Mission Hills New Construction Built to Take a Second Floor
New Construction in Mission Hills with footings, hold-downs and service lines sized now, so a second floor can go on later without opening finished rooms.
Could a second floor be added to this house later, if we build a single story now? For a new Mission Hills house the answer rests on choices made before the slab is poured. Footings and hold-downs sized for the future load cost little extra in the trench and spare the house underpinning later, and a stair location framed in now keeps a later floor from tearing up finished rooms.
Designing the ground floor for a floor above
The structural engineer runs the calculations as if the upper floor were already there: footing widths, the shear walls that brace the house, the hold-down hardware at their ends and the posts and beams that would carry the new floor. The roof is framed so it can come off in sections, and the ceiling joists may be sized to serve later as floor joists. Plumbing and duct runs that would feed upstairs are stubbed into an interior wall, and the electrical panel is chosen with room for the added circuits.
LADBS now and at the later permit
Permits for Mission Hills come from LADBS, today for the house and later for any addition. A note on today's permit drawings that the foundation was designed for a future story, with the engineer's calculations on file, gives the later plan checker a record to confirm footing capacity from. Zoning still governs what can be built. Height, floor area and setbacks for the full house with its upper floor should be checked now, so the future floor is permitted as well as buildable.
About our new construction workEverything we build in Mission Hills
New Construction in Mission Hills: questions
Zoning goes on the list with the survey and soils report, because the height and floor area of the house at its future size must fit the parcel. A licensed survey of lines and grades and borings for the soils report follow, and the soils engineer should know about the planned upper floor so the footing recommendations cover that load.
For the house built now, a single story keeps the loads light, so most lumber can come off a boom truck at the curb. Access also matters for the later floor, since a crane or lift will need somewhere to stand. We mark that spot on the site plan and keep a wall, a garage or a tree from blocking it. Today's price carries only today's equipment.
It can be priced as 2 numbers: the single-story house as drawn, and an alternate for the larger footings, hold-downs, beams and stubbed lines that prepare it for a later floor. Seeing that difference on its own line makes the decision clearer. If the structural sheets do not yet include the future load, the engineer reruns the calculations before that alternate is final.
New Construction in other cities
More work in Mission Hills
Planning work in Mission Hills?
Tell us about the lot and the job. A builder replies by phone or email to set up a visit.