Master Bedroom Additions

A primary suite as its own wing

Many older houses in Massachusetts put the main bedroom at the top of the stairs, next to the kids, with a bathroom shared down the hall. A master bedroom addition changes that by building a separate wing, usually on the ground floor over a new foundation off the back or side, with the bedroom, a private bathroom and a walk-in closet planned together.

The point of the wing is separation. A suite that shares a wall with the family room or sits over the kitchen does not give you the quiet you are paying to build. We look at where the wing can sit so that a hallway, a closet or the bathroom itself stands between it and the busy parts of the house.

A ground-floor suite also plans ahead. Many owners building one are thinking about the years when stairs get harder. Wider doorways, a curbless shower and solid blocking in the bathroom walls for grab bars later are easy to build in now and hard to add after the tile is up.

On a two-story colonial, a ground-floor suite off the back can be framed with a lower roof that tucks under the second-floor windows, which keeps the house from looking stretched from the yard.

The Title 5 question on a septic lot

If the house is on a septic system, adding a bedroom brings a Title 5 review in Massachusetts. Septic systems are designed around a number of bedrooms, and a new bedroom raises the design flow the system is expected to carry. Depending on the existing system and the local board of health, the answer can be a simple sign-off, an inspection of the system, or a requirement to upgrade it before a building permit is issued.

That is why we ask about septic on the first call. We look at the system's records with you, find out how many bedrooms it was designed for, and talk to the board of health about what they will require. Some towns count any room that could be used as a bedroom, such as a den with a closet, so the official count is not always what the listing says.

On town sewer, the question goes away. On septic, it can decide whether the suite replaces an existing bedroom, whether a current bedroom becomes something else, or whether the system is upgraded as part of the project. It is much better to settle that before you get attached to a floor plan.

None of this is a reason to give up on the suite. It is a reason to know the answer early, because a septic upgrade can change the order of work, the sequence of permits and what the yard looks like for a season.

We tell you when each one is needed, so the work never sits waiting on a choice nobody asked you to make.

Laying out the bedroom, bath and closet together

The three rooms work as one plan. The bathroom often sits between the bedroom and the rest of the house, or along an outside wall where the plumbing can drop straight to the basement. The walk-in closet frequently sits between bedroom and bath so you dress on the way through. Where the existing drain stack is and which way the new joists run will push the plan one way or the other, and we sort that out early.

Daylight and the view decide where the windows go and which wall the bed faces. A wing has three exterior walls to work with, which is a real advantage over converting an existing room. We size the bedroom windows for emergency egress, as the building code requires, and place them for privacy from the street and the neighbors.

The bathroom gets the same waterproofing we use on any shower: a membrane behind the tile, a flood test before tile goes in, and an exhaust fan ducted to the outside. Custom tile work is a regular part of what we build, and a primary bath is usually where clients want it most.

Closets get planned with the same care. We lay out the hanging, the shelves and the drawers with you before framing, so the walk-in fits what you own rather than a generic size, and we put lighting where you will actually be looking for things.

Sound, heat and the privacy the wing is for

Quiet comes from construction details. Insulation in the interior walls between the suite and the house, solid-core doors, and outlets placed so they do not sit back to back in a shared wall all help. Where the wing connects to the house, a short hallway or a closet wall does more for sound than any single material.

Heat is the other comfort question. A wing with three exterior walls loses heat faster than an interior room, and a suite that is cold in January is not much of a retreat. The new walls and roof follow the energy code, and in towns that have adopted the stretch code the requirements are higher. Working with licensed trades, we decide whether the existing system can serve the wing or whether a separate zone or a ductless system is the better choice.

Underneath, the foundation sits below frost depth, commonly about four feet, and the new roof is tied into the old one with ice and water membrane at the joint so the valley does not become an ice dam.

Living in the house while the wing is built

Most of a wing is built outside the house. The foundation, framing, roof and windows go up before we open the connection to the existing rooms, so daily life inside is largely undisturbed until that point. When we cut the opening, dust walls go up and floors are protected along the path.

You hear from us the whole way through. Steve started the company after years of working for contractors who did not keep their customers informed, and Modern Remodeling runs the other way. You get the written scope before work begins, a schedule we update as inspections pass, and any change in writing before we act on it.

The site is cleaned and closed each day. At the end we walk the suite with you, open every door and drawer and run every fixture, and we do not call it finished until it is right.

Most suites need a few decisions from you partway through: tile, plumbing fixtures, closet finishes. We tell you when each one is needed, so the work never sits waiting on a choice nobody asked you to make.

See the rest of our additions work, or browse the gallery for rooms we have finished.