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Additions & Renovations – Some Helpful Information

How do additions & renovations differ from other types of projects, what can you expect and what are some items to look out for. This blog has useful information for the homeowner, the builder and the designer alike.

Additions & Renovations require a different kind of knowledge on top of the essentials of design for other types of projects.

Many types of projects fall under the umbrella of additions & renovations. If you’re planning on partaking in the task of adding to and/or updating your existing space, understanding some key points can be very helpful.

Some projects may be more complex and include both an addition and a renovation of the existing space. Other projects may be a little smaller such as turning an unfinished basement into a legal suite. No matter the size, a designer has to take specific items into account to provide adequate drawings.

In this blog we will be talking about some items that you should take into account even before you hire a designer and should definitely be taken into account during the design phase. This information will make you better equipped for all the different items that will be involved in your project.

Acquiring A Site Survey

If your project involves adding to the amount of space your structure takes up on the property – also known as lot coverage — then it’s a good idea to obtain a site survey. A site survey is a legal document of your property created by a registered British Columbia Land Surveyor (BCLS). The most important items included on the survey are your property lines, the existing structures on the property and geodetic datum as well as other important information and data. You can learn more about surveys and surveyors here.

A site survey is important because it ensures the designer is accurate when placing new structures or additions to existing structures on the property. This is especially true if the project is reaching the zoning regulation’s lot coverage limit. Without a proper survey, the site plan will not be fully accurate and if the plan is not fully accurate, how do you know the project meets the applicable regulations and will pass the building permit application phase?

It’s common for home owners to have a basic site survey commonly known as a mortgage survey and usually comes with the purchase of a house. The real estate agent shows the mortgage survey to give potential buyers a good look at the property. Sometimes this item can work for a project but most times they are outdated and lacking critical information required for the designer to be accurate. For example, mortgage surveys do not have geodetic datum points which the designer uses to calculate building height to ensure the project does not go over the height allowance.

Obtaining a site survey is quite easy. There are plenty of companies in town that provide this service. Give any of them a call and they would be more than happy to book a time to send a small crew out to survey your property. After the property is surveyed, the company then uses CAD software to draw up the property with the information obtained on site and the document is checked to ensure accuracy. When completed, the survey company will send the client a PDF and sometimes the DWG file of the survey. The designer usually uses the DWG file to work off when creating the site plan required for building permit plans.

Keep Servicing In Mind

It’s a wise idea to keep track of the services we can sometimes take for granted because we don’t see them or deal with them often. The items that are important yet go unseen are the items that should be established before any design begins. The big three service questions are how will the project be serviced with water, with sewer and how will storm water be managed. A designer should take these items into consideration at the beginning of the design process. These items can change the overall cost of the project and therefore it’s a good idea to establish these items so the client is aware of such costs.

If you are adding more fixtures that use water in your existing space, chances are you will need to upgrade your water service in some way. There are two upgrades that could take place. One is the water service pipe owned by you that runs from your property line to your home. The other is the water service pipe that runs from the street to the water box at your property line; these items are owned by the city. One or both may need to be upgraded and is determined by a calculation based on the proposed fixtures on your property. The idea is that your water service needs to be able to accommodate all fixtures on your property running at once. There should never be a time when your water service cannot handle what your fixtures are asking. The service pipe on your property is changed by your builder or plumber. The one at the city is handled by the city and is paid to the city directly. You can learn more about this at your municipality’s engineering department.

The sewer service takes care of sewage which contains black water and may contain grey water. Black water is non-reusable water containing what we usually refer to as sewage. Grey water is used water that does not contain sewage such as bath water, laundry water, etc. In urban and suburban areas, a sewer service is almost guaranteed to be connected at your property line and runs at a slight slope from your house to the sewer main in the street. In other cases, a septic tank and field are still commonly used. A septic system stores sewage in a tank where it allows the waste to separate. The dirty water is drained into a field while the main portions of the sewage are stored in the tank and is eventually cleaned out. Septic systems are most commonly used in rural areas where sewer infrastructure is not set up.

