Ideas to Increase Your Home's Square Footage

Whether you want to increase your home’s value or need the extra living space, an addition can be a worthwhile modification to your house. There are many ways you can expand your house’s size, so make sure you pick the solution that’s best for your needs and adds the most value. Here are the most common home additions that may benefit you.

Add another bathroom

If your family fights for the bathroom on a daily basis or if you host guests that have to use the same bathroom as the rest of the family, consider increasing the square footage of your house with an additional bathroom. Affixing a half-bath onto the side of your house can be surprisingly affordable, or you can transform your existing half-bath into a full-size bathroom by expanding it further out into your yard.

Whichever route you choose, you’ll appreciate the extra sink or shower. Increasing bathroom square footage can greatly increase the value of your home … and bathroom projects could have an ROI of up to 62 percent.”

Enclose the patio or porch

How often do you actually sit outside on your house’s front porch or back patio? Probably not very often due to the weather. Get more use out of these areas of your house and increase the total square footage by permanently enclosing them to create four-season sunrooms.

Expand a room

You don’t need to renovate an entire wing of your house to add some additional feet to its footprint. An affordable, easy way to expand any room with at least one outward-facing wall: a bump-out. You can add a couple of feet onto a small, underutilized room without having to do HVAC or extensive roof work. Bump-outs, due to their small size, often don’t substantially alter the exterior of the house and can blend in perfectly with the rest of the house. Plus, it can make a huge difference with how usable a room can be.

Finish a room

If you want more living space but don’t want to spend the time and money adding onto the size and foundation of the house, many home improvement experts recommend starting by polishing off any unfinished rooms of the house, like the basement, workshop or laundry room. You could even turn your garage into a finished living space or lounge space.

Careful planning and consultations will guide you in choosing the right modification for your particular home’s floorplan and your family’s unique lifestyle.

A home equity loan or line of credit is a great way to get these projects done. Ask Washington Trust for the home improvement loan that is right for you.