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SCHEME № 4: SECOND FLOOR DORMERS DESIGN
"Moving On Up!"
Overall Design Solution

 OVERALL DESIGN SOLUTION                                                              

 

Before: 2 bed, 1 bath bungalow 

After: 3 bed, 2 bath bungalow w/ new open-concept kitchen/family room combo

​Are you ready for second story bungalow living? Add second floor dormers to add two upstairs bedrooms, one full bathroom and plenty of closet space and natural light. Also included in this design scheme is some shuffling of your spatial use on the first floor—your new open concept kitchen with modern amenities is moved to the “sacrificial” bedroom, providing room for an adjacent family room for the much sought after open-concept kitchen/family room combo.

View details of the existing bungalow
Exterior Alterations

          Exterior Alterations      ​

  • Add dormers and peel back sections of roof to allow for Chicago Building Code ceiling height and window requirements

  • Add egress windows to all second floor bedrooms 
     

Meet CBA Design Guidelines to maintain your membership:
 
  • Construct dormers to be set back a minimum of 20 feet from the front edge of building to minimize the impact on the building and streetscape

  • Build dormers with a similar roof pitch and height as the original building

  • Match window openings, trim, eaves and other details as closely as possible to the original building

Exterior Plans

Rear

Rear

East

East

West

West

Rear (Aerial)

Rear (Aerial)

Front

Front

Exterior 3D Renderings

Interior Alteratons

          Interior Alterations 

 ​

Second floor (footprint altered)

  • Add dormers to provide more usable second floor space, including:

    • 2 bedrooms​ with walk-in closets

    • 1 full bathroom w/ linen closet
       

New staircase to second floor​​

  • Change access from kitchen to dining room

  • Widen stairs to meet Chicago Building Code requirements
     

First floor (spatial use altered)

  • Expand kitchen into where rear bedroom once was to provide for a larger, open-concept kitchen with adjacent family room

  • Deconvert old kitchen location into family room​
     

Basement to remain unfinished

Structural Reinforcement

Typically, the floor structure of an existing attic is actually a ceiling joist. To make the attic a livable space, the existing ceiling joists usually will not meet the Chicago Building Code requirements for a floor structure and will have to be reinforced to support the new use of space and new load.

 

System Upgrades

Heating

  • ​Add either a separate HVAC system for the second floor or replacement of the existing HVAC system with a larger one
     

​Plumbing

  • If water service main was not replaced, the added bathroom will most likely require a new larger main

 

Electrical

Interior Plans

Kitchen/Family Room

Kitchen/Family Room

facing SE

Kitchen

Kitchen

facing west

Family Room

Family Room

facing east

facing NW

Dining Room

Dining Room

facing SW

Living Room

Living Room

facing north

Living Room

Living Room

facing SE

Living Room

Living Room

facing SW

Interior 3D Renderings

Project Considerations

Project Considerations

  • Adding dormers is an option if you meet the Chicago Building Code ceiling height requirement:

    • 13-196-510  Residential buildings – Ceiling heights: At least one-half of the floor area of every habitable room shall have a ceiling height of not less than seven feet; and the floor area of that part of any room where the ceiling height is less than five feet shall not be considered as part of the floor area in computing the total floor area of the room for the purpose of determining the maximum permissible occupancy thereof. However, in any room, beams or furred spaces constituting not more than 25 percent

          Project Cost Estimate​

Dormers

Total Square Footage: 651ft² / Cost per Square Foot: $235-285

Includes all exterior alterations, added structural support, 2 new bedrooms w/ walk-in closets, 1 full bathroom w/ linen closet and new HVAC system

$153-185k

Kitchen

Move new kitchen into where the rear bedroom once was to provide for a larger, open-concept kitchen with adjacent family room

$25-40k

Family Room

Total Square Footage: 10.3' x 13' = 133.9ft² / Cost per Square Foot: $37-60

Deconvert old kitchen location into family room

$5-8k

Staircase

New staircase to second floor

$8-12k

Plumbing

Possible increase in plumbing service w/ new, larger water main

$15k

Electrical

Possible increase in electrical service

$2.5k

Please reload

Project Cost Estimate
Full Project Download

Full Project Download

Take this to your contractor, architect, or design-build team!

SECOND FLOOR DORMERS DESIGN

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