Storm water management is also an important system. Storm water is water from the weather that, if left unmanaged, can greatly affect the structural integrity of your house. An old saying is: “Water, if left long enough, will find a way in.” This is the essence of storm water management. We live in a wet climate. If water is left to sit on your foundation wall, it will eventually damage it. If we didn’t use gutters, the water droplets falling off your roof onto other areas of the house or even the concrete on the ground will eventually destroy what it is landing on. We manage storm water by running perforated PVC pipe at the foundation around the perimeter of the house at a slight slope as per the building code. This manages the water by allowing what would normally sit around the foundation to escape the area through a pipe that forces it to travel away from the house. Gutters are also connected to downspouts that connect to rain water leaders at the ground and connect finally into another PVC pipe down by the foundation and the same process continues. Over time, water carved out the Grand Canyon. Don’t underestimate the power of water or the necessity to manage it around any structure.

Lining Up New to Old

In the additions & renovations world, lining up the new construction to the existing old structure can be an art in itself. Another old saying comes to mind: “If you can’t make it look like it’s always been there, make it look obviously different”. Essentially this means don’t try to pretend like the new construction matches the existing structure if it obviously looks like an addition. If that’s the case, make it a feature. In most cases though, constructing a seamless addition is possible, however, there are a couple things to keep an eye out for.

Determining how walls are going to line up where the addition meets the existing structure is important. In new construction, behind the siding on the house, there is a thing called rainscreening. Rainscreening is simply using wood straps to create a gap between the actual wall and the siding. This gap is used for proper venting in case water does get behind the siding but more importantly it creates a capillary break, stopping capillary action. Capillary action is the ability of water (or any liquid) to crawl up narrow spaces, defying the laws of gravity. Creating a capillary break is the way to ensure adequate waterproofing of the structure as per the building code. Capillary action is a very interesting phenomenon; you can learn more about it here. Older construction does not have this construction method and depending on the municipality, the addition must. Now let’s think about this for a second. If the existing structure wall doesn’t have wood strapping and the new wall must have wood strapping, that means without proper planning, the new addition’s siding will stick out slightly which creates the obvious addition look that we discussed. There are a few tricks and design methods that are possible to resolve this issue and with proper planning, the seamless addition can be reached.

Another item to look out for is how the roofs will line up at the eaves. Trusses did not exist when most older homes were built. Now-a-days using a truss is simply economically wise. The question is how will the new addition’s truss roof meet up with the existing stick framed roof; stick framed meaning built on site at the time, without a truss. There are a few strategies that resolve the issue of the roof not lining up. Trusses are very adaptable and can be created in a way that lines up with the existing stick framed roof. The trick is providing adequate venting for the roof space as per the building code.

What Not to Touch

A valuable piece of knowledge for additions & renovations is knowing what to touch and what not to touch and understanding why. The last thing you want to do is open a proverbial can of worms that you can’t put back in the battle – or jar? – sure lets go with jar. A projects budget can skyrocket because of touching something that shouldn’t have been touched. There is a classification of construction called legal non-conforming. If you’re planning on working on areas that are classified as such, it’s important to know what you’re getting into.

Legal non-conforming construction refers to older construction practices that are not up to current day code. The way it works is that the city will not make you bring non-conforming construction up to code unless you are touching it. This is very important to know and could save you from massive headaches with the city. Sometimes construction can create a domino effect in which an item that wasn’t originally part of the project will need to be updated. An example of this would be lowering a basement floor. By lowering a basement floor, steps will need to be added to stairs. Let’s say the stairs are not to present day code. By adding three steps, the stairs are being touched and will need to be brought up to code. There are many theoretical like this. It’s a good idea to keep things like that in mind when planning additions & renovations.

Sometimes items should be brought up to code for the purpose of the overall project and that’s fine. Other times, proper planning including knowingly avoiding touching an area can be the difference between coming in on budget and blowing the budget out of the water. A designer should understand this and always be looking out for points in which this pit fall could take place.

