Pros and Cons of Attic Remodels
Pros Of Attic Remodel
An attic remodel can be a great thing, if done properly and by a professional or someone with experience in the world of remodeling. A professional will know everything about how the process should be done and what permits are needed. If you have someone who knows what they are doing, there are a number of pros to your attic remodel.
The first attic remodel pro is that it will add living space to your home. Right now, your attic might be unusable because it has exposed walls, no insulation, or it has drafts or leaks. You might use it for additional storage, but you certainly don’t live there or use it for living space. Once you remodel the attic though, you’ll find that it will add a significant amount of living space to your home.
Another pro of an attic remodel is that it will add value to your home. Potential buyers look at the biggest house they can buy for their money, as well as the best looking house that requires the fewest amount of upgrades. If they see a finished attic, they’ll know that it’s work they won’t have to complete. However, if they see an unfinished attic, they might move on to other homes because they don’t want to invest the time and work themselves.
Cons Of Attic Remodel
While there are some pros to an attic remodel, you should also look at the cons associated with such a project. It’s fairly common for an individual to look at the job and think they can handle it, when they actually need a professional to do the work. Skipping even one permit or taking a shortcut on the remodel can leave you with problems in the future.
Consider the individual who decides that the best thing to do is handle one problem at a time instead of looking at the big picture. They take their time doing one small project every few months. Then, they learn that when they wired the room for electricity, they forgot to leave space for the plumbing lines or vice-versa. This can be a big and expensive con to fix.
You should also realize that it’s quite easy to spend a large amount of money on an attic remodel and not see any profit on that investment. You might spend thousands of dollars to create a huge master bedroom suite in the attic space, only to find out that you can only get back 10% of that amount when you sell. Not every buyer thinks an attic is a necessity when they purchase a new home.
Things To Consider
Before you begin an attic remodel, you should really consider how much investment you’re willing to make. Remodeling a large space like an attic can be quite pricey, depending on the amount of work that needs to be done. If the attic is completely bare without any real wiring, then it will take a large amount of money to fix. If you want to create a master bedroom or playroom in that area, you’ll spend a large amount of money just to acquire the proper permits.
Before beginning, you should also consider who is going to do the work if you decide not to tackle the large project yourself. Google (http://www.google.com) is a great place to begin researching a contractor in your area, as are the Yellow Pages (http://www.yellowpages.com). You can search for different contractors and workers in your area who can complete the work.
Once you find a few contractors, you’ll need to allow them access to your home and to the attic. The professionals can examine the space and give you a bid on what they think it would cost them to complete the remodel. After you have the bids, you can get a general idea of what needs to be done and the costs associated with such a job.
Best And Worst Remodels
The best remodels for an attic are those that add both space and value to your home. The worst remodels are those that are too specialized or too customized for your own needs, and do not leave room for a new buyer to interpret or use for their own needs. Consider the family that decides to create a huge game room out of their attic. While the family loves this idea, a new buyer looks at the space and can’t see what they would use the same room for.
Another bad attic remodel is one that is too customized to one individual or family. Your spouse might want to create an office that fits his personality and style. To meet this end, he decides to use leather panels on the walls and black bookcases built into the house. The next buyer might look at this and run in the opposite direction. In the end, you might have to take less money when you sell your home because buyers just don’t like the customized space.
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