Lincoln Park, DC - Three-Level Rear Addition

Brief Explanation of the Scope of Work

Rob and Mary Beth bought their Capitol Hill, D.C. row-house after becoming empty nesters in a suburban Silver Spring home which suddenly seemed inconvenient for their lifestyle. He wanted to be closer to work and she had recently sold her business and wanted to be a part of the city's energy. Location-wise the home suited this couple perfectly, but the property needed major updates. They found our design / build company through an interior designer, Delaine Campbell from Designs For Less located in Alexandria, VA.

After living in the home for a year, they had a good sense of what changes they wanted to make. Their priorities included a larger kitchen, a new master suite with a large bathroom and his and hers' walk in closets and a laundry room on the second floor. This last item was particularly essential. The basement had previously been converted to an English Basement apartment, but the laundry room remained in the basement. Doing laundry involved a trip out the rear kitchen door, down the rear steps and into the back door of the basement apartment. Not convenient to say the least. Their goals also included rationalizing and opening up the layout of the existing first and second floor.

Unusual Constraints/Challenges & Creative Solutions

We designed and built a three level addition at the rear of their home. Initially, we had proposed pushing the master bedroom to the back of the home, but the homeowner wanted absolutely no light while sleeping so we located the bedroom on the interior and the bathroom at the rear. To let some nature light in, we designed in two Velux skylights with special electrically controlled "heat block awnings." These do a great job of not only blocking heat, but light when necessary.

The additional space on the first floor allowed us to enlarge the kitchen substantially to create an area more in character with what they had in the suburbs. We opened up interior walls to enlarge the dining room and relocated the powder room so that it didn't open into the dining room any longer. At the second floor, a substantial sized laundry room and bathroom were added in the hallway in roughly the location of two awkwardly designed hall bathrooms. Somewhat of an afterthought, adding square footage to the rear, allowed us to enlarge the basement apartment closet space and to create an additional bedroom.

Even More Challenges

During construction, on the first floor, we encountered some surprising structural elements and altered our framing plans during construction. With an engineer's assistance, we were able to eliminate a bulkhead that would have been necessary for beams at the removed back wall to carry the weight of the floor and roof systems.

There were other difficult issues to overcome. The existing home had only one HVAC system which serviced the main house and the basement apartment. It was incredibly noisy and inefficient. By replacing the one system with three, we were able to effectively zone the heating and cooling and improve the home's energy efficiency. The site presented some other obstacles. The rear yard was landlocked between the home and the garage. To get the excavation equipment into the yard and the dirt neatly out, we removed a section of the garage rear wall. A neighbor who had improperly/illegally put a window in a party wall in their own addition stood to loose this window. We smoothed over tensions by removing the window and doing drywall work for this person. Finally, the home is in a historic neighborhood with required us to obtain Historic Review Board Approval.

Overall Results

The addition was constructed with brick to carefully match the look and character of the historic neighborhood. The interior finishes were chosen by the homeowner's interior designer and enhance the traditional character with the elegant home.

The result of the project is an elegant and spacious home with a floor plan conducive to entertaining and comfortable daily life. The addition fits in well with the look and feel of the neighborhood and the owners are very happy with their new home.