With a competitive real estate market, selling and buying homes is becoming a process that many homeowners would rather avoid. The long waits, long discussions, and meetings one has to attend just to make a sale are for most people not a worth it. But what does one do? The need is inevitable. It is either that the family has grown and there is a need for more space, or that a homeowner just needs to upgrade the house to look more modern and chic matching a design they saw on the internet or architecture and interior design magazine.
It is for this reason that home extensions have grown in popularity in the past few years. And while there are individuals who are doing it right, there are those who, truth be told, went far off the mark. For those who got it right, the results are undeniably beautiful and admirable and for those that things went south, well, too bad. In this piece, we focus on some of the wrong house extensions that have been done over the years that will make you think twice before you approve an extension design or hire an architect to handle your extension construction project.
The Neighbor’s House Came Tumbling Down
Before you start on the construction of a home extension, especially a multi-story home extension that is terribly close to your neighbor’s house, it is imperative and wise to have a dialogue with him/her and agree on a design that will not interfere with their house. As a matter of fact before you start building, you are needed to get planning permission and a building permit.
This homeowner, however, seems to have disregarded all of the above. The extension on the semi-detached house in the image did much worse than just block the light in the adjacent house. The house crumbled in itself not long after the multi-story extension was done. The extension constructed most likely caused the ground to be unstable and the neighbor paid a high price for the mistake of another. The damage to the house is severe and extreme that the front door is almost split down the middle.
The Tower of Babel
If you have read the Bible, there are several stories that stand out like a sore thumb. One of these stories is the story about the tower of Babel. The short version of the story goes like this; the people in that time decided they wanted to meet God and came together to build one tall tower. Of course, they couldn’t have gotten to heaven, but God, in the end, divided them by giving each a different tongue such that they could no longer understand each other.
This home extension closely resembles what the tower would have looked like. It also looks like something you would find in the Chinese mountains, only that it is an architectural monstrosity. The house as it goes higher looks more and more unstable. As a matter of fact, looking at it closely, it does not seem as though there are any staircases to the top. Long story short, this is not a design you would have incorporated in your house. Verdict – bring it down.
What Was Happening Here?
The owner of this home seemed to have the right idea when starting out. You can tell from the simple yet homey design of the first two stories. But soon after decided to add an extension and things went bad. So bad that one has to wonder what he/she was trying to achieve. The result of the extension is a house that looks as though it has a completely different house laid on top of it. What might have looked appealing when imagined in the head of the owner turned out to be something everyone would just like to see brought down.
Conclusion
Clearly, we should leave the professional jobs to the professionals. Turning into a DIY person on a big extension project needing knowledge and skill can quickly backfire on you costing you several thousands of dollars.
