Home Addition Evaluation
Determine if your home can support a home addition
Follow these steps before investing any money in designs/permits to ensure you have enough money to complete your Home Addition Project! (or at the very least make sure your designer tells you about these steps so you don’t end up wasting time and money on designs you can’t afford)
When you are planning to add additional levels to an existing home it is important to follow the right steps in order to prevent yourself from wasting money on a project that might be too costly for you to complete. Turning unknowns into knowns is an important step in making sure that there are as few items that pop up during your home addition project as possible. BVM Contracting has compiled a list of FOUR very important items that you can and should complete for around $4000-$5000 that can give you absolute certainty that your existing home is well-suited for a second or third storey addition in Toronto.
We don’t like wasting your time so let’s get right into the different steps. Note that we have ordered these in the order of severity, meaning that the remedial costs for the first one is way larger in magnitude than the last items. You can complete these steps in any order but the ones at the top will be more important for gauging your home’s capabilities for a home addition project in Toronto.
Start Off With A Footing Size Verification + Soil Analysis
This is the single most important step when evaluating your home’s ability to add additional levels. Footings are rebar-supported, concrete-formed, rectangular strips that are installed beneath foundation walls to support the load of the walls and floors that create a home. Depending on the amount of load that the footings have to hold, they are sized at different widths and depths to allow for a certain number of levels to be built above the foundation.
A footing size verification (along with soil testing), allows a structural engineer to confirm that the existing size of the footings in a home will be able to support the additional load that will be created by adding levels for a home addition project.
The best way to complete this analysis is in the basement of your home in an unfinished area, and usually it is required to complete TWO test holes to ensure that the size of the footings is continuous along the entire perimeter of the home. If there is no way to complete the verification/testing from the basement (when the basement is fully finished and the client does not want to ruin the basement) you can opt to do the work from the exterior wall instead, but that will be more costly to do.
Approximate Cost to Complete (including engineer’s visit/report) - Interior: $2000 + HST
Approximate Cost to Complete (including engineer’s visit/report) - Exterior: $4000-$5000 + HST (with good access for machine dig)
The potential risk for footings that are not sized large enough is that you will need to complete work to increase the size of the existing footings by using rebar/forms, or will need to underpin beneath the existing footings. Many times if the client’s budget can afford it the underpinning is preferred so they can gain additional ceiling height in the basement. The potential increase in cost for this additional work is anywhere between $20 000-$75 000, so it is best to know about this before you go through the design and permit process then wait for your General Contractor or Home Builder finding out when they start your project.
You would think that every designer and architect does this work for clients upfront but do not assume that they will, many of them just want to get the design and permit process started so you can pay them, they don’t care if you run into issues after the fact when they are paid in full. We’ve had to be the bearers of bad news more times than we can count due to clients that worked with a designer who did not evaluate the existing house before getting started on the house design, and it does not feel good for anyone involved.
BOTTOMLINE: IF YOU DO ONE THING DO THE FOOTING SIZE VERIFICATION FIRST!!!
Confirming Double Brick Exterior Walls (Solid Bearing)
This is another important structural element, especially for bungalow projects looking to add additional levels. Since many war-time bungalows in Toronto were built with double brick walls (Double-Wythe Masonry Wall is another term used) this is something that has become more of an assumed feature of homes looking to build up, but we are here to say that you should not always judge a house’s masonry by the cover. We recommend doing the work from the interior of the home to determine if the exterior wall is truly a double brick (double wythe) wall. This involves opening up existing walls from the interior to ensure that the thickness is consistent to a double brick (as opposed to single brick) masonry wall.
Many times this is not an issue because 95% of the war-time bungalows in Toronto are double brick, but there are the odd neighbourhoods/houses that did not use that method of building exterior walls and that needs to be accounted for when planning the structural work to create a two or three level home in Toronto.
The cost to do this exploratory work is a few hundred dollars plus a site visit by an engineer. Many times if you work directly with an engineer they could do the footings analysis and this work at the same time to save you some time and money. The potential risks involved with not having a double brick exterior wall includes:
Having to complete addition structural work to build up additional levels (usually a completely new perimeter wall needs to be created)
Shoring work to ensure that the existing single brick wall is supported and does not fall down)
Again this is few and far between but we’ve ran into this before so better to be safe than sorry!
Termite Infestations
Especially in certain neighbourhoods this may stop you from building an additional level altogether. It is always wise to do an evaluation of the home to see if there is any evidence of termite infestation, and if so what the level of damage has been caused and if that will affect the home addition project. Luckily, we have a lot of experience dealing with termites and are affiliated with a local termite company in Toronto to provide a comprehensive and streamlined process to evaluating your home for termites!
Designated Substance Survey (DSS) Testing (Asbestos and Lead)
This is one that is commonly left to the General Contractor to complete and is seldom even discussed by architects/designers. The need to complete DSS testing for asbestos and lead is required by the Ministry of the Environment to prevent exposure to these designated substances commonly found in older homes. Since many of the homes in Toronto have not been fully updated past the time of when these products were commonly used in home building materials, these surveys provide a glimpse of where the designated substances are present in your home, and allow for your Home Builder to create a remediation plan to remove these substances before the demolition work ensues. The remediation costs depend on the level of asbestos and lead in the house, it is important to do the evaluation as one of your first steps so any remediation work can be accounted for in the budget.
Conclusion
If you follow our advice and do some legwork before coughing up $15-30 K on designs/permits, you may be able to budget your project better and run into less surprises. There are designers and architects out there that follow these steps before making you invest a bunch of money but make sure that you ask them about their process and if these are not involved look elsewhere or contact us and we can help put some pricing together for an analysis of your property!
About BVM COntracting
BVM Contracting is a full-service General Contractor or Home Builder located in Toronto. We provide home renovation and building services for major home renovations and custom home builds (full interior renovations, home additions, lot severances, new home construction, and laneway suites). Our goal is to help guide our clients through the process of building their home, from concept to completion.
Further than providing General Contracting and Project Management for major home renovations, we also offer value-added services such as renovation financing, renovation rebate consultations and services, building permit and design services, smart home installation services, and real estate investor services.
To learn more about our offering by visiting our services page.