Remodeling is strong in Midwest, Quad-Cities
From the outside, Joe and Patti Vaccaro’s split-level Bettendorf home looks much as it did when it was built in 1961.
Inside, though, it’s a different story.
A couple of years ago the Vaccaros decided that with their children grown and gone, they’d like to trade up homes, to find a place with abundant storage, a mud room (after all these years!) and — most important — a big, inviting kitchen-family room where they could gather when the kids came to visit.
But instead of moving from the established neighborhood they love, the Vaccaros decided to build a 1,500-square-foot addition onto the back of their home and — by changing the floor plan — make it the place of their dreams.
“We love this area,” Vaccaro says. “I grew up (on this) street and my wife grew up on Olympia. We looked at bigger homes in north Bettendorf, homes in the $400,000 range, but we didn’t find any we really liked.”
The addition ended up costing $85,000 — about $30,000 more than they originally anticipated — and took about eight months, including an entire summer without a kitchen. But they love the results and, from a financial point of view, figure they could easily get out of it what they put into it, should they decide to sell.
In their original home, there was a formal living room to the right of the entry and behind it was the kitchen and dining area.
Under their construction plan, they “blew out the whole back of the house” and created a kitchen-family room addition with a fireplace and vaulted ceiling, flanked by decks and a laundry-mud room between the existing garage and one of the new decks.
Almost as a bonus, they got a 22-foot by 18-foot basement room under the addition that provides never-before-dreamed-of storage.
And the formal living room shrank a bit to become a showy, formal dining room, framed by a pillared entryway.
The Vaccaros learned a lot with their project and have tips to pass on to others who might be contemplating an addition as a way to freshen and expand their living area without leaving home.
1. Make sure you have correct zoning for what you want to do.
After their plans were drawn up, the Vaccaros realized they needed a variance because a corner of their addition would come closer to their lot line than is permitted.
They had to plead their case before the city’s Board of Adjustment, but before they went, they visited all their neighbors, explaining their project and asking them to sign a letter saying they did not object.
Their request was approved, but approval is not automatic. “We heard about people being turned down,” Joe says.
2. Expect cost overruns.
“People had told us to plan to go over budget, we just didn’t know by how much,” Patti says.
Most people told them to be prepared for a 10 to 15 percent increase, but “I would plan on 30 percent,” Joe says.
And even though they spent more than they originally expected, they didn’t get everything on their wish list.
Patti had her heart set on granite countertops, for example, but this idea “went through the roof” when they decided they’d be smart to have a new roof with up-to-date venting installed over their entire house, not just the new part. The roof added about $9,000 to the project, just about what they had expected to spend for the countertops.
The Vaccaros also looked into having a first-floor bath installed, but decided to forego the $10,000 that would have added to the cost.
Having said that, though, Joe remains a big advocate of spending as much as you feel comfortable with as the project is under way rather than delaying it to some time in the future.
“Get what you want — do it right,” he says. “If you can, go over (budget).”
As an example, he points to the two sets of French doors they had installed opening to their decks. Although more expensive than sliders, French doors are more attractive and more energy-efficient, he says.
3. Put deadlines into your contract.
Stipulate that if work is not done by a certain time, there will be penalties, Patti says.
As for how they found their contractor, that was word-of-mouth.
4. Be ready to live with upheaval.
“You have no idea (the scope of) the mess until you’re in the middle of it,” Patti says. “You have to prepare yourself that it’s going to be turmoil.”
While their kitchen was torn up, they had to eat in their basement and cook using a microwave, slow cooker and outdoor grill.
For Joe, who takes pride in his landscaping, the biggest shock was the demolition of their back yard when a skid loader slid on the rain-slick slope, taking out an entire hosta bed.
5. Be open to ideas.
Although a two-furnace, two-air conditioner system was not high on their list when they planned their addition, the Vaccaros are very glad they went ahead with this because they already can tell by their utility bills that it is more efficient.
And although Joe originally envisioned a concrete patio in their backyard, he’s glad he let Ken Hoffman of Hoffman Construction talk him into the more-expensive aggregate patio because it is so much better looking.
They’re also happy with the under-cabinet halogen lighting recommended by their electrical contractor. The light is energy-efficient and at night it provides a kind of “night light” glow to their house.
6. Accept that some things you want to do might not be possible.
The Vaccaros hoped to installed hardwood in their foyer and continue it into the family area. But the foyer portion of their house is built directly over a concrete slab and because of freezing and thawing, hardwood can warp. Instead, they installed 18-inch ceramic tile, which they have ended up liking very much.
They also weren’t sure for awhile whether they would be able to install a washer and dryer in their mud room, because it meant drawing the plumbing from one side of the house all the way over to the other.
Had this not been possible, it would have been a disappointment.
7. Be as sensitive as possible to your neighbors.
As Joe points out, the soil that washed from their lot during heavy rainstorms ended up at their neighbors’.
8. Be attentive.
The Vaccaros had good relationships with the people who worked for them, but sometimes there can be slipups. Patti’s idea for the pillared colonnade opening into their new dining room was to have bookshelves on the lower portion, just like the picture she had cut from a magazine.
But the carpenter was halfway through building solid walls by the time the Vaccaros discovered the slip and they decided to let it go rather than have the work torn up.