Living room Extension (single story)

[kai]

We are just finalising the contract for an extension to our living room with the builder. Just looking to get some thoughts and ideas as the design can still be tweaked etc.

We are going to have a pitched roof, with the interior fully vaulted ceiling for more open plan. The extension will be 2.5 m x 4.0m. The builder has put us off-putting in velux as it’s the main living room. If there is rain, it could be fairly loud while watching tv.

On the design, I have taken the original patio doors and put them to the left side of the wall. I am then looking to have 2x bi-fold PVC doors opening up the right-hand side of the garden.

Tomorrow, we have someone coming to conduct scale drawings made up for building regs but also a certificate to submit for lawful development (as we do not need planning permission).

I am just looking for feedback on the design, thoughts, suggestions etc.

As is:

Bottom end (the extension will out to the patio then go across (towards gate)

Top End:

Proposed Layout (just me messing about with planner)

Top end (looking down)

Bottom end

Interior View

 

[kai]

have you thought about putting the glazing in the other corner and the patio doors opposite ?

I agree, having the bi-fold doors opening out into the fence and the smallest corner of your garden seems kind of pointless to me. The opposite side seems to have more space and would suit them better?

As the others have said the bifolds towards the fence seems a little waste...these things arent cheap and wont be adding anything there. Maybe just do floor to roof windows instead if you want to let the light in?

I see what you mean, there is a decent gap between the fence and doors opening (2Meters). I am also going to move the fence back 1m from the post you can see in the picture. The fence has not been put on our boundary line for some reason. This is reflective in our house deeds and all the drawings i have showing the boundary line for that corner as next to the tree. This should put us back to a 3Meter gap.

 

[kai]

Usually bi-folds are there to extend the inside out or the outside in, whichever you want to look at it. The way you are putting them puts them straight onto grass and one of the doors right Infront of a fence.

Is there anyway you could move them to the other side so they open out onto your patio?
Also wouldn't recommend going straight from grass into the living room. Used to have a living room which went out straight into the garden with a tiny amount of patio...carpet got ruined!

Fair comment, i will speak to the architectect today and get the feedback. However the grass is artificial

 

[kai]

Out of pure interest roughly what has the builder quoted (and where in the country are you)? I'm interested to know the costs of an extension this size for our next property.

Yeah sure. It's a local builder who has done some work for us in the past. I live in South Wales, and the final quote is

£21,000.

This includes everything (2x Bi'folds, moving rads, electrics, matching the existing wood flooring, skirting, coving even painting/glossing. Basically making both interior and exterior match existing with me or my wife not needing to do anything apart from buy extra furniture

We know he is expensive, but we have someone who finishes to a high standard, very clean and most important - he is extremely reliable.

I only have around 1.5 years left on my mortgage, so i am going to borrow the extra amount, and have it completed within 2 years, as this will likely become a house we rent out.

 

[kai]

I agree with the above re bifolds. Would it not be better to have wider bifolds on the side looking out into the larger part of the garden and forget about (or glaze) the other side? Unless I'm looking at it wrong?

Sliding doors give a greater proportion of glass-frame, if you've not considered them. Food for thought.

Agree, my builder has suggested the same. I go for the sliding door open. I am waiting to hear back from the architect. He was going to draw up some different designs for me so ultimately we could choose.

 

[kai]

Oh wow, yeah i am having an RSJ put as a corner post, so it will look like this example

 

[kai]

Things are finally starting to progress. Had a bit of a shock yesterday, when i seen the cost of the calculations for the structure.

Scope of Works
Carry out a linear survey of the existing ground floor and prepare existing and proposed scaled plans as per your brief. This includes elevational views and specifications as required for Building Regulation application.
Undertake structural calculations for proposed steel beams to provide opening into extension and for steel frame to enable bi-fold and full floor to ceiling glazed area to be constructed.

Professional Fees Existing plans and elevations

£350.00

Structural calculations:

Steel Beams £150.00
Steel Frame £250.00

 

[kai]

The living area in the last picture looks nice but the corner with all the doors seems to just make that end of the room awkward.

You just seem to have a big empty space and I don't see how you'd take advantage of it.

Yeah, idea is more open plan. There is no plan to have any furniture near that area as we want it to more of a focal point overlooking the forest/garden.

That is a lot of glass going in. What provision are you making for heating the space? Underfloor? as you dont have much space left for wall mounted rads. Also how much insulation are you putting in? You are opening up your main living space to a heat sink. I installed Saint Gobain Securit C-lite glass to provide the best thermal efficiency but it was over £800 to glaze my bifolds but it has - Excellent U-value of 1.0W/m2K

We actually need to look into this, however, the existing radiator will be moving from the wall knocked down to the new wall (highlighted red). We will have two big rads in the room.

 

[kai]

Worrying about empty space, i decided to do a 3d render.

(first attempt - did not space out seating correctly.)

*the silver create, is the dog pen.

 

[kai]

That render is great. How do you do it?

Planner 5D, great bit of software.

