More bedrooms, more bathrooms, same footprint. So this house went up.
The homeowner bought an older story-and-a-half bungalow in Sabin — quiet NE Portland blocks under a big tree canopy. Good house, wrong size. He needed more bedrooms and bathrooms than it had, and the direction that made sense was up.
So he hired K&H Construction for the whole job at once: a whole-house remodel taken down to the studs, plus a second-story addition — a new upper level holding the extra bedrooms and bathrooms under twin dormers, on a frame reinforced to carry all of it. What follows is the build diary, 2024 into 2025, with the photos as chapters.
Permits for a Second-Story Addition in Portland
That photo is the middle of the story. The beginning has no photos — the beginning is drawings. Architect and engineer traded plans until both agreed, settled in early 2024, and the package went to the City. Permits on a project this size took roughly six to seven months, with the revision rounds big structural work gets. Two moments from that review tell you what the process is for:
- ✓ The rafters grew — engineering review upsized the roof rafters from 2x12s to 2x14s. The math caught it on paper, where a correction costs a pencil.
- ✓ The trees got a say — the City ran an exterior forestry review to protect the trees around the house. That canopy is half of why people buy in Sabin; the exterior work was planned around keeping it.
Months of paperwork before a saw comes out tests anyone’s patience. It’s still cheaper than finding the problem after framing. Permits and stage-by-stage inspections were ours here, as on every job.
The Gut: A Whole-House Remodel Taken Down to the Studs
Inside, the house came back to its bones — walls opened to the studs, ceilings down, old systems stripped out — so every new part could go in right and get inspected on the way. The bones held one surprise worth the whole demo: original fir floors, uncovered upstairs as the layers came off.
Raising the Second Story
The new rooms are the light work of a second-story addition. First, the structure underneath has to be made ready to carry bedrooms, bathrooms, tile, and tubs on a frame that was never built for a second floor. That meant full structural reinforcement, sized by the engineer and checked by the inspector — the invisible half of the job that decides whether the visible half lasts. Structural work is our own year-round trade, beam and dry rot repair included.
An old frame, taught to carry more
New framing tied into the reinforced original structure. Every stud here is carrying the new upper level’s weight down to the foundation.
- ✓ Full structural reinforcement, sized by the engineer
- ✓ Framed by the same K&H crew that bid the job
- ✓ Inspected at every required stage
Everything Behind the Walls Is New
A gut this complete comes once in a house’s lifetime, and the homeowner used all of it. All-new electrical. All-new plumbing. A dual-zone climate system — two zones instead of one thermostat arguing with the whole house. Rockwool insulation throughout — his pick, and a good one. Every window and door in the house is new.
Wired like a new house
New wiring and exhaust fans run through open framing, visible and inspectable. That’s the argument for pairing an addition with a full gut: nothing gets threaded blind through old walls, and every system starts its life at zero.
Ready to talk about going up? Call (971) 220-6397 or request a free line-item estimate.
Inside: Tile, Cabinets, and a Handover Done Right
Interior finish ran the way our jobs usually run: mostly us. Drywall we hired out. The tile is K&H’s own, and Dmitriy set the kitchen cabinets himself — the same standard behind our bathroom and kitchen remodels across Portland.
Then came a handover we’re glad to tell straight. Once drywall was up, the tile set, the doors hung, and a first run of casing in place, the homeowner asked to take the interior finish from there. He’s a hands-on guy who wanted time to hunt down an artisan trim style that suited him — a hunt you can’t put on a construction schedule. So we drew the line together: he took the inside, we completed the outside.
Finished June 2025. Photographed July 2026.
The build ran across 2024 into 2025, and our scope wrapped in early June 2025. The finished photos are from July 2026 — Dmitriy drove through Sabin a year later and pulled over, because the house looked too good not to. That’s why the landscaping looks settled: it’s had a year to grow in. Any contractor can photograph a house on handover day. This one had a year to settle into its street first.
Go ahead — look for the seam
This wall is where the original siding meets the new work, and it’s the photo we’d show a skeptic. It’s the test every home addition should pass: when a second story goes on, old and new have to line up everywhere they meet — siding courses matching, trim carrying through, the roofline landing where the eye expects it. We finished the entire exterior with our own crew, down to the paint.
- ✓ New siding matched to the original, course for course
- ✓ Full exterior — siding, trim, and paint — completed by K&H
- ✓ Twin dormers proportioned to the bungalow below them
A second story is a big trust decision, so here’s the record: licensed, bonded, and insured — Oregon CCB #233813, the license lookup takes ten seconds — BBB Accredited, and family-run.
Second-Story Addition Questions
What decides the cost of a second story addition in Portland?
No prices here — a real number needs a real house. What moves it: the engineering and reinforcement below, how much roof structure comes off, how many bathrooms ride upstairs (wet rooms mean plumbing through the whole house), whether systems get replaced while walls are open, and finish level. The walkthrough turns all of it into a free line-item estimate.
How long does a second story addition take?
The honest timeline from this project: plans settled between the architect and engineer in early 2024, permits took roughly six to seven months with revision rounds, and the build ran across 2024 into 2025, finishing in early June 2025. A second story is major structural work, and a real chunk of the calendar is paper, not lumber. If a contractor promises a dramatically shorter schedule before seeing your house, ask which of those steps they plan to skip.
Do I need an engineer for a second story addition?
Yes. An engineer sizes the reinforcement your structure needs and the new framing above it, and the City reviews the math before a permit issues. On this project, engineering review upsized the roof rafters from 2x12s to 2x14s — a correction guesswork would never have made. We coordinate the engineering and carry the permits.
Can you add a second story to an old Portland house?
Usually, yes — the question is what the structure below needs first. This Sabin bungalow took full structural reinforcement to get ready for new bedrooms and bathrooms overhead, and because the house was gutted at the same time, that work went in clean. What we won’t do is stack a new floor on framing nobody has looked at. A walkthrough tells us what yours would need; the engineer confirms it.
Can I finish part of the project myself?
If you have the skills and the patience, gladly — this project’s owner did exactly that. Once drywall, tile, and doors were in, he took over the interior finish to hunt down trim he loved, and we completed the exterior. The key is drawing the line clearly — we scope the handoff point right in the estimate, so both sides know who owns what.
The lot may be full. The sky over it isn’t.
One walkthrough tells you whether your house can carry a second story and what the whole project involves — engineering, permits, build. Straight answers and a real number in writing, free. Call (971) 220-6397 or request an estimate.
Sabin is home turf — see more nearby work on our NE Portland remodeling page and another gut-to-finish job in our Cully whole-home renovation. For the bigger picture: home additions, whole-home remodeling, and the project gallery.