At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design» Three Approaches to Opening Up a 1950’s Ranch Home – At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design

Three Approaches to Opening Up a 1950’s Ranch Home

Jackie Braitman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:25:29 +0000

Computer Rendering of Remodeled Ranch

My client owns a typical 1950’s post-war construction 3-bedroom ranch house in Silver Spring. Virtually the same house can be found in many communities throughout the area including Bethesda, Wheaton, Gaithersburg and Rockville. It’s a small brick house where the front door opens directly into the living room. There’s a small living room, a dining room and kitchen plus 3 small bedrooms and a bath on the first floor. It has a full basement – originally unfinished. The house has relatively small windows and no connection to the outdoors.

This home is on a very large lot that backs up to park land – creating a private green way in the back yard – a very desirable reason for opening up the house to the outdoors.

We are still in the conceptual design phase but I thought I would share 3 separate approaches I developed for them to think about. My client’s priorities include:
-   Bringing the outdoors in
-   A modern/open/informal lifestyle
-   Both a foyer and a mud entrance
-   A Master Suite
-   A Carport with ample closed storage for recreational & outdoor equipment
-   Preserving or replacing the existing attic storage
-   The back of the house has a southern exposure and the client would like to be able to add photovoltaics in the future.

The following are computer renderings of the home after construction for each approach. Since we’re at the beginning of conceptual design, the drawings are not fully detailed. There will be many changes in whatever approach (or combination of approaches) they choose.

The options go from big to small and more expensive to less expensive. All the options maintain the character of house from the street so the house will continue to fit into the neighborhood.

Option 1 – 775 square foot addition in the back of the house.

Option 1: View from Dining to Living, Kitchen & Deck

Option 1: View of Kitchen & Dining through to Entry

Option 1: Floor Plan

This option fulfills the client’s entire wish-list albeit at a fairly steep price of approximately $350,000 to $400,000 which includes refinishing the entire first floor. The existing living room is transformed into a separate foyer. From the front door you can see all the way through the house into the deck and gardens in the back. The dining room, living room, kitchen and new master suite all open onto a large deck. A new mud entrance off a new carport is close to the kitchen and bath. The new carport has lots of enclosed storage for outdoor and sports equipment. The new space has a new roof volume that can take advantage of future photovoltaic arrays and allows for clerestory windows to let soft northern light into the middle of the house. A large southern roof overhang prevents solar build-up in the summer but promotes passive solar in the winter months. While drawn here as wood, stone floors would provide further passive solar benefits. With a generous master suite, 3 additional bedrooms, and an office all on the 1st floor – this home would provide substantial value with relatively small footprint and continued fit within the established neighborhood.

Option 2 – 800 square foot 2nd Floor

Option 2: View From Entry Through to Deck

Option 2: View of Living, Kitchen & Deck

Option 2: First Floor Floor Plan

Option 2: 2nd Floor Floor Plan

The second option involves adding a partial second floor instead of a back addition. The result is a home that feels more traditional but still feels open. Because the 2nd floor only spans part of the house, it still fits in with the homes on the block. In option 2, we added almost exactly the same amount of space and met the full wish-list at a smaller price tag. It’s often cheaper to build up rather than out. In this case we’re re-using the existing foundation — investigation shows that the existing foundation and wall will support a 2nd floor. We’re also saving money because we’re able to tie into the existing waste stack and other plumbing lines.

One small bedroom on the first floor was sacrificed to create an open stairway. This change creates a large airy foyer with large coat closet and views through the house to the deck and garden. The 2nd floor contains a master suite and 4th bedroom or study.

Compared with the first option, the kitchen is smaller and we lose a separate mud entrance from the carport – in this option, the mud entrance is incorporated to the side of the kitchen. The deck is smaller with fewer access points. We also end up with one less bedroom/study. But the master suite is larger with killer views of parkland and a larger master bath with his and her sinks.

Option 3 – 290 square foot Back Addition and Remodeled Basement Master Suite

Option 3: View from Dining to Living, Kitchen & Deck

Option 3: View of New Foyer & Thru to Deck

Option 3: Exterior View of New Deck & Basement Master Suite

Option 3: Floor Plan of First Floor

Option 3: Floor Plan of Basement

The house is on a slight hill and so the floor of the basement is only about 3ft below grade at the back. The basement also enjoys full 8’ ceilings. It is dry and already conditioned (heating and cooling) but is essentially never used except for some storage.

The least expensive way to fulfill my client’s wish list is to build a small addition in the back – creating a pleasing L-shaped house with good views and access to the outdoor – and to build a new master suite in the under-used basement. We would excavate a small sunken patio just outside the new master suite with access through French doors.