 

[kai]

The build is finally underway. Progress is slow as the builder has the boys (2 laborers) doing it by hand, i would have thought they would have had a mini-digger in to dig the foundations. Makes no real difference to myself apart from a project timeline.

Building regs want them to go down as far as the foundations. This is likely to be 1.2 - 1.3 m. Still looking at another 2 full days of digging...

Proposed depth -they have yet to reach foundation levels.

 

[kai]

Ours was dug by hand. 1.5m depth. 6x3.5m. Didn’t take them that long - 2 days.

The ground is just clay. It' is really difficult going, the boys have already snapped two spades today.

 

[kai]

I am pretty much back to square one the depth was getting dangerous (2.1 m) and still not hitting the foot of the foundation. As we live on made up land the ground was collapsing, so a mini digger was not even an option.

Replacing the strip will now be a raft foundation. The laborers have been compacting hardcore today.

To now:

 

[kai]

Wow seeing those foundations really brings home how little space you are adding.

Seems like a lot of money to me for what you are getting but happy to be proved wrong and hopefully you'll be pleased with the final result.

The size of the foundations doesn't change the fact he's still getting Xm2 for a cost that's around standard for a fully finished room. Foundations always look small.

Agree its not a massive extension. However, the actual size will be 2.5 m x 4.2m. 10.50 m² with an open vaulted roof.

The idea behind this is to open our living out. We are not adding an extra room we are extending the existing room.

So our living room will go from 7m x 4m to 9.5m length, vaulted roof and lots of open fronted glass.

 

[kai]

Raft foundation is ready to go. The steel is on order and will be tied later this week. Cement should be poured on Friday.

The local council planning department are doing a site visit tomorrow for lawful development. They might be a little annoyed I have already started the work. However, I see no restrictions that could impose the build under permitted development.

In the interim, I have started my own project. Friday I ordered 20 (2.4m x 250 x 125) railway sleepers. I also have 2 ton of compost arriving today. The plan is to build a retaining wall and landscape the top end of the garden. We are also moving the fence moving back to our boundary.

The top end has always been dead space - on completion we will be looking out from the bi-fold.

Step 1. Turn these

And this area i have started

Into

 

[kai]

... how will you deal with drainage and waterproofing of exterior house (tv)wall, abutting earth bed behind retaining wall ?

I have ordered 8x4 treated timber planks. I will be making a frame around the inside area. No soil will be touching the exterior wall. I will also be doing the same across the fence.

Ask your builder, but I imagine if you both run sleepers beside the wall, plus put weed proof fabric/polyethylene sheeting/bin bag type material on the internals to that side of sleepers to stop the moisture running into wall cavity.

How much did your sleepers cost?

For drainage system, I plan to run some perforated pipe buried behind the sleepers. This is what youtube shows . The builders will also be onsite so I'll be asking him to check my work.

As for cost - 20 sleepers with delivery come to £597.00, with everything I think I'll be looking at £950-1000 as I need fittings, timber frame, soil etc

 

[kai]

Day one complete 15 sleepers used. 5 sleepers high gradually declining to 3. I have 5 left for when the fence gets taken down tomorrow. Looks like i am going need a LOT more.

The top end "should" look nice when finished. 3 ton of soil and half a forest of plants soon to be delivered. The builder did say, we do not need any drainage behind the wall. It's sufficient.~

There will also be a tanalised frame built with 8x4 against the house and across the back fence to avoid any soil touching the exterior walls.

 

[kai]

what was the sleeper bed then (which youtube) .. is there any fall on the sleepers to promote drainage off their top too ?

the 5->3 looks good, must have taken some planning with levels and the 'spirit level'/laser ... did you bed in a few bricks as guides ?

I viewed a few videos, however they all went quickly out the window. I had my father and grandfather lend a hand yesterday. My grandfather was an engineer and my father is a plant fitter so both are super competent when it comes to DIY. They both showed up and i basically lifted things up and put things down when they needed them

They used spirit levels to get everything spot on . I unable to take any real credit, i dug the hole and laid hardcore. I then used a compactor to get the levels

Looks really good, I had my doubts when you were describing it earlier in the thread but shows what some decent planning can do. Out of interest what do you cut sleepers with? Id like to do something similar but only have a standard circular saw which would probably only go through half way and dont fancy cutting them by hand!

As my dad is a plant fitter, we basically had all the tools come out. They used a chainsaw, for miter joints we cut by hand

 

[kai]

Update: Framed around the house to avoid any soil touching both the back fence and house.

Moved two ton of soil into the frame ready for planing. I have put the patio plants on the topsoil as a temporary measure. I have lots of screening and small trees coming.

While i was doing this the builders started on the frame for the rest of the sleepers. The plan is for top soil to be level with the sleepers and put in some bedding plants.

When the cement is poured on Friday over the raft foundation, the grass can go back down and the planting can start. At the moment, its a mess, however it should start to come together.

 

[kai]

I should have gone into the Cement mixing game.

34 minutes pumping - C40 cement.
4 cubic meters (around 9 ton)


£964.00