Evaluate Your House for a Family Room Addition

Of all the additions you can put on a home from a master bathroom to a mudroom to a laundry room a family room may provide the biggest bang for the buck. In part thats because the job doesnt include any pricy plumbing fixtures, stone surfaces, or major appliances, so the costs are comparatively low per square foot.

But also, a family room can be much more than just an addition: By building it next to the kitchen, with an open floor plan, you can create a single, multipurpose gathering space thats well suited to life in the 21st century.

Whats involved

A 16-foot-by-25 foot family room addition constructed over a crawlspace foundation, with vinyl siding, hardwood floors, recessed ceiling lights, and 180 square feet of glass, including windows and atrium-style doors (double French doors with fixed door-sized panels on each side), has a median cost of $84,201, according to Remodeling magazines latest Cost vs. Value Report. You can expect to recoup $53,955 64.1% of your investment when you sell the house.

Make no mistake, this is a big project that will require a building permit, take a big chunk out of your yard, and require a host of different tradesmen to pour a foundation, install a roof, and do everything in between.

Youll have to expand your heating and cooling systems to accommodate the new space, which will likely mean upgrading to larger furnace, central air conditioner and electrical panel, says Phil Kolby, a contractor in Charlotte, N.C. And youll see higher energy and property tax bills as a result of the project.

Is it right for your house?

The classic scenario that calls for a family room addition is a house with a small- or medium-sized kitchen thats segregated from formal living and dining rooms by interior walls. But there are often lower-cost alternatives: You may be able to avoid a full addition project by simply knocking down some interior walls ($2,000 to $8,000 per wall, depending on whether its bearing or contains plumbing and electrical supply lines)as long as youre willing to turn those formal spaces into everyday rooms.

Or, if thats not feasible, because of stairways or other complications, the family room doesnt have to be adjacent to the kitchen. You may be able to create the space by finishing the basement or using a spare bedroom or a bonus room over the garage. Those are far more cost-effective ways to get your family room, says Missoula, Mont., appraiser Bryan Flaherty.

Still, even in this market, Flaherty says an addition may be worth the investment. If family rooms are common among similar houses in your neighborhood, the house doesnt have other major salability drawbacks, and youre not selling for three to five years, its a fairly safe investment. After all, even if you only get half the cost back when you sell, that means youre getting all those years to enjoy the room for 50 cents on the dollar, Flaherty says.

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Evaluate Your House for a Family Room Addition