Woodland Home Additions

An addition should look like it was always there

The measure of a good addition is that visitors cannot tell where the original house stops. Getting there is harder than building the new room, because the new floor has to meet the old one at the same height, the roof has to join without a clumsy valley, and the siding and trim have to carry around the corner as if one crew had done it all at once. JDI Construction is a family-owned design-build remodeler based in Vancouver, and we design additions from those joints outward. In Woodland, where the Lewis River and the county line both run through town, we also start with a close look at the lot itself.

Because the same team designs and builds, the structural questions are answered while the addition is still a drawing. We look at how your existing house is framed and what it rests on before proposing where new space should attach.

Types of additions we build

More space can take several forms. Which one suits you depends on the lot, the structure and what the space is for:

1. 1
   

   Bump-outExtending one wall by a few feet to enlarge a kitchen, bath or bedroom without a full new room.
2. 2
   

   Room / great-room additionNew ground-floor space on its own foundation, such as a primary suite, family room or larger kitchen.
3. 3
   

   Second-story additionA new level over existing rooms, which depends on what the current foundation and walls can carry.
4. 4
   

   Over-garage / sunroomA bonus room above the garage or a glazed room off the main floor, using structure already in place.

A few decisions worth making early

Begin with purpose, since it sets the size and the location. A primary suite wants privacy and plumbing, a family room wants to connect to the kitchen, and an office wants quiet. Once the use is clear, the lot answers the next question. Setbacks, lot coverage and height limits define the envelope you can build in, and they come from whichever jurisdiction your parcel sits in. Then look at what the house can support. A new level adds weight to the foundation and walls below it, and any addition adds demand on the electrical service and on heating and cooling, which may need more capacity. Last, consider the roof early. How the new roof meets the old one drives both the look of the addition and how well it sheds water, and it is far easier to resolve on paper.

What Woodland homeowners add on for

The reasons are familiar: a main-floor primary suite so the house keeps working as you get older, a bigger family room, a bedroom and bath for a relative moving in, or simply a kitchen with room to breathe. About 70 percent of Woodland's homes were built after 1990, by the city's housing analysis, and those newer houses are usually straightforward to add to. Their siding and window styles are still available, and their framing is consistent and easy to tie into. In newer subdivisions, check for recorded covenants before settling on a design. Older houses in the original townsite take more care to match, particularly trim profiles and roof pitch.

The site deserves as much attention as the house. A substantial part of Woodland east of I-5 is in a FEMA-mapped floodplain along the Lewis River, and the city puts permits for living space in those areas through a floodplain review. Other parts of town are protected by the dike or sit outside the 100-year floodplain. For an addition, that status can affect floor elevation and foundation design, so we establish it first. We also confirm jurisdiction. Woodland lies partly in Cowlitz County and partly in Clark County, the city's Building Division reviews only projects inside the city limits, and many Woodland addresses fall under one of the counties instead. On properties with a well or septic system, added bedrooms and baths mean confirming the system can handle them.

What does a home addition cost in Woodland?

An addition is new construction attached to an old building, and it is priced that way. Foundation, framing, exterior shell, windows and interior finish are all in the number, along with the work of opening the existing house and joining the two. Rooms with plumbing cost more than rooms without. Building up costs more than building out when the structure below needs strengthening. Matching discontinued siding or unusual trim adds labor. Once the addition is designed and the site conditions are known, we give you an itemized plan specific to your house, which is the only kind of number worth relying on for a project like this.

How long does a home addition take?

Count on months, and count the time before construction as part of it. Design, structural engineering and permit review come first, and any floodplain review is part of that stage. On site, the sequence runs from foundation through framing and exterior shell to interior work, with the opening into the existing house timed so your home stays closed to the weather. We give you the schedule before work starts and keep it updated in the client portal as each stage is completed.

Why homeowners in Woodland choose JDI

An addition asks a designer and a builder to agree on hundreds of details, which is easier when they work for the same company. We have been family-owned since 2007, we handle permits and project management, and we stand behind our workmanship for 5 years. To be accurate about distance: Woodland is roughly 20 miles up I-5 from our office on Broadway Street in Vancouver, at the northern limit of where we work, and we plan a months-long project with that drive accounted for.

JDI Construction. "Built by family. Trusted by neighbors." Design-build remodeling and home additions based in downtown Vancouver, WA, serving Woodland, La Center, Ridgefield and the wider Portland and Vancouver metro since 2007.