1. What is the cost of getting the ceiling up to 9' in kitchen study/fam?
Assuming the new entry and hallway have a 9’ ceiling, like the living room, it is an open question what to do about the ceiling in the kitchen and family room: keep it at its current current 8’, or raise it the level of the LR ceiling? How much would it cost extra to make the kitchen and (former) study be 9’ to ceiling? (Remember that the entire roof will need to be resurfaced anyway)
2. What is the cost of bringing the windows and doors up 10"?
I would like to know what is the true cost of bringing all south and north facing windows up to the ceiling, versus just running them to the bottom of the beams. The former would require some structural enforcement from above and the windowpanes are larger than what are normally available in the residential market.
3. What is the cost of an 86 sf niche versus a 165 sf addition to the NE corner?
I would like to understand if it makes sense to convert garage space into a study niche or whether the same money could be used to get higher quality space from a regular addition.
a. The price tag of converting 86 sf of garage to somewhat irregular conditioned space: Initially assumed to be low since we stay within the existing building envelope. However, all utilities have to be relocated away from the wall between living room and garage, ie. foundation work to allow the ducts to enter somewhere else, relocation of all plumbing and electricity to new laundry place, intricate framing (e,g, use existing overhang for the first 4’ of the niche and then drop to garage ceiling for the next 3’6”), new walls, custom build shelving, fancy sliding door. Degree HVAC estimates the extra work for them would amount to just over $3k.
b. The cost of a simple addition, 160-170 sf, sharing walls with living room and garage; same roof height as living room. Either slab or crawlspace.
Other pros and cons:
Con, study niche: serious lack of storage space in the garage.
Pro, study in addition: potentially a 3rd bedroom (better resale value).
