Looking to expand your house as a whole? Thinking of adding another level to your floor plan? Hoping to increase appeal to potential homebuyers with large families? We’ve got good news. There are ways to upgrade your home and make your house stand out. Like adding a dormer.

What Is a Dormer?
Today, dormers are popping up in houses more and more. A dormer is one large and open floor of a house: No walls separate bedrooms. The staircase from the floor below directly opens into this wide, open space. The dormer is usually used to place numerous beds in. This could be used as a bedroom for numerous kids, a place to keep overnight guests, an open space to host a party or an oversized room to use as a media room, a hobby room or anything you prefer! A dormer basically provides your house with the massive room you always wished you had.

How to Add a Dormer
You can build the dormer onto your house yourself! For a video tutorial from BobVila.com, click here. For a more traditional and less risky route, hire a contractor to build the dormer.

The first step is to obtain permits that allow you to add onto your home. Once that is complete, you’ll need materials for siding, insulation, drywall, roofing and windows. You’ll need to remove the roofing already covering the area for the dormer, then attach the walls, then build the roof and then work on the insulation and windows. Or if you already have an upper floor of bedrooms, you could remove the walls that separate these rooms and create one large room.

Dormers are just one more new way to make your house stand out from the rest!