July 22, 2026 · 6 min read
Planning a home addition: where the design process starts
Before you pick finishes or call a contractor, an addition needs three things settled. Here's the order we work in.
Additions go wrong in predictable ways: the roof doesn't tie in cleanly, the new floor doesn't match the old one, or a wall comes out that was holding something up. All three are design problems, and all three are cheaper to solve on paper.
Step one: measure what exists
We field-measure the house and draw the as-built condition. Older Kentucky homes are rarely square, and knowing that before designing saves a very awkward week in the field.
Step two: settle the roof
How the new roof meets the old one determines more about how the addition looks than the siding ever will. We work this out early, in elevation, not on site.
Step three: find the load path
If you're opening the wall between the old house and the new space, that load has to go somewhere. Beam sizing and post locations get drawn before demolition, not after.
Then you can pick finishes
Once the structure and the massing are right, the fun decisions are all yours — and none of them will force a redesign.
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