Mudrooms have come a long way from being the purely functional spaces they once were. Traditionally, they were where you stored your muddy and dirty belongings from the outside to protect the rest of your home. Therefore, it’s no wonder mudrooms lacked glamour. However, in recent times, these vital areas have attracted the attention of modern homeowners who want to boost aesthetics and functionality when they start a home improvement project. After all, although smaller than many other areas in your home, mudrooms can be multipurpose, giving you extra storage space or doubling as laundry rooms.
To create your mudroom, instead of carving out space in your existing entryway, a separate micro addition or a bump-out addition could work well. The mudroom addition approach adds extra square footage to your home, which is always a value-add, even if it is smaller than a full-sized addition.
Follow These Key Steps
Owners must consider several factors when adding a mudroom. First, they need to focus on the right location. If you often enter through the front door, a bump-out in front of your living room would work well.
First floor remodel with mudroom bump-out. See Project Details.
However, if the kitchen side of your house is the more common everyday entry point for your family, a kitchen bump-out might be more practical and allow for a seamless transition to this room. Both options should be designed to be discreet, unobtrusive, and well-integrated. Your mudroom should be constructed keeping your existing building codes in mind. It can create a visual and thermal buffer for your home when done right.
After deciding your location, look at the area earmarked for your mudroom. For instance, are you considering adding a cantilevered bump-out, which extends horizontally? This type of bump-out has no support below, restricting the depth to just two or three square feet. Since it cannot extend too far out from the house, the size of the joists becomes a key consideration here. A general rule of thumb is that bump-outs can be cantilevered at a distance equal to four times the size or depth of the floor joists. This characteristic means that for every foot you cantilever outward, the cantilevered joists should extend twice that length along an existing joist. To put it in perspective, if your bump-out cantilevers 3 feet, you need to have a minimum of 6 feet running alongside an existing joist inside the house.
Your next step is to look at your house structure, noting how the house will open into this mudroom and planning accordingly. You need to have proper permits for everything, from electrical sanctions to plumbing or construction work. Your foundation work needs to be solid and include all aspects, such as installing temporary wall support and building a strong foundation wall. Also, consider the rewiring and rerouting of electric wires that may be necessary. For safety, once the electric circuits are shut down, and the studs are left exposed with no drywall, use plywood sheets as a temporary measure to cover them up. See that walls, subfloor, doors, windows, window seats, and ceilings are all built to a specific height, keeping your original structure and new addition in mind. It is possible to install a lean-to-style or shed roof in many mudroom bump-outs that start higher than the house’s opening and then slope downward. Finally, look at your finishing touches, like picking the right flooring to complete your mudroom bump-out.
Resilient flooring material is essential for your mudroom. See more finishing touches including Mudroom Organization Ideas.
Contact Us Today
With the right expertise, adding a mudroom bump-out can be a seamless, pain-free process. Remember that it involves making structural changes to your home. So, if not done professionally, it can result in regrettable safety issues, damage, and violations of local zoning rules and regulations. For Baltimore and Annapolis-area homeowners, Owings Brothers is a local design-build contractor that provides top-rated home remodeling and additions. Contact us to see how we can add a unique mudroom bump-out to change the look and feel of your home.
