Putting a wood frame addition on an old concrete block home

[SheepDog]

A friend of mine has a 400 square foot house made with concrete block walls. His grandson is living there and he has asked me to draw some plans for a 690 square foot addition. He liked the way I built my shop and garage and thought I could draw the plans for his remodel. The preliminary examination of the existing home showed a wood frame exterior around it which makes attaching the wood frame addition a lot easier. The addition will add two bedrooms, a family room and a laundry room. The hardest part is going to be connecting the new foundation to the old. It requires that the old foundation be exposed and new rebar grouted in to tie into the new foundations rebar.
He will use my drawings to submit to the county for the permits and the do the construction himself.
I haven't gotten to the electrical and plumbing yet but the plumbing is just for a drain for the washer so not complicated at all. lighting and outlets for the four rooms should be pretty straightforward with the exception of the dryer. It will need to be 240 with four wire connection and that might require a new panel and grounding system. It might be easier to run a sub-panel if the county will allow it. The new grounding requires a buried wire loop under the foundation.
It is not fun to get all the information needed to make the county happy and they will likely come up with changes that have to be made.

 

[backlash]

My Dad added on to the house twice.
The house was built in 1950 with concrete block and was very small.
First he added 2 bedrooms and a bathroom off the back then expanded the living room 8 feet.
Both additions have concrete floors and the rest of the house has wooden floors so that was a challenge for him to get things level.
He did a good job and I'm glad for the extra space.

 

[SheepDog]

Backlash,
How do you keep the concrete floors warm? I insulated under the floors in my garage and shop but the floors are always cold. I wouldn't want that in a house.

 

[backlash]

I put a free floating laminate wood floor in.
It helps but other than installing some type of heating system in the floor I'm not sure.
We all wear socks and house shoes so it's not really an issue.
It was carpeted but with allergies and pets that had to go.

 

[viking]

Over the years I've added a few additions and what I did for connecting footings and stem walls was to hammer drill holes at downward angles with masonary bits then take a rock hammer and slightly chip off the concrete surface where the new footing and stem wall will come together, vacuum out the holes, rinse them with acetone and after they've dried out I mix large batches of epoxy glue, long curing type, get a bunch in the holes and around the ends of re-bar that's about two feet long, stuff them in their holes and bend them down so they are level. After the epoxy is cured and the new concrete forms are built I overlap the re-bar the length it sticks out of the old footings and forms, it makes a very strong connection, especially if you make a cement/ water slurry to pour on the chipped off area before pouring the new concrete. I got the idea of using epoxy because that's what all the floating bridges in Washington are held together with.

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Backlash,
How do you keep the concrete floors warm? I insulated under the floors in my garage and shop but the floors are always cold. I wouldn't want that in a house.

There was a newer poured cement floor in the 100 year old stone addition to our house. The roof had caved in from water (unrepaired leaking roof over many years). When we put the new rafters up we also built a new floor over the concrete pad. Formerly, there was an old SOB floor over the concrete that had also rotted out. The new floor was 2 x 12 treated joists over some creative floaters to leave space between the concrete and floor joists. The concrete floor was actually slanted, the low part being along the outside wall. We dug under the stone wall and installed drains to the outside. We leveled the wood floor over the concrete. First we laid styrofoam insulation, spray foamed any gaps and then added roxul insulation. Ended up with R54. The floor does not need heating and there are no heat vents in that area. We attached the floor to the new rafters with 2 x 6 planks and insulated the walls.

 

[Caribou]

If you are pouring a slab in a heated area always insulate underneath. I like to run Pex in the concrete and use hydronic heating. I have found this very comfortable. I use Rehau and Wirsbo brands.

 

[SheepDog]

I will not be doing any of the construction. I am doing the drawings, for a friend, so he can get his permits. His wife wants to add a bath to the addition which will complicate the plumbing issues a bit. I don't have to live with her so I will draw whatever he asks for. The new gable roof will tie into the existing hip roof at the halfway point. This will more than double the floor space which they desperately need with three girls from three months to seven years of age.

 

[Weedygarden]

A friend of mine has a 400 square foot house made with concrete block walls. His grandson is living there and he has asked me to draw some plans for a 690 square foot addition. He liked the way I built my shop and garage and thought I could draw the plans for his remodel. The preliminary examination of the existing home showed a wood frame exterior around it which makes attaching the wood frame addition a lot easier. The addition will add two bedrooms, a family room and a laundry room. The hardest part is going to be connecting the new foundation to the old. It requires that the old foundation be exposed and new rebar grouted in to tie into the new foundations rebar.
He will use my drawings to submit to the county for the permits and the do the construction himself.
I haven't gotten to the electrical and plumbing yet but the plumbing is just for a drain for the washer so not complicated at all. lighting and outlets for the four rooms should be pretty straightforward with the exception of the dryer. It will need to be 240 with four wire connection and that might require a new panel and grounding system. It might be easier to run a sub-panel if the county will allow it. The new grounding requires a buried wire loop under the foundation.
It is not fun to get all the information needed to make the county happy and they will likely come up with changes that have to be made.

In many places, when you do an addition or some newer construction on an existing building, other things are required to be brought up to current code, aren't they? I have never had to do this, but it seems to me that when some friends wanted to do an addition, some of the existing electrical or plumbing had to be changed up as well.

 

[SheepDog]

Yes, if your wiring is knob and tube you have to upgrade the old structure as well. Fuse panels have to be replaced with breaker panels and so on. There are no electrical problems. As far as plumbing problems go, I have no idea.

 

[Weedygarden]

Yes, if your wiring is knob and tube you have to upgrade the old structure as well. Fuse panels have to be replaced with breaker panels and so on. There are no electrical problems. As far as plumbing problems go, I have no idea.

I have an old fuse box in my kitchen, that I have never touched, because who knows about it? I do not. I do have a new breaker panel as well.

 

[SheepDog]

Weedy,
How many fuses and are they the bar type or the screw-in type?
Is there a disconnect on the outside of the box?
You could pull the fuses to see if they are connected to anything...

 

[Weedygarden]

Weedy,
How many fuses and are they the bar type or the screw-in type?
Is there a disconnect on the outside of the box?
You could pull the fuses to see if they are connected to anything...

I am not sure. This fuse box is behind my refrigerator, and I don't pull it out very often. I do believe they are screw-in fuses. I also think, but am not sure, that there are may 8 or so fuses. Disconnect on the outside of the box? I don't think so. The fusebox is in my kitchen, the new box is outside on the side of my house.