Changing Layout...Anyone?

Has anyone changed the layout of a house?

We are considering moving our kitchen from front of the house to back, and changing the bedrooms into living space on 1st floor (bigger LR/DR. Either way, we want to re-do our kitchen and knock down some bedroom walls, but I would prefer if the kitchen was in the back of the house.. Our basement is unfinished, so access to plumbing, etc. should be pretty easy.

Looking for feedback on this type of project to get an idea of what to expect.

Message edited 8/24/2010 8:35:07 AM.

Re: Changing Layout...Anyone?

bump

Re: Changing Layout...Anyone?

we moved bathroom layouts in our house - moving plumbing increases the cost of things - also pipes have vents that need go outside also (i learned that during construction) - if you are miving a lot of rooms around i would talk to an architect - they can help with the plumbing and electrical layout that you will need plus also deal with moving walls especially load bearing walls

also when doing the project think about all the things that will impact - if you change a window size ti effects the siding on the house

Re: Changing Layout...Anyone?

Consider your access to the kitchen in relationship to the garage or main entrance to the house too. You don't want to make it too inconvenient to unload groceries. Also, by making first floor bedrooms into living space are you hurting the selling potential of the house or helping it. If you're left with too few bedrooms that might hurt sales down the road. The other consideration is load bearing walls. If you're removing a load bearing wall to open up space you'll have to do some additional structural work to support the weight and that can be costly depending on how much wall you are removing.

Re: Changing Layout...Anyone?

we are in the process of doing this to our house. we have a cape, our original kitchen was in the front of the house with a side door off the kitchen and the only access to the backyard. we had 3 bedrooms on the first floor in the back of the house. we took two of the bedrooms, knocked the wall down between them and are going to make it a dining room/kitchen with a sliding glass door off the dining room. we are making the original kitchen a bedroom, closing off the side door.

we gutted our house and are finishing the upstairs and hoping to start on the downstairs in a few weeks.

good luck!