Hi All,
I searched the internet for a group of professionals who could answer a question for me. I am contemplating purchasing a French Chateau in Southern Florida that is a foreclosure however my other half says raising a roof on this house is impossible….or if it is possible it will break the bank. I was always taught when there is a will there is a way however the cost might get in the way of this one…..
Here is what I have to work with. Great bones, low ceilings…Ugggg. The home is three stories built in 1985. First story is living area with typical 7 ½’ ceilings and ugly trays in all major rooms. Second Floor houses all bedrooms (low ceilings) including master (which has beautiful high ceilings) then the last 3rd story is a attic converted into a playroom. Is it even possible to raise the ceilings to about 10’ on the lower level (while still living in the home) and then raise the secondary bedrooms on the second level? Will this cost? The home is 6,000 sq ft total.
Your help is greatly appreciated.
Again this is a French Chateau with the gorgeous roofline.

Your other half is almost right. Anything you can say in words, a good architect could do, but the issue is, will it be worth the cost? See, you wouldn't be just raising the ceilings, you would be raising the entire house, by a total of something like 5 feet. How do you jack up a house, when there isn't anything solid under it to support the jacks? Then, you may run up against a height restriction in the local zoning. And even if all that can be solved, you would have to disconnect and reconnecr every pipe, every duct, every bit of electrical wiring, at each story that you raise. Then you would have to add framing, insulation and siding to every single wall, and refinish every single room. And then, when you get done, all your windows will be oit of proportion to the heights, and you could end up with one very ugly house.

I can't tell you what it would cost, because no one that I know has ever attempted such a venture, and I've been around as an architect for nearly five decades. I'll just guess that the cost will be well into six figures...$400,000 PLUS, and it could be a BIG plus.

Wow-

Now that is a bummer!!!! However I did read a article on an internet site that showed how one contractor did it however when it looks to easy it usually is. Check out this site and give me your feedback.

http://www.drmdesign.com/documents/journal-light-construction/jlc-200505B.pdf

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.

Best Regards,

Andre'a

You think that looks easy??

Joe DiMaggio made baseball look easy.

Bobby Fischer made chess look easy.

Tiger Woods makes golf look easy.

You try those things.

Did you notice how much of the house was left after all that jacking? Not very much, was there? It usually costs roughly $50 a square foot to renovate an existing space, without raising ceilings. That's $300,000 right there! Add the cost of the jacking, including all the preparations for it, the materials and labor to extend every wall, extending the plumbing and heating, rewiring the entire house, new siding, new windows, and a million little things I'm not thinking of...you're pushing half-a-million easy...maybe more.

Probably cheaper to knock it down and start from scratch, because they sure didn't use much of the existing house.