Help! Major house remodel - can't figure out floor plan

9 years ago

Hi all! I'm hoping some of the experts here can advise me on coming up with a floor plan that is proving to be quite impossible on my own. Here's the back story. My parents recently purchased a small house in northern california. It is approximately 1240 sqft on a 6120 sqft lot. It is in pretty bad shape, so we will be doing a total renovation, and would like to add some square footage as well. Below is a picture of the floor plan, as well as a 3D rendering to give you an idea of what it looks like.

The front of the house is facing the bottom of the picture, and the house faces approximately west. The logical place to add to the house seems to be the front - we can push the front out to where the front of the garage is (or slightly further). Alternatively, we could expand the back, but the backyard is already pretty small, so that would mean losing backyard space.

Now here's the challenge. There are bedrooms all along the back of the house. Currently, the only access to the backyard is through a sliding door in the middle bedroom (or you could go through the garage and out the side door) - kinda wonky I think. Ideally, we would like a dining room, or kitchen, or living area somewhere on the back wall and have a door to access the backyard directly. Here's the other items on our "wish list":
- four bedrooms
- a larger master bath, with a shower and separate japanese style soaking tub
- a laundry room or laundry closet

Here are some of the challenges I'm running it:
- moving the fireplace/chimney would be a big expense, so we're trying to incorporate it's current position into the layout
- if we remove one of the bedrooms off the back wall, where can we add it back to the floor plan so we still have four bedrooms

I should add that none of the interior walls are load-bearing, and we are open to totally rearranging the layout of the rooms. If there is any additional info I should include, or if anything is not clear, please let me know. I would really appreciate any advice on this floor plan.

Thanks!

This post was edited by jkats on Wed, Jul 16, 14 at 18:54

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Comments (10)

jhanaoka
Original Author
9 years ago
Here's the 3D rendering of the house:
dekeoboe
9 years ago
How many square feet are you looking to add to the house? Are there currently washer and dryer hook-ups in the house?
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User
9 years ago
Seek the services of a local architect.
snoonyb
9 years ago
Slab or raised foundation?
jhanaoka
Original Author
9 years ago
We would like to add between 300 and 500 sqft. There are currently washer/dryer hookups only in the garage. The house has a slab foundation.

My initial idea was to extend the front of the house out to where the garage door is, and put the living room there. Then, put the kitchen and dining room along the right wall, and convert the master bedroom to a family room. However, the problem is trying to arrange four bedrooms in the remaining area of the house because we cannot put a bedroom along the back of the garage wall because there would be no windows. Also, the fireplace would end up being in the dining room, which might be a little strange.
kirkhall
9 years ago
Huh. Have you considered codes?
I'm in Washington state, and we don't usually have codes CA doesn't already have. We cannot have a legal bedroom that has a door to the garage.

Additionally, have you looked up setbacks? For example, we can have a garage in front of the setback. But, if you intend to extend the house to the front, you need to make sure you can.

And, have you considered a complete teardown and redo? You don't say how old the house is, or what kind of neighborhood.
jhanaoka
Original Author
9 years ago
Yes, I've researched the codes here. CA does have the same restriction - a legal bedroom cannot have a door to the garage. However, half the houses in this neighborhood have this same floor plan, and half of those families use this room as a bedroom - even though it's not legally a bedroom. However, we are planning to wall up that door and cut a new door to the garage somewhere else, so it will be a legal bedroom.

The setback over here is 20 feet from the sidewalk. The front of our garage is 26 feet from the sidewalk, so we could extend the house up to 6 feet past the front of the garage.

The house was built in 1962, and most of the houses in the neighborhood are very similar to this one. We haven't really considered a complete teardown due to cost. I think even if we did do a complete teardown, because the lot is so small, we would still end up with the same footprint - and face the same challenge of arranging all the rooms in the house. We did consider a second story, but aside from the fact that the foundation currently won't support a second story, a two story isn't really suitable for my elderly parents.
pixie_lou
9 years ago
Leave bedroom 1 and 3 as is, just walling up garage entry to bedroom 3. Move kitchen and dining and living room to the area of mbr and bedroom 2. Utilize kitchen area as a foyer. Build a wall thru current living room so that fireplace is part of the main living area. Addition is to the wright of the garage, put mbr and the 4th bedroom there.

Obviously the problem with this is where you front door is. But I dont really see a front entry on what you posted, and I have no idea which way you enter the garage.
live_wire_oak
9 years ago
You really need an architect to integrate your ideas into the existing home, as well as meet local codes. Good design can pay for itself.
jhanaoka
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks for the recommendation on a layout, pixie_lou. I hadn't thought of taking two rooms off the back. btw, sorry for being unclear on my pics - the garage door is on the wall facing the bottom of the picture, and the house entry is on the living room wall facing the bottom of the page.