Sunday, March 21, 2010

Remodel your attic to add more livable space to your home

Has your family outgrown your house? If so, maybe your are trying to make a decision on whether to sell your current house and move to a larger home, or to remodel or add an addition to your current home. With the recent downturn in the housing industry, many people are choosing to remodel their home.

If you live in an area where home typically have unfinished basements (in-ground), then that provides you with a really good option for adding livable space to your home that previously was unused.

However, if you live in an area such as I do, Texas, where there typically are not basements, you can look to turning your attic into livable space. I recently had thought about that, and thought about adding a dormer to my attic/roof. Dormers are great because they add natural light and usable space, add height to bathrooms, kitchens, seating areas, and niches for desks. Dormers will help you gain more space in the middle of the attic to improve movement and circulation.

I was having difficulty deciding on what type of dormer/dormers to utilize in the remodeling process so that the style was appropriate to my house. There are many different styles and shapes of dormers:
- Flat
- Shed
- Gabled
- Pedimented
- Hipped
- Deck
- Arched
- Oval
- Eyebrow
- Inset
- Composite (includes several of the above forms)
The list below can give you an idea of what style of dormer is typically used for what style of home:
Gable dormers: Colonial Revivial, Georgian, Shingle, Queen Anne, Stick, Chateauesque, Tudor, and Craftsman, to name a few
Hipped dormers: Prairie, Shingle, Craftsman
Arched dormers: Second Empire, Beaux Arts, French Eclectic
Oval dormers: French Eclectic, Beaux Arts, possibly Italian Renaissance
Shed dormers: Craftsman, Arts & Crafts, Colonial Revival
Eyebrow dormers: Shingle, Romanesque, Queen Anne
Pedimented dormers: Georgian, Federal, Colonial Revival styles



Brian Heltzel
Putting On The Fix Remodeling
Burleson, TX
www.puttingonthefix.com

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