What size to make non-master rooms
 

Note: my primary concern is resale value.


I'm converting a house from 1bed/1bath to 3bed/2bath. The basic layout is the back half of the house is for the 3 rooms and 2 baths with a hall down the center.

The area is fully open, I can put the hall / room dividing walls where I want.

My layout is for the two rooms to be 8' 8" X 11' However, I can also go up to 8' 8" X 12'

The extra (up to 1 foot) means less for the hall and master bedroom.

Q. Is 8' 8" X 11 a good size for an 1100 sq ft home?

Most homes in this older area are small and the rooms that I've seen in this area tend to have smallish rooms.

The MB will be about 14' or 13' 6" depending on what size I make the twin rooms.

I know MB, kitchen, bath are the BIG $$ areas and size matters, so is 8' 8" X 11 and a larger MB better for resale?

Primary concern is resale value.

You need to check with your local building department. In many locations, there is a minimum size for a room to be considered a bedroom. Also, a bedroom must have an egress window and a closet.

Is the house on a septic system? Where I live, they are sized based on how many bathrooms in the house.

I'd be talking with a local realtor about your plans.
Trying to fit a qt. of jello in a pt. jar does not sound like a great plan.

in my area they are sized on # of bedrooms, and total number of rooms if 8 or more (keeps you from having 3 or 4 living rooms/family rooms/dens).

the point is things are different in different parts of the country. you local building department would be able to either provide you with information you need or point you in the right direction.

Good luck! :thumbsup:

The remodel is on a 1937 house, there are no building plans on file. The city doesn't have any info on these older homes except rooms, sq ft... So I don't want the city involved. There were never any built-in closets, they used armoires. Modern houses are very different, but I'm not looking to bring a 1930's house into the modern day codes.

I know the house is not large, in this area rooms are very small and non-standard. I'm looking at the twin rooms being about 90 or 100 sq ft, doesn't sound like much difference, but my concern is that if the rooms are viewed as too small, it might kill a sell. If the hallway or MB is too narrow, that might kill the sell.

It's really about attracting the largest market. Parents want the large MB, kids want larger rooms, but the house is what it is. I'm just trying to make the most of it.

I know 8'8" is narrow, I can't change that. the issue is the length, an extra foot can make a big difference as far as making things fit. I'd hate to lose a sale because something won't fit by a few inches, but the size of the MB can be a big deal.

my my my ..... what's gonna happen when the buyer's agent discovers work done without a permit

now the buyer has a means to beat you down on price because the work was not approved by the building inspector, so how do I know it was done in compliance with the building codes. not done to codes means I may have to tear it out and redo it .....

permits are the only means of protection you have for any work performed whether by yourself or someone else ....

Good luck1 :thumbsup:

Chances of that actually happening are slim to none.

maybe ....

some states require an inspection prior to sale, just saying don't want to get caught short ...... sometimes people do things without thinking them through the entire way

now by all means they should do what they can bear, just hope it ain't a grizzly

There has never been any permit or plans filed with the city on this house. Never been an inspection by the city ever.

Not going to be very easy to know when something was done, it's the same material for most everything and several changes were done about 60 years ago. Some city maps show that there is no house here.

I'm not worried about the permit, all I have to do is say "it was like that when I got here"

I think I'm leaning toward larger MB and lesser for twin rooms, the rest of the house is a very open layout with larger rooms/kitchen... so I don't thing 1 foot either way on the twin rooms is going to be a huge deal.

Well, that pretty much kills any support you'll get here.

I have to agree with sublime2 on this one. I have owned ten houses in six states over the past 40 years. I did some amount of unpermitted work on all of them, and a few had what I suspected was unpermitted work when I bought them. Never once was the issue brought up by a potential buyer, or by any of the home inspectors some of them hired.

I did get a permit for our current house - new construction would've been tough to get away with. My wife and I built the house by ourselves, and it passed all the inspections. So we sorta know what we're doing.

I understand that it has not been common in the past, but some states in an attempt to force some upgrades are requiring that homes now be inspected as a condition of the sale. Even in my state they have started and require such items as carbon monoxide detectors (one on each level including basement) in addition to smokes. you install them or you don't sell. my seller had to install 3 CO's and 4 smokes before we could close.

the inspector inquired when the deck was constructed because there was never a permit pulled for it. I didn't make an issue of it, was getting a good buy on the place.

little by little practices of the past are being replaced, at least in my area of the world

I'd rather shout "wolf" and make people aware of potential issues than have them stub their toes later on, make sense?

What your refering to is normally required by most countys. It's a CO or certificate of occupancy.

CO's are after construction and before moving in, this is for a home with an existing CO that was on the market for sale .... two different things

in my state there is one CO issued after construction, not each time it is sold. the CO continues from owner to owner. the only way a separate CO is issued is if there was a change of use, i.e., commercial property changed to residential, NJ I don't know

it's ok though, nothing worth loosing sleep over ....

hope you were not hard hit by Sandy

I can see that some think this is a shady thing to do. Actually all the work is improved over what was there before and the house has be re-hacked a number of times.

The work included putting a heavy cement/cinder block wall on a sidewalk that was never tied into the foundation and a bunch of other crappy work that failed.

I'm sure when it sells, they'll inspect things, but I'm also sure that it's a much more solid house than it ever was before.

I don't know what building standards were like in the 1930's, the there was some crappy work done here.

I'm not trying to rip off a buyer, they will be getting a very solid house.