When deciding to extend your home, you can either build up or build out. Either which way you decide to expand your home it should depend on the reason for your alteration. For example, if you decide to extend your kitchen, you would be building out. But, if you decide to add more rooms to your home, then you may want to consider building up.

Whether you decide to build up or out, you need to take into consideration the advantages and disadvantages of the direction you have chosen to extend. Whichever way you decide to expand your home, you need to make one hundred percent sure that it will fit into your budget and lifestyle.

Building up

There are quite a few ways to extend your home without changing the actual footprint of your home. You could opt to add an entirely new storey to your home making it either a two or a three-storey house. You could also choose to add another room above your garage. Alternatively, which is the option we choose, you can convert the loft. We had ours done by professional loft conversion builders, and it was worth every penny.

While you might not be digging up your garden to lay a new foundation for your home extension, be prepared for your building contractor to dig up and strengthen your existing foundation as well as your walls to make sure they can support your new renovations. After all, a new storey will place additional structural pressure on your already standing foundation.

A huge pro to building up is that you will not lose any of your existing yard space. On the downside however you may have to have the structural support of your house completely re-done to ensure it is strong enough to withstand the weight of another storey added to your house. Building up also costs much more especially if you have to take into consideration that your foundations and walls would need to be reinforced.

Building Out

The largest portion of building renovations is made up of the expansion of the footprint of a house at a ground level. This is because many of the additions required are ground-floor renovations such as a larger kitchen or the addition of a new family room.

The addition of a new room at ground level is pretty straightforward. It will involve your building contractor excavating an area of your yard before laying a new foundation slab. Walls, windows, and roof are then added. Finally, the new addition will be linked to your home by breaking out a section of the wall to create a linking doorway.

Extending your house a ground level typically involves much fewer disruptions. This is because many of the renovations will take place outside the already standing house rather than above it. Building out is far more affordable than building up. This is because it requires less material and far fewer man-hours. There are, however, some cons to renovating outwards. You will lose quite a bit of your current yard space and in many countries, you may also be required to rezone your property after building extension are complete.