Custom homes
Split-level additions
Split-levels are the most misunderstood houses in Ottawa. Renovated thoughtfully, their half-levels become the best thing about them.
The work
The complaint about splits is always the same: the levels don't talk to each other. Short flights of stairs, half-walls and closed railings chop the house into disconnected zones.
The fix is rarely more space. Opening railings, removing half-walls, aligning flooring across levels and vaulting where the roof allows makes a split feel twice the size before a single square foot is added.
When you do add, splits offer options few other houses have — extending over the lower level, building above an attached garage, or squaring off the rear to gain a full room on two levels at once.
- Typical duration
- 14 – 26 weeks
- Permits
- Building permit, structural review for wall removal
- Common in
- Nepean, Alta Vista, Beacon Hill, Kanata
- Biggest win
- Opening railings and sightlines between half-levels
How we build it
What's included, and why it matters
01
Opening the levels
Half-walls replaced with open railings and sightlines restored so the house reads as one connected plan.
02
Over-garage additions
Adding a room above the garage — often the easiest square footage on a split-level lot.
03
Rear squaring
Extending the back wall to gain floor area on two levels in a single addition.
04
Vaulting the upper level
Following the roof line on the top half-level to add volume where the ceilings feel lowest.
Answers
Split-level additions, answered
Start your project
Thinking about split-level additions?
We'll visit the property, tell you honestly what's possible, and give you a scope and a number you can plan around.
We typically respond within one business day.