Homeowner Protection Office (HPO)

A large part of trades now-a-days is ensuring the work is done correctly. Also, if anything goes wrong, who is liable and who pays whom. The Homeowner Protection Office (HPO) is a provincial trades insurance entity from BC Housing that deals with substantial reconstruction and new structures. According to the Homeowner Protection Act and regulations, new homes and substantial reconstruction projects are to be constructed by licenced residential builders and must be covered by mandatory third-party home warranty insurance.

Essentially, the reasoning for HPO is to mandate that the quality of work in residential construction is adequate for consumers of housing. There must be a qualified and licenced individual in charge of the project. A few people travelling around North America building homes that have issues in a short amount of time while the builders have moved on does not cut it anymore — nor should it. HPO ensures that builders are competent by requiring that licenced builders take professional development courses and new builders demonstrate an adequate level of understanding of the building code, construction technology and a host of other items.

The licencing and warranty work hand-in-hand and ensures that builders meet minimum best practices during construction and the client is protected with a strong, third-party warranty if a construction defect occurs. You can learn more about this here.

Conclusion

And this ends our short list of items that the homeowner and designer should be thinking and planning about at the design stage. In no way are these items a complete list of what to expect with additions & renovations, however, I think it gives some helpful insight in some of the things you can expect. Additions & Renovations can be a whole different ball-game than custom and spec homes. They require attention to different aspects as with other projects and a designer needs to know a lot about construction for the project to run smoothly.
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Custom Home vs Spec Style Home

In the building trade there are many different names and titles for different things. One of those things is the different types of houses. You may have heard builders, real estate agents or investors refer to different types of houses as custom or as spec, but what’s the difference?

What is the difference between custom homes and spec style homes? The answer to this question can vary and sometimes blur together. If you look on the internet you will probably get many different answers. In Victoria, when people think of a custom home, they are thinking of the big house on water front with a three-car garage and a gate in the front and for a spec style home, they are thinking of the new subdivisions in Langford or Sooke. For the most part, that’s correct, however, what do the terms custom home and spec style home actually mean? In this blog, we will dive right into the definitions so the terms won’t be a mystery to you.

Custom Homes

Custom homes are almost always designed and built for the home owner. A custom home is really the same as a custom anything. A home designed and built specifically for a single person or family is what is known as a custom home.

When the client is ready to partake on the project of designing and building their own home, they usually start with some simple research. They learn what styles they like – both interior and exterior – and possibly a basic floor plan. Then comes the time to hire a professional to work with them and put their ideas onto paper, achieving their vision. That’s where a professional home designer comes in.

The designer works with the home owner through the design process to determine exactly how the client’s house will be laid out and look from the exterior and interior. Different designers have different approaches and methods to achieve this depending on how they work and what the client is looking for. For the most part, several concepts are provided to the client called preliminary designs. This is the major part of the design process for a custom home. The designer works closely with the client to amalgamate all the client’s wishes from many different forms of inspirations into a single structure that meets all the zoning regulations and the applicable building codes. Once a first draft is completed, an important step has been reached. The client now has their ideas out of their head and on to paper; a starting point and something to point at and refer to.

Now begins the fine-tuning to really customize the structure to the client’s needs and wants. Is the master bedroom big enough? How about the closet? Does another room need to be added? Any special features? The client and designer work together until the client is satisfied with the design. Once that satisfaction has been reached, it’s time to turn the drawings into construction drawings for permits and to convey to the builder not only how to build the structure, but all the different elements that the client wants incorporated into their new custom home. The more items that can be addressed at the design stage will relieve the client of further clarification later.

How We Do It:

At Impact, we are able to take the design process to another level. Through exceptional service and next generation technology, we ensure the client is confident in the high-quality design they will be receiving. We start by learning about the client and what they will need in their new home. It sounds simple, but this step is important to make the design practical with the client’s needs. Also, we pin-point the client’s style by navigating through an endless supply of inspirations that we can incorporate into the design. Once we have an idea of what the client needs and what styles the client likes, we can begin rough space planning, layouts, massing plans and colour concepts.

