Additions
An addition can match or complement the existing home. We design and build home additions in Maryland and Washington, D.C. with the structural connections, room layout, and exterior details planned together, so the new space works with the house you already have.
Approach
Where the new house meets the old.
The hardest part of an addition is the seam. We plan how the new foundations and framing support the addition and connect to the existing home. We resolve each of those connections in design.
Inside, the question is flow. An addition should change how the house works, not just add square footage: where you enter it, what it connects to, and how light still reaches the rooms beside it. We plan the new space and the rooms it touches together, which sometimes means a related change to the adjoining kitchen.
Outside, rooflines, window proportions, trim, and siding or masonry are drawn to match the house or to complement it on purpose. The work shown here includes a glass-enclosed porch in Chevy Chase, an exterior addition in Glen Hills, Bethesda, a garage addition in Rockville, and an addition in Potomac.
In Design
Resolved before construction
- Foundations
- Footings and foundation walls sized for the site and set beside the existing ones.
- Structural tie-ins
- How new framing, beams, and floors connect to and bear on the existing house.
- Rooflines
- Pitch, overhangs, flashing, and drainage where the new roof meets the old.
- Materials
- Siding, masonry, windows, and trim matched to the house or chosen to complement it.
- Systems
- Heating, cooling, electrical, and plumbing extended into the new rooms.
What's Included
What's included in an addition
An addition brings together more trades than most remodels, from excavation and foundations to framing, roofing, and finish carpentry. Every crew works from the same set of drawings, and one project manager keeps them in sequence.
Planning includes the connection to the existing structure, roof, and systems. Opening an older wall or roof can reveal framing or damage no one could see from outside, and if it does, we show you what we found and the options before going further.
Learn more about iBuild and our approach to remodeling. If you're weighing an addition, start your project and tell us what the house is missing.
Questions
Addition questions, answered plainly
Size is one factor, but not the only one. Foundation and soil conditions, how the addition ties into the existing roof and structure, the systems that need extending, and the level of finish all shape the total. The figure comes from your design and your site, never from a rule of thumb per square foot.
That is where the design starts. We study the existing rooflines, proportions, windows, and materials, and decide with you whether the addition should match exactly or stand slightly apart in a deliberate way.
In many cases much of the house stays usable, because the early work happens outside. The most disruptive stage is opening the existing house into the new space, and we plan the timing of that with you.
Yes, and it often makes sense to plan them together so the old and new rooms work as one. When the scope reaches across the house, it becomes a Whole-Home Remodeling project coordinated as a single job.
Planning a remodel or addition?
Tell us how much room you need and what it should connect to.