Hi Gang,
Would appreciate any advice/wisdom from those of you who know much about this area or have had any recent building work carried out.
I live in a relatively modern (late 70's) house in Surrey. It's a typical brick built 3-bed semi/end terrace (of 3) in a nice enough area, and we (wife baby and myself) are happy here for the foreseeable future.
Our house is a pretty similar to most of the others in our road, but the plot we're on is quite fortunate in that it's larger than most others in the road with an extra 2.2m or so (7ft) or so to the side and runs fully from front to rear boundary lines. To the side is 'common land', a grassed area that does not front a highway etc.
We currently have a small (2.5 x 5m approx) single story rear extension (as do most of the other houses) which although functional is not ideal (single skin, flat roof) and is a little tired and will need maintenance at some point (fascia boards, felt roof), likewise in the near future I will need to think about replacing soffits/fascia boards and guttering on the main house, as well getting our driveway paved and removing an overgrown hedge on our boundary to the side to replace with a wall or fence. The house is ok for us currently, but thinking ahead for the future it would be nice to have a little more room with possibility of a growing family.
This had got me thinking about what needs doing maintenance wise on our home and what we could do at the same time.
Having only recently read up about the Permitted Development scheme, I was surprised to see that quite a number of extension possibilities could be built without requiring planning permission. And it seems that so long as you meet the criteria you can build two stories on the rear without needing planning either.
I'd like to demolish the current 2.5 x 5m extension and rebuild to go out another 0.5m to around 3m in depth and stay around 5m wide (approx full width of current house) downstairs, perhaps adding 3x3m approx as a second storey (which would keep a clear 2m from our neighbours boundary and for light etc).
This would hopefully create enough room for an additional bedroom upstairs and replace the existing flat roof on the old extension with a pitched tiled roof and better insulation etc, replacing guttering and fascias on the main house too of course.
The other possibility I'm thinking of would be for the ground floor extension to increase in width by around 2m, wrapping around the side of the current house to create a small utility room area by utilising the side strip of land we have (currently unused space). This would free up a good bit of space for the washing machine, dryer, laundry stuff etc and give an extra bit of space for our current rear room.
Anyone done any similar work or projects recently - any tips or advice?
Not many houses in our road have had extensions like this but then again not many would be able to due to space and location (adjoining other houses/main road/next to garages etc)
I would obviously need plans etc drawn up if it looks like it would work out, but unsure of what order to proceed - ideally want to check feasibility of my ideas before I get carried away or too involved. I know there are a couple of inspection chambers (ie drains) close to the house so this would be a consideration - stuff like that.
A house opposite and further down the road tried for planning permission for a two-storey side extension (which is not possible under Permitted Development and was also quite a bit bigger at 3.3m wide) and it was rejected - mainly due to building coming out towards main road beyond building line of other houses and other issues). Hence my preference for PD route - but I guess if we tried for planning and were refused we could still build single storey side and two storey rear under PD allowances anyway? I think you can obtain a certificate called an 'LDC' to prove that your development meets the PD guidelines to satisfy any concerns if need be.
Would ideally like to get it planned out, and maybe contract out for the shell, and arrange fitting out/finishing myself if possible to keep costs manageable. There would be no real rush either as main house wouldn't be greatly disturbed during the build other than knocking through upstairs.
Any thoughts/advice/suggestions or experiences greatly appreciated - it's all a bit new to me, but I feel it's worth looking into as it has to be better value than moving in my area (stamp duty and other costs) and whatever I do spend within reason should increase the value of my current home accordingly should we need to move in future.
Thanks in advance
Will
Would appreciate any advice/wisdom from those of you who know much about this area or have had any recent building work carried out.
I live in a relatively modern (late 70's) house in Surrey. It's a typical brick built 3-bed semi/end terrace (of 3) in a nice enough area, and we (wife baby and myself) are happy here for the foreseeable future.
Our house is a pretty similar to most of the others in our road, but the plot we're on is quite fortunate in that it's larger than most others in the road with an extra 2.2m or so (7ft) or so to the side and runs fully from front to rear boundary lines. To the side is 'common land', a grassed area that does not front a highway etc.
We currently have a small (2.5 x 5m approx) single story rear extension (as do most of the other houses) which although functional is not ideal (single skin, flat roof) and is a little tired and will need maintenance at some point (fascia boards, felt roof), likewise in the near future I will need to think about replacing soffits/fascia boards and guttering on the main house, as well getting our driveway paved and removing an overgrown hedge on our boundary to the side to replace with a wall or fence. The house is ok for us currently, but thinking ahead for the future it would be nice to have a little more room with possibility of a growing family.
This had got me thinking about what needs doing maintenance wise on our home and what we could do at the same time.
Having only recently read up about the Permitted Development scheme, I was surprised to see that quite a number of extension possibilities could be built without requiring planning permission. And it seems that so long as you meet the criteria you can build two stories on the rear without needing planning either.
I'd like to demolish the current 2.5 x 5m extension and rebuild to go out another 0.5m to around 3m in depth and stay around 5m wide (approx full width of current house) downstairs, perhaps adding 3x3m approx as a second storey (which would keep a clear 2m from our neighbours boundary and for light etc).
This would hopefully create enough room for an additional bedroom upstairs and replace the existing flat roof on the old extension with a pitched tiled roof and better insulation etc, replacing guttering and fascias on the main house too of course.
The other possibility I'm thinking of would be for the ground floor extension to increase in width by around 2m, wrapping around the side of the current house to create a small utility room area by utilising the side strip of land we have (currently unused space). This would free up a good bit of space for the washing machine, dryer, laundry stuff etc and give an extra bit of space for our current rear room.
Anyone done any similar work or projects recently - any tips or advice?
Not many houses in our road have had extensions like this but then again not many would be able to due to space and location (adjoining other houses/main road/next to garages etc)
I would obviously need plans etc drawn up if it looks like it would work out, but unsure of what order to proceed - ideally want to check feasibility of my ideas before I get carried away or too involved. I know there are a couple of inspection chambers (ie drains) close to the house so this would be a consideration - stuff like that.
A house opposite and further down the road tried for planning permission for a two-storey side extension (which is not possible under Permitted Development and was also quite a bit bigger at 3.3m wide) and it was rejected - mainly due to building coming out towards main road beyond building line of other houses and other issues). Hence my preference for PD route - but I guess if we tried for planning and were refused we could still build single storey side and two storey rear under PD allowances anyway? I think you can obtain a certificate called an 'LDC' to prove that your development meets the PD guidelines to satisfy any concerns if need be.
Would ideally like to get it planned out, and maybe contract out for the shell, and arrange fitting out/finishing myself if possible to keep costs manageable. There would be no real rush either as main house wouldn't be greatly disturbed during the build other than knocking through upstairs.
Any thoughts/advice/suggestions or experiences greatly appreciated - it's all a bit new to me, but I feel it's worth looking into as it has to be better value than moving in my area (stamp duty and other costs) and whatever I do spend within reason should increase the value of my current home accordingly should we need to move in future.
Thanks in advance
Will