The remodeled home would be modern in feel – with an airy, open foyer including a skylight over the stairway that brings abundant daylight to the middle of the basement. A large open foyer and separate large mud entrance off the new carport would serve family and friends well. The existing living room is turned into a study with a small but adequate open space with dining, living, and kitchen open to the back deck. Corner windows in the kitchen add significantly to the open feel. The master suite is large enough for a sitting area, plenty of closet space, his-and-hers sinks in the master bath and a study opposite the new stairway.
This option – at $65,000 to $85,000 less than the first option – still fulfills my client’s wish-list. I also like this option because the work can be phased – if desired – to spread out the payment over 2 or 3 phases of work.

Conclusion

For me, the real less here is the value of the conceptual design phase. For less than $5,000 my clients are able to fully visualize and understand their choices before investing in expensive construction documents. None of these options were options originally conceived of by my client. They were thinking that they would remove the entire back wall and double the size of the house – an option that yielded fewer benefits at greater cost than any of these options. The conceptual designs presented to my clients included 2 additional options than presented here and all options contained much greater detail and more internal and external renderings than presented here. It’s the right way to start thinking about remodeling.

Before Pictures

BEFORE - Dining Room

Front Exterior - Before

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build.

Basement Bath & Laundry

Jackie Braitman — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:56:15 +0000

New Basement Powder Room

My clients, in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of Washington, DC, own a 1920’s federal style duplex. When they called me, their basement included a partially finished laundry room with a toilet. We succeeded in giving them everything on their wish list including:

A separate laundry
A separate powder room
A finish level similar to the rest of their home
Ceramic tile on the floor
Beadboard Wainscoting
Making all the exposed utilities — including phone lines, ducts, and vents — disappear.
Extensive storage built into the new spaces since, like many homes built in the 1920’s, they had limited closet and storage space

And we did so while still meeting their limitations:

They didn’t want to take away any space from the utility room or the family room so we were restricted to the existing space.
And finally, they didn’t want to spend more than $20,000.

Basement Laundry

As you can see in the Before and After floor plans, below, we split the room in half and relocated the washer and dryer. New interior walls adjoin the existing exterior walls and allowed us to hide the plumbing without the additional expense of breaking into the concrete floor. We used the same walls to hide the exposed vent pipe, waste stack and drain – adding access panels where appropriate. Initially my clients thought the sink should be located next to the toilet. However, by locating the new pedestal sink across from the toilet on a new wall, we could tie into an existing vent and the drain line for the washing machine — again, avoid breaking into the concrete floor. We also hid the dryer duct this way and shortened the duct by about 10 feet – thus increasing the efficiency of the dryer. The dryer now vents out to a narrow pathway between our client’s duplex and the one next door. Exposed phone wires were hidden behind new trimwork around the glass block window.

Economical and efficient storage in the powder room was created by building a closet with an interior dimension of 24” x 36”. The placement of the closet also makes the powder room area feel more intimate and more separated from the family room beyond. By setting the height of the wainscoting at the height of the window sill we helped unify the odd angles of the bath.

By flipping the washer/dryer to the adjacent wall we provided sufficient room in front so the homeowners don’t feel cramped and we moved them out of view should the door to the laundry be open when guests use the powder room. We used the existing washer, dryer and toilet. We used cost-saving ventilated shelving in the laundry.

Lighting in the laundry room is provided by re-using a 4 ft fluorescent fixture. Lighting in the powder room is provided by a single sconce mounted above the new medicine cabinet and by the light in the exhaust fan.

The combination of decisions resulted in a bright and efficient combination of rooms with almost triple the storage. It also saved between $5,000 and $7,000 in plumbing, cabinetry, lighting and other costs.

Closet for Storage & to Enclose Toilet

Closet Provide Efficient & Cost-Effective Space

Floor Plan After

Floor Plan - Before

Laundry Before Remodeling

Images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build.

Comparing Price Estimates – Make Sure It’s Apples to Apples

Jackie Braitman — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:42:27 +0000

Accurate Contract Scope Keep Change Orders To a Minimum

This blog is half rant and half advice about how to evaluate bids from remodeling contractors.

About 9 months ago I lost a job for a basement remodel on “price”. The winning contractor came in with a fixed price of $33,000 based on a brief discussion with the client. My firm separates design and construction and the client liked what they heard from us and our references so they went ahead with us to do design (this is after they got the fixed price quote, mentioned above). After a fairly detailed design, I gave the client an estimated price of $53,000. Not surprisingly, the client thought the $33,000 was more attractive and went with the other firm. When I heard that another contractor had bid $33,000, I was quite surprised and suspected that the difference reflected a different scope and not real construction price differences. I tried to have a conversation with my client about whether the scope was the same but the client saw only the bottom line.

