you need.
At Action Builders, we guide you through the addition process with ease, educating you on options so you can make the best long-term decisions. Our design and build process places heavy emphasis on planning, saving you time and money in the long run. Learn more about how our addition services can bring your renovation dreams to life.
