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I was walking with my sister through her neighborhood taking our dogs for a walk. Her neighborhood is in an upscale area but is old and has a lot of ramblers that have been torn down and rebuilt with much larger homes typically referred to as McMansions. She pointed to one and asked me if I thought it was a teardown. I said yes. It obviously was because you could tell by the new, larger construction footprint and addition of 2nd floor. The existing ramblers were smaller with only one floor and a basement.
She claimed I was wrong because some of the 1st floor walls were preserved in the new home.
I asked her what was her definition of "teardown" was and she said when the whole existing house is torn down to the slab and ground. I told her that you don't have to tear down the whole existing home down to the slab to classify it as a teardown. I stated that if a significant amount of the existing home is demolished and rebuilt, it's a teardown.
And the argument ensued and as sibling arguments tend to do, it morphed into a shouting match sprinkled with obscenities and insults. I know it sounds petty but you know how sibling debates can go ballistic.
Oh my, such a fuss over a word. I don’t think there is a strict definition of teardown. To some it means that you tear down an old home and build a completely new one in its place. To others it’s where you tear down most of an old house and rebuild and expand what’s there. I don’t think either of you are wrong or that one of you is more right than the other. Jay
I agree with JayCT about a teardown. Sometimes cities require the replacement home be built on the same footprint as the home torn down, and owners will build up.
I've seen people in some very in demand inner city neighborhoods go in and buy two houses side by side and tear them both down--and rebuild on both lots. There again, I've seen people tear down homes and completely cover the old lot in a house--no yard left.
It all varies.
Me personally? Give me some room in both the house and the yard.
There probably is a legal definition that covers adding on or improving a house verses tearing it down and starting from scratch. It may change the status for the approval process, especially if you do it in stages.
Yes, a tear down is referred to as a complete demo regardless if the foundation is removed, left or added to.
A house or structure that is 90% removed (depending on the town) usually qualifies legally for an alteration and the tax basis is often different than a complete demo.
This is why you occasionally see a demolished house where just a few walls or a floor deck was left remaining.
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