Extending or renovating an existing house: what can be corrected, what cannot
Most farmers do not start from a bare plot: they already have a house, inherited, bought or built too fast, and the question is not “how to build” but “what to do with this one”. Some defects are corrected in a week with a paint roller and a saw; others require lifting the roof; others still are never corrected, and the only right decision is to lower the density or build alongside. This lesson teaches you to sort the defects of an existing house into three families, to quantify the works in quantities and days, and to extend without repeating the mistakes of the first house.
13 min read · 5-question quiz at the end
By Abdul Hussein ChoumanFounder of NEXTEKCI · Agnibilékrou hatchery since 2006This lesson is part of Designing and building a poultry house specialisation. It opens to every registered student, from free registration. Levels 1 to 5 and the tracks remain readable by everyone.
Most farmers do not start from a bare plot: they already have a house, inherited, bought or built too fast, and the question is not “how to build” but “what to do with this one”. Some defects are corrected in a week with a paint roller and a saw; others require lifting the roof; others still are never corrected, and the only right decision is to lower the density or build alongside. This lesson teaches you to sort the defects of an existing house into three families, to quantify the works in quantities and days, and to extend without repeating the mistakes of the first house.
- ✓Classify the defects of an existing house into three families: easily corrected, corrected with major works, cannot be corrected
- ✓Describe the most frequent correction works (paint, ridge vent, overhang, low wall, curtains, slab, height) with their quantities and duration
- ✓Decide, for a defect that cannot be corrected, between lowering the density, changing the use of the house and building alongside
- ✓Extend along the axis or with a second house, without widening, respecting the 50 m and the 16-20 m
- Start with the diagnosis, not with the works
- Family 1: what is easily corrected, in a few days
- Family 2: what is corrected with major works
- Family 3: what cannot be corrected, and what you do about it
- Extending: along the axis or alongside, never in width
- Going further
- •Diagnosis first (20-point audit + dimension survey), then sorting into three families: easy, major works, structural.
- •Family 1, in a three-week break: white roof (110 L for 372 m²), open ridge with cap, low wall brought down to 0.5 m, light curtains rolled from the bottom, mesh and rat strip, obstacles removed, walkway.
- •Family 2, planned: overhang extended with rafters (56 m² of sheeting for 10 × 30 m), eave raised (4 to 6 weeks), slab (24 m³ for 300 m²), frame redone, water network.
- •Family 3, structural: north-south orientation, width > 10 m, hollow, neighbours too close; decisions: density reduced to 3.5-4 per m² in the heat, change of use, new house alongside.
- •Extend along the axis up to 50 m (+ 10 m = + 400 broilers at 5 per m²) or second house 16-20 m away; never in width.