When the client approves and is confident that we understand what they need in the design, we move on to the preliminary phase. The preliminary phase is where we design up the structure completely and work closely with the client to ensure their design is exactly how they want it – by adding, moving or removing items along the way. The goal is to create a flawless layout with an exciting exterior. Once the client is happy with the layout and the exterior, we can move into the more detailed exterior materials/colours and interior design. This is where our next generation technology shines. By showing exactly how that prominent center feature in the living room will look, first by concept, then by 3D photo realistic colour renderings, the client becomes submerged into the design of each room. We strive for the client to be enthusiastic about every aspect of the design, after all, people want to know in advance that the space they will be living in is perfect.

To take the design a step further, we can provide fully rendered animated fly-throughs of the structure and/or fully controlled panoramic renderings of specific areas. Yes, the things seen on TV can be created specifically for you. With the rise of technology, we can place the client directly in the design to understand exactly what it will look like and how much space they can expect. Nothing does it better like the right software in the hands of dedicated designers. Once the client is completely satisfied with their design, the preliminary drawings will be turned into construction drawings including everything that the client has approved. Now it’s time to turn the visuals into reality!

Spec Style Homes

Spec Style homes are by far the most common houses built in Victoria at this time, especially in Langford and Sooke. A spec style home is a house designed and constructed by an investor under the speculation that they will be able to market the home for sale to a wide variety of potential buyers. Where a custom home focuses on the needs of one single person or one family, a spec style home focuses on the most common needs of any person or family. Spec style homes can range from a traditional basic design to a more modern and complicated design, however, the intent of the design remains the same, to create a house that suits almost any person or family while keeping cost of construction down. You won’t see a seven foot cantilevered floor or floating concrete slabs on a spec style home.

Spec Style homes now-a-days can have a range of exterior looks, however, have mostly the same interior items. An entry with a coats closet, a one or two car garage and possibly an office off the foyer, an open living room, dining room and kitchen area with either an island or peninsula for bar stools is standard. Upstairs consists of a master bedroom with an ensuite and a walk-in closet with at least two other bedrooms and a common bath room accompanied by a possible laundry room. If there is a lower floor, a laundry room may be located down there with a rec room and a secondary suite. These common attributes are what investors are looking to build as they hit all the selling features that buyers are looking for in today’s market.

How We Do It:

At Impact, we know what sells and how to get the most value out of the design process, limiting waste and material usage through clever design techniques to save the investor on costs of construction. With rising costs of construction, margins can be thin. We make sure that the investor knows all possible angles about the design by constant contact during the design stage. If a decision involving cost of materials needs to be made, the client will know about it. We can work via multiple preliminary designs sent by e-mail and marked up digitally by the client or we can work in-person on a laptop brought to the client and iron everything out together. Laying out the floor plan with the client gives a lot more control of the design process in a shorter time frame, because time is money.

Semi-Custom Homes

A term that not many people speak, a semi-custom home, is another way of approaching the design of a new home. An experienced designer can take multiple different layouts and exterior designs and merge them into a single design that the client is looking for. It’s not uncommon for a client to provide several different samples from stock plan books and ask that certain features be blended together into one design. For the most part, in order to design, inspirations are required to transmit the client’s wants and style to the designer. That is usually done by images of already completed houses – both interior and exterior. That system is slightly different than the semi-custom home. A semi-custom home is taking an already completed design (floor plans, elevations, etc) and customizing it to suit the client by adding or removing rooms, shifting walls slightly or expanding the kitchen. However, the general completed design remains the same.

In this way, the client knows basically what they are looking for and already has something they can point to. This design process works similar to any other process except that a big part of the first preliminary design is done. The client can take a finished design and add or move rooms with a red pen until their desired layout is complete, then the designer can draw up the changes into a new structure. This method works great and can save time if the client sees a design they love but needs some minor tweaks and can be used for both spec homes and custom home, hence the term, semi-custom home.

Conclusion

As you can see, the definitions are distinct but can still blend together slightly. A custom home can have all the attributes of spec homes and still be considered custom. A spec home can look like a custom home but is still created specifically to sell. The terms mostly exist to put a label on what the client is looking for in the design. When one term is told to the designer, they know what to expect moving forward.

Now that we’ve gone over the specifications of each type of house, you’ll be able to stroll down neighborhoods and label them successfully.

Thanks for tuning in!