TruLoft

Since the beginning, Truplans founder and CEO Chris Doering has been a remodeler Orange CA preparing plans for a unique type of room addition known as high ceiling conversions. These are sometimes known as loft additions. Truloft is a DBA (doing business as) of Truplans Inc and requires special training in architectural blending and structural retrofitting. This custom converting process starts with a home that already has two stories with a tall high ceiling located somewhere within. This is also known by real estate professionals and in architect terminology as open-to-below. Many homeowners have pondered if it is possible to make use of all that empty space hovering overhead and are very delighted to discover that there is a company that specializes in just that. 

The High Ceiling Question

Many homeowners have asked us why architects design certain houses with so much wasted space overhead by designing these vaulted and cathedral style ceiling features. Others love their high ceilings and are not sure if they would ever want to give them up. Many homeowners have told us that it makes the house feel bigger than it actually is. Did you hear that? We caught that comment decades ago. Many said the same thing with different words, but they all explained that the high ceiling makes the house feel bigger than it actually is. That was the key. We realized that homeowners recognized that their house felt big and open, but functionally they were experiencing space stress. They knew that their house was not really that big. 

Not an Illusion

What homeowners were telling us from the beginning was that they knew there was a lot of wasted space in their home. They know it is like a portion of the home was just not ever built. They know that big mansions had high ceilings and this features really made their house look and feel larger and more spacious, but somehow, the house was smaller than it felt. Those big open spaces overlooking the family room, living room and entry are vast areas of vacant interior air space, yet there is roof overhead and footings underneath that support a massive two-story structure, just no floor to walk on. It is not an illusion of space it is actually real empty space. The house has been built all around it, below it and above it. Adding a wall mirror to a room would be an illusion to make a room look bigger than it really is. Building another room next door and leaving it empty would NOT be an illusion but a real waste of valuable living space. That is the reality of the home that has a large open-to-below area except the room is above and not next door.

Overhead – Vacant Lot

As a remodeler Orange CA we often hear home developers and real estate professionals saying that we are running out of room to build and that there is no more land in the county. Yet, when the Truloft marketing team looks for homes that have been built with high ceilings we know that each home has a potential for real estate expansion. It is true that many lots are too small to build a new room addition on especially in communities that are located among the hill and hillside. Many tract home lots are just not big enough to expand upon and many homeowners tell us that they want to keep what little backyard they still have left. Indeed families having more kids is the number one reason for this type of addition. That’s when the eyes turn to the vacant lot that hovers over their entry way or living room. Many architects for home builders designed these features starting in the 1970’s and kept making larger and larger high ceiling spaces through 2010. After that it seems to have slowed down considerably as developers try to fit as much living space within the homes footprint as possible.

The Structural Retrofit

What is this word retrofit and what does it mean? As the remodeler Orange CA in our area our specialty of turning high ceilings into new rooms “retro” refers to something old and “fit” refers to something new. Retrofit means fitting something new into something old or existing. This terminology is used primarily to describe structural aspect of the engineering and construction project. It must take into account the existing home and its older structure and the techniques and standards from when it was built. Some homes require upgrades to the existing structure before a high ceiling conversion can be successfully proposed.

Experienced Retrofitting Required

Although any licensed structural or even civil engineer can figure out what is needed to make a loft addition (high ceiling conversion) structurally sound only engineers with specific retrofitting experience in this type remodeler Orange CA addition can be relied upon to do it properly. Common errors by inexperienced engineers will not usually cause structural danger, but will fail to address aesthetic and architectural concerns that can equally destroy a homes value.

Architectural Appearance

The first rule in any remodeler Orange CA Truplans room addition is based on appearance. The new room addition must look outstanding. It must NOT look like it was added. It must look as if it was always there and part of the original architecture. Indeed, we can upgrade the existing home while adding the new high ceiling loft conversion, but for cost saving purposes we can simply match the existing internal architecture of the home. This is a key priority in the design and structural planning phases of a loft addition project.

Common Concern

One of the most popular remodeler Orange CA design questions we hear from homeowners is if the new conversion is going to cut off all the natural light coming through the windows. Although we have a great design video that answers this questions and shows examples of before and after pictures the simple answer is, the dynamics of the light coming in the existing windows changes. The room below does not get referred to as “dark” because the new ceiling acts as a reflective surface using the light from the first story windows. The light coming into the new second floor is also compressed because all the new walls are reflective surfaces upstairs. This has a softening affect on the sunlight that enters the house adding light compression to the home.