I thought I had developed a fairly good relationship with the client so decided to check in after the job was scheduled for completion. I just called. Here’s what I learned

The job took 2 months longer than expected.

The final job costs were $50,700 — a whopping 54% over-budget. Note that we included $5,000 for contingency (not included by the other firm) so the total costs were almost exactly the same. Plus we have a record of coming in on-budget based on detailed up-front budgeting.

Change-orders included the following items:

-	The bath location had to be moved to the location we suggested
-	Lighting was upgraded to recessed lighting (included in our initial quote)
-	The inspector required them to include an egress window (included in our initial quote)
-	HVAC was upgraded (included in our initial quote)
-	Finish allowances were exceeded by 500% (upgraded finishes were included in our initial quote)
-	Additional walls were constructed (included in our initial quote)
-	Additional labor for removing and reinstalling bookcases and other case goods (included in our initial quote)

The client was furious about the job. They didn’t like working with the contractor who was messy and somewhat unreliable. The client especially didn’t like all the “nickel and dime” change orders and hassles.

So while I feel somewhat redeemed, I’ve been thinking both about what the client should have done differently and what I could have done differently.

The main lessons learned for the client are to:

Always make sure you’re comparing apples to apples when comparing 2 price quotes. In this case, it would have been relatively easy since my price and design were quite detailed and the client could have spoken with the other contractor and confirmed that all the specifics were in his quote.
Always make sure that price quotes include a detailed scope of work. This will help limit change orders and price increases.
Always get references and use a guide like the one here

I’m having a bit more problem with the lessons learned for me and would welcome suggestions about how I could have helped the client understand that the lower bid wasn’t realistic.

Basement Remodeling – Cost Components

Jackie Braitman — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:29:36 +0000

Proposed Basement Remodel

I’m in the process of designing a basement for one of my clients in Bethesda, MD. It’s a modest split-level 1950’s era home. The basement is already finished with a vinyl tile floor and drywall walls and ceiling. It’s split into 2 rooms. They want it converted to a playroom and an au pair’s bedroom & bath. They were hoping to keep the costs to $40,000 but also wanted some more expensive options such as porcelain tile flooring throughout, a glass shower surround, and recessed lighting fixtures in all rooms.

Above is a floor plan for remodeling the basement. You can see that we’ve kept the wall dividing the space and allocated the space for the bedroom and playroom. The sewer line runs under the floor just a few feet off the new wall that will have toilet and shower stall. Which makes the bath location the most cost effective. I have not included in the drawing the location of light fixtures and other details.

Since most of us have a hard time believing how expensive remodeling can be, I thought it would be useful to see the costs of the different components for this remodeling project and where cost savings can be achieved.

Budget with Potential Savings

You can see that even this modest proposal comes to about $62,000. With changes in finish level, we can reduce the cost to just over $50,000. This includes a 10% contingency which is a bare minimum.

So here’s what to keep in mind if you want to achieve savings:

The labor costs for specialty trades such as plumbers and electricians is 2-3 times the cost of construction labor. You can lower these costs by keeping down the number of fixtures and difficulty of installation. For this basement, we could lower the costs for the electrician by using fewer surface mount fixtures instead of recessed fixtures like the client originally wanted. Because we have to break into the concrete slab to install the toilet, there’s not much we can do to reduce the plumbing cost.
We can reduce the cost of the bath by replacing the shower with a bath tub and shower curtain; replacing the vanity with a countertop and drop-in sink, and replacing the ceramic tile with an acrylic insert for the tub walls and vinyl flooring. With the exception of the tub, the other changes are not acceptable to this client.
The largest potential savings can come from the choice of flooring material. In this case, it’s not the cost of the material but the labor to install the material that makes the biggest difference. Porcelain, stone or ceramic tile takes a lot of labor to install. If we move to a “sheet” good such as vinyl or carpet, the labor costs can be reduced substantially.
The basement is cold. It sits directly on a concrete slab and the heating ducts are in soffits on the ceiling. We proposed 2 changes to address the problem: First we suggested furring up the floor an inch and putting insulating foam board between new plywood and the existing floor. I know from personal experience that this makes a tremendous difference. Second, we proposed adding additonal ductwork and moving the registers to just above floor level. A cheaper alternative is to add baseboard heat.

