Two-Story Addition & Whole-Home Renovation in Lexington, MA

Simonds Road — Lexington, MA
Two-story addition and whole-home renovation
2,243 SF → 3,712 SF  |  1,165 SF added
Architect: InkStone Architects, Concord, MA
Built to Lexington Stretch Code, HERS 52
Completed 2024

The floor plan had stopped working. Just over 2,200 square feet spread thin across a small first floor, a smaller second, and a garage that read as an afterthought.

Working from InkStone Architects’ drawings, we added 1,165 square feet across two stories and reorganized what was already standing. The house finished at 3,712.

The move worth noticing: the second floor got smaller — 554 square feet down to 452. Instead of bolting a box onto the back, the plan redistributed the existing volume and rebuilt the upstairs around a new main bedroom suite. The added space went where the family actually lives.

Because the addition cleared 1,000 square feet, Lexington’s Stretch Code put the job under a HERS 52 ceiling — a target you build toward from framing, not fix at the end. R-21 walls, R-60 ceiling, R-15/19 at the basement.

None of that shows up in a photograph. It’s most of what makes the house comfortable in February.

Scope of work

This was a full structural addition, not a cosmetic renovation. The work ran from excavation through interior finish:

• Excavation for the new foundation
• Foundation work for the two-story addition
• Framing — 1,165 square feet added across two stories
• New two-car garage
• New roof
• James Hardie fiber cement siding
• Andersen windows
• Insulation and air sealing to meet HERS 52: R-21 walls, R-60 ceiling, R-15/19 at the basement
• Reconfiguration of the existing second floor around a new main bedroom suite
• Kitchen renovation
• Primary bathroom and a second full bathroom
• Fireplace
• New flooring throughout
• Complete interior finish throughout the addition and the existing house

An addition of this size touches every system in the house. The existing structure has to carry new loads, the mechanicals have to serve a house half again as large, and the finish work has to read as one house rather than an old part and a new part.

Building in Lexington

Lexington has its own Stretch Code, and once an addition clears 1,000 square feet the energy requirements change. That is not a detail you discover at inspection. It sets the wall assembly, the insulation values and the air sealing from the first day of framing, and it is why we price and plan Lexington additions differently than the same job one town over.

M&A Contractors is based in Natick and works throughout Lexington, Newton, Wellesley, Brookline, Concord and the surrounding MetroWest and Greater Boston towns.

Walk the finished project

A short walkthrough of the finished house in Lexington, Massachusetts.

What the homeowner said

The Simonds Road homeowners on the project and working with our team.