House Extensions – Things to Consider
If you have room and can get planning permission, there is no doubt that the bigger you can make the kitchen, the better. When architect Richard Burton was designing his new house, he made the kitchen absolutely vast and with enough room to contain a gargantuan dining table, able to seat at least 20 people. He designed the house just for himself and his wife, but made the kitchen size an absolute priority. If only more architects would do the same!
When considering a back or side extension, first do your research. Look at others that have already been completed in your area, for your type of house, to get an idea of what the council has granted permission for already. If you happen to know a builder who specializes in extensions, ask to look at some of his work or, at the very least, see photos of the kind of work he does. This gets your eye in and enables you to hone your ideas. The really cheeky people pretend to be buyers and go round snooping in properbes that they never intend to buy.
You also need to know how much, if any, value such an extension puts on the property. Often, it is not as much as you may imagine. It is always very difficult to add value with major work, as the work itself costs so much money. In any case, putting a figure on ‘adding value’ has to be an educated guess at best because the property market is subject to constant fluctuation. Also, elements beyond your control, such as a hike in the interest rates, a new road, new station, new airport or flight path, a big new estate, a shopping precinct, pedestrianization, parking facilities, schools and a whole host of other factors, can add or take away value whatever you do.
In my case, I added an extension to not so much increase the property’s value, but so that it would not reduce in comparison with all the other houses in the row, which had extensions. Whatever monetary value the extension may or may not have added, the improvement it has made to my quality of life is incalculable. It has expanded my mind as well as my home.
The other main consideration with back and side extensions is how much, if any, of the garden you are going to lose and if it matters. Many Victorian terraces have tiny gardens that are not much use in any case, although I would always keep some outside space, for hanging out washing, putting plants or sitting outside on a sunny day. You can feel very boxed in if you have no outside space at all, but, having said that, glass roofs and conservatory-style extensions bring the outside in and the inside out. Big glass doors are a must, to open the house out into the outside space as much as possible.
Also, consider having the garden redesigned at the same time as you are planning the extension and have them done together, whenever the budget permits. Extensions create a phenomenal amount of mess, so, while the place is in upheaval generally, it makes sense to have the garden done at the same time and then it will fit in with the new scheme.
If you see something you wish to emulate, ask the owners who their builders or architects were and what they were like to work with, then, if there were no major problems, contact them to see if they can quote for your job.
Detailed architects’ or other plans will need to be drawn up and submitted to the local planning department, even when planning permission is not required, as building regulations will need to be adhered to. A building inspector will make a number of visits to the site during the course of the work to check that none of the regulations are being infringed and issue a completion certificate when it has been finished. It is essential to have this completion certificate, especially when you come to sell the property.
If you are using an architect, the plans and design will cost around £4,000. I was lucky with my extension, because my builders had already done three in the same street. As they already had the plans, I did not need to have mine drawn up separately. You may be able to do the same if your planned extension is identical to another in your street. Very often, there is not a lot of choice with design, as you are constrained by space and the general dimensions of the house so another architect would come up with something very similar anyway.
Glass-roofed extensions enable you to see and be seen by next door if you are living in a typical terraced house, but there is not much you can do about this. From my extension, I can now see into next-door’s bathroom. Similarly, they can now see right into my dining room extension from their back bedroom window. I considered having conservatory blinds, but realized that they would require as much rigging, ropes and operational skill as putting up the sails on the Cutty Sark, so I decided to sacrifice an element of privacy for the sake of not having the daily task of operating the blinds.
You do not need your neighbour’s permission to build a back extension, but it is polite and neighbourly to keep them in the picture when undertaking work that will reduce their light, privacy and ‘quiet enjoyment’ of their home for some time. The vast upheaval involved in creating a back extension will intimately affect their lives as well. In my case, the garden wall was down for months as works progressed. It was only put back up at the very last stage. Note that if your extension requires the existing garden wall to be knocked down as mine did, you will need to have a party wall agreement in place before work can begin.
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