These are the costs in the Washington DC area for a fairly bare-bones basement remodel. If you are looking to use more luxurious materials like granite countertops or add additional features such as a kitchenette, the finish costs can easily double or triple.

Basement Media Room

Jackie Braitman — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 04:44:27 +0000

Basement Media Room

My client wanted media and exercise rooms in the basement of her 1920’s Washington DC home. The media room is the place where she and her boyfriend spend evenings with their large black lab. She wanted it to be comfortable for the two of them on a daily basis and also for the occasional party — such as their recent Super Bowl Party — for 4-8 adults. The media room needed to house a kitchenette with a sink and wine cooler and plenty of storage. The entertainment wall needed to accommodate a 67″ screen plus all the components for watching cable, movies and gaming. We used a panel sound system that fits under the TV with a sub-woofer in one of the cabinets. The exercise room needed to fit a treadmill, weights, and maybe one other piece of equipment but only one of them would use it at a time. The basement also serves as the passageway from the garage so it gets a lot of daily foot traffic.

We chose a palette of dark charcoal paint, slate, deep mocha cabinetry and chocolate colored upholstery. The palette of the rest of the house is light and airy in tones of warm beige, honey and travertine. They were looking for a more masculine feel in the media room where they could hibernate away from the noise and hustle of the world. The room is small — about 14 ft square with the 7 ft ceilings typical in a basement. While my client was just a bit worried that the basement would feel cave-like — the palette works beautifully! The deep tones are relieved and accented with a highly reflective ubatuba granite countertop, a slightly less reflective but light-toned slate backsplash, satin-nickel hardware, and white switch plates. The ceiling is a lighter gray. The stairway is a light, warm yellow that pulls the basement together with the kitchen, above. It also provides a very nice contrast to the deep charcoal of the walls (see image, below).
The floor is a slate-look porcelain with radiant heat to keep away the chill from the concrete slab. The tile works equally well to manage the wear of daily traffic to and from the garage and the young dog’s antics. The homeowners are debating whether to put an area rug in the seating area so it’s soft as well as warm when they play on the floor with the dog.

We used a local cabinetmaker so that the entertainment center and cabinets above the sink area would fit within the limitations of overhead beams, walls that curve toward the top to accommodate the stone porch, and component sizes. We specified hinges that allow the upper cabinets to open upwards and stay open and the center entertainment cabinet doors to open a full 180 degrees. The remotes required line of sight to operate the components and our client didn’t want to use glass doors. With the 180 degree hinges, the doors can be open and out of the traffic flow. We used slightly larger bumpers and opened the cabinets to the wall cavity and to the area under the stairs to allow sufficient airflow so that the components don’t heat up with the cabinet doors closed. A register on the back wall hides the opening. There are outlets at the back of each of the 3 entertainment cabinets — this allows adequate outlets for all
current and future components. Another special touch are the wood door panels that hide the main electrical panel and a sub-panel (see image below). The doors were constructed so that if the client wanted she could replace the recessed wood panels with artwork.

The palette of materials and colors continues into the exercise room. A custom painted wardrobe cabinet was made to hide an awkward recess and to allow exercise gear and clothes to be hidden when company comes. Just like the lighter accents in the media room, the white painted built-in wardrobe lightens up the exercise room and keeps it from feeling too dark. Another small TV was mounted over the treadmill.

My clients are delighted with the media room; they find it very relaxing after a hard day and equally successful for entertaining. It’s easy to keep neat and, as I could tell last I time I visited, the exercise room is also being used daily.

Entertainment Wall & Kitchenette

Closer View Including Wood Panels on Front Wall

Wood Panels Hide Main Electric Panel & Sub-Panel

Special Hinges Allow Doors to Open 180 Degrees

View Into Exercise Room

Floor Plan

Media Wall - Before

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build

Basement Playroom

Jackie Braitman — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 01:33:22 +0000

Completed Play Room

Probably the best bang for the buck is finishing an unfinished basement.

This playroom is right down the stairs from the kitchen making it a great place for kids to play while Mom is preparing dinner.

No need to cleanup when company comes — simply close the basement door.

Before Remodeling

For just a few thousand dollars, the unfinished space to the left was
turned into a terrific play space.

A space like this can be quite flexible. With different finishes, it can also be a perfect media room once the kids are older.

A few comments on details: A new wrap-around porch blocks light from the windows but colorful curtains block the now dark windows. It was cheaper to paint the the exposed duct that travels the length of the room than to create a drywall chase. Painting the duct the same color as the wall makes it almost disappear. An extra thick pad under the rug keeps the room comfortable and warm.

All images courtesy of Braitman Design/Build