House Extension Project

[GSXRMovistar]

For the past couple of years my wife and I wanted to increase space at home and after some major complications with the local council (originally applied for a loft conversation following their advise which they then rejected) they agreed to sell us a small strip of land next to our house and let us build a two storey extension.

The work finally started a few weeks back and I thought I'd share the progress here is anyone is interested. The plan is to extend two of the bedroom upstairs and create a second living space downstairs.

Foundations dug & poured

Brickwork started

Suspended concrete/block floor

Taking shape

Ground floor brick work complete and 1st floor joists in

1st floor brick work underway and beginning to look like the plan

Rear

Ground floor

1st floor

Still so much to do with next step being the roof going on this week but really pleased with progress so far.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Hatch at the back in the floor.

Upstairs the whole length of the house is coming out, downstairs the outer brickwork will be stripped and a single doorway added.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Yep that is coming down, currently quoting a replacement but doubt I'll be able to budget for a new brick wall so possibly a nice wooden alternative.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

looks good I'm embarking on a project soon what thickness/type insulation are you going with?

We are going with ytong blocks and then using ISOKLINKER for the outside walls.

It will be above the legal energy requirements but hopefully save on energy bills.

To be honest I couldn't tell you, left all that to the building firm. Outer bricks have been dictated by having to match existing.

How deep are those foundations?!

1.5m iirc and the building inspector was questioning whether we needed to go to 1.8m, which made us smile seeing as the house itself is only sat on 0.4m.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

After a small issue and delay last week the build is back on track with roof delivered and installed today.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Looking good.

Out of curiousity how did you approach the council to buy the land?

Long story short:-

1. Visited the preplanning department and asked about purchasing land (if possible/what is the process).
2. Put in contact with the lands department who own/mange the records of who owns each bit of land.
3. They confirmed council owned the land (opposed to development company) and what the admin costs were to apply for purchase.
4. Formally ask to purchase a piece of this land.
5. Get ignored for over a year despite repeated follow ups.
6. Give up and apply for planning permission for loft conversion.
7. Get rejected despite taking advice from pre planning department on loft application.
8. Raise formal complaint.
9. Revisit land purchase.
10. Things move very swiftly, price agreed and extension application submitted/approved.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Well planned, great when thought goes in to an extension, balances the house nicely at the front.
Some extensions are like a carbuncle, oversize for the plot, & badly designed.

Good to see your using attic trusses, so much space usually goes to waste, shame more people don't use them when building extensions if practical, & also when building houses.

That was part of the delay last week, A frames were being cut with standard V trusses so had to cancel and re-order with attic trusses.

Intention is the loft will be used as a storage room (via pull down ladder access) for home tech equipment and non-seasonal clothes. Also allows us to consider converting at a later date to an inhabitable room without major structural work.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Busy couple of weeks, I won't post loads of pics but updates to date:-

• Gable wall block and brick work completed.
• Roof tiled and cemented.
• Fascia board and guttering up.
• All original outer brick work from side wall removed.
• Block work removed between old and new loft.
• 1st floor in.
• 1st floor partition wall installed.
• 1st floor partially plastered (walls/ceiling).

This gets us to here:-

Next week should see the windows and doors installed, 1 fix plumbing and electrical, whole load of stuff in the garden (clearing shrubbery and existing permitter brick wall, preping for new drive way) then the real fun starts the following week when we knock through.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

That's looking good and something we are considering as we're running out of space. We currently have an attached garage so the idea would be to flatten that and do a full length 2 story extension, can I be cheeky and ask the cost?

Extension costs can vary so much depending on what is in scope (how deep are the foundations, type of brick that needs to be match, how many internal walls/rooms and level of decoration/finish, and actual location in the country).

All quotes we had were £40k-£70k however since then we are also having a drive way done and work in the garden so hard to compare.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Cheers, have you had estate agents, or do you know that a £50k spend will add £xk to the homes value?

Based on the prices of houses around us I do expect the extension to add a fair amount of value to the house however at the moment we aren't adding extra bedrooms which is where the most of the extra value would come from.

We are making two of the existing bedrooms larger but keeping the existing but now empty airing cupboard between them (hot water tank replaced by combi system in loft); with the air cupboard door in place this would allow us at a later date if/when selling to easily move the internal walls around to create 1 additional bedroom.

Compared to the cost of moving with fees and re-decortating to your own tastes (not to even mention moving hassles/stress) this worked out to be the most cost effective solution.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Do you get to move the garden wall over in line with the extension as well?

Yes we get the extra width for both the front and rear garden so extra parking space in the front and plenty of options for the rear (possible conservatory), only bummer is a new brick wall for the year garden will be out of budget so it will be a wood panel fence for now.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

I like that extension as it looks natural.

No end of houses near me are extended semis that are 1 inch from the border.
They look horrible.

Luckily there is still a fair amount of green curtilage next to us and then a public pathway and park so not imposing against anyone.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Do anyone have a ball park for how much councils charge per sq ft for land?

I think there is no ball park, all depends on how much land is available (size relates to options therefore cost per sqm can drastically change), which council in the UK, which department within the council that owns it and their own budget situation (i.e. do they need the extra money).

Thanks for all the positive feedback, so far this week the 1st fix electric's were completed, plenty of power in each room and plumbed each with cat6 ethernet all running up to the new loft which will be the AV distribution hub.

Then its been more plaster boarding and hopefully if ready the windows will be going in tomorrow.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

In my situation the land at which the extension sits on slopes off a fair amount so to keep everything level and lay a slab would be a considerable (and costly amount) of concrete.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

No, in that room I'm putting in a couple go upright radiators.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

Are you doing any of the work yourself? We've got planning approval and I'm researching which jobs I could do.

Not for the building no, hired one firm to do the lot then if anything goes wrong they are responsible (rather than having a plumber blame a carpenter etc etc for something that can't be done as planned).

Contract it to complete to a decoration ready finish (i.e. Plastered and bare carpentry) then I'll be doing the actual decorating (laying floors, wall paper, paint).

We also just had the rear garden wall and shrubbery removed yesterday so hopefully will be able to get the new fence up this weekend.

 

[GSXRMovistar]

No not in central London (thats where I work) now living outside to the east in Chafford Hundred, as for the builders I'm happy so far but will wait until the project is finished before recommending.