Mums house is a little end of terrace 2 up, 2 down with the box room above the kitchen and the bathroom knocked through from the kitchen as it used to be the outside bog. You know the format. I was thinking to start planning a refresh - providing I don't get made redundant, I'd like to put what modest money mum had in savings back into the house. It needs a full strip out and rewire, to start, as the fusees are still the old style wire fuses. I was thinking of various options but I've no idea of what an extension would cost or whether its worth doing. Is it desirable to have a bathroom upstairs over downstairs, is it better to keep fireplaces in situ? dunno. The upstairs partition walls are wood rather than brick so I think I have more options with regards to space and partition movement etc - the guy next door had brick all the way up to the roof and wasn't allowed to touch any internal brick walls. My thoughts were.. Option 1: Extend just the kitchen the full width of the living room and leave upstairs. Option 2: Extend the kitchen the full width of the living room, and carry it through so that the whole back of the house is included Option 3: Extend the kitchen the full width of the living room, and carry it through so that the whole back of the house is included and go up into the loft space with a proper dormer extension on the back of the property. The back bedroom would be in the extended but allowing a full size room for a terrace and a proper landing to go up into the loft space. Some in the street have gone cheap and done the loft thing by chopping into one of the two rooms, which to me is like robbing peter to pay paul. Option 4: All off the above and build a studio flat above the garage - currently 5m x 5m , but perhaps extend the garage to 8mx5? Its the first time I've done anything like this so any insight would be welcome. Also don't we have an architect on the forum for some ideas and inspiration? To put it in perspective, I've no intention of flogging the place for a very long time!
Are you doing it to live in yourself or rent out? There will be a cap on the price of the property for that area so ideally you don't want to spend too much that will take you over that.
Have a look at why you want to do some improvement to the house. Are you doing it to rent, sell, live in, improve the value, make it more attractive to sell, to move in yourself, split it into flats, all these things will make a difference to what you do and how much you spend and what type of project it will be.
thanks chaps. Its not up for sale anytime soon, not unless the offer is lottery absurd. It's not really big enough to do flats out of. In truth I want it to be nice family home in as much a terrace can be. the councillor who was pestering mum to sell has kindly ensured that I'm going nowhere with it for a very long time - if he's that desperate to own it it can mean only one thing and that is land and property values are likely to shoot up in the area once he and his cronies at he planning office have taken enough back handers.
So does that mean you're going to rent it out? If so you need to speak to the letting agents and find out what the rental income will be on your various proposals. In my experience you may well find its better to just give it a basic makeover to rent out.
perhapes look at what others in your street have done as from what i understand its easier to get planning approval if a precedent has been set. also its strange times at the min and the value you may have achieved pre cv19 may not be realised again for quite some time. that said,if you have the money to do it now im sure there will be many a builder grateful for the work, if you are not doing it yourself and no doubt house prices will recover.
dunno yet. Initially I may just let a good friend of mine who wants to get on the housing ladder just live in it for a couple of years so he can get a deposit up, and it gives me a caretaker in there as well. My own place has subsidence, and when that finally gets resolved it gives me somewhere to live while any works are being carried out - although with the loss in value due to underpinning I've been quoted its probably cheaper to raise it to the ground and have it rebuilt. That one however will end up in court I'm sure, as the estate management company and the insurance companies are all denying culpability.
So you are looking to make it a proper family home, a great space to live in. Design wise these days most people look for that big family kitchen, dining, living space, spilling out onto the garden, entertainment space, some private space, a home office is a real consideration. Bathrooms are important, generally an en-suite for the master bedroom and a family bathroom. Attic space can be valuable but as you rightly point out what is the payoff for the access, the same problem can occur with extended bedrooms, take care how you access them and what you lose to gain the extra space. There is a lot more you can do these days with permitted development, have a look on the planning portal for some guidelines, attics can be done without planning permission within a set of rules. Try not to destroy the original character of the house, be sympathetic to the original design but bring a fresh approach. Have a look at other projects that have been done nearby, learn from their mistakes and steal a few ideas. I hope that helps.
Someone else said that you dont want to spend too much on it as there will be a cap on the property in the area....yeah - thats true....but if enough houses are extended then that takes the president.....ie where i live...we live on a hill...the road runs along the hill so all the houses on the downside of the road (ours) had unconverted basements. We were the 2nd owners to convert our basement and someone else said in the road "i wouldnt waste your time as it wont add value to the house.." fast forward 15 years later and theres only one house without a converted basement - the houses on the downside of the road are now 100k more than the houses on the upside..
I do agree with this to a degree but you need to know the area. As you probably know I flip properties as a side line and the only one I have lost money on is the one I built an extension on. If Sev is going to live in it then it's completely different, I spend way too much on the ones I live in but I do them to suit me.
I have a 2 up 2 down Kitchen out back bathroom upstairs, IMO bathroom upstairs is way better, I’d looked at houses where the bathroom came out onto the kitchen put me off purchasing. I refurbed mine new windows replastered every room, now it’s a rental. I had considered selling it, when the estate agent came round she said it was at it’s maximum price wise. Nothing I could do would make it worth more than what I put in extra was her opinion. There are a few in the row with an attic bedroom but then they lose part of a lower floor room to get access. They aren’t worth significantly more than mine and are less desirable because they break the stamp duty threshold.
id say an extension would give you more bang for buck than a loft conversion possibly but is certainly easier and less intrusive to do. as suggested speak to local estate agents as a guideline but by no means take their word as gospel.
If you’re going to throw some money at it, I’d certainly look to put the bathroom upstairs. If timber stud walls are present upstairs and are not load bearing you could reconfigure to make the most of the space. Adding a loft room to building regs will add value as this will give you an additional room/bedroom. If loft is converted, but only has a loft ladder or something similar, don’t waste your money. In terms of extending, as others have said it will totally depend on what you will gain from this. If it gives you more room for a family environment and still maintain a garden that is a usable space, it will add value and become more appealing to more buyers. Just be clever, don’t go mad and you’ll be ok
In my experience Chiz they tell you one story when buying and another when you then come to sell. Letting agents are far more realistic and nearly always get the rental they suggest.
my brother, despite being in the building game and able to do his own work took the advice of his local realtor and just gave the place a clean up and sold it. madness. the estate agent clearly just wanted the place on his books sooner rather than later. it done my head in as neighbouring properties with the work done, were going for way more than it would have cost to do the work. if i could have raised the money i would have tried to do a deal with my bro but he wasnt interested after he heard the "facts" from the agent. that said, he sold in november last year so might have dodged a big bullit re this virus stuff...
work out some costs for all options and speak to a good estate agent, they should be able to give you an idea of the potential value.
Yup he certainly is. Three unrelated individuals referred to him as “a nasty piece of work”. He’s got most of the council planning department in his back pocket with backhanders sadly. the house has some nice potential as its the end of the terrace so the only one with a garage- and parking around there is a rare commodity. its difficult to explsin but the side wall also dog legs away from the house so potentially could house a staircase running up the side of any extension built. I think I’ll speak to an architect or put myself forward for that your home done good or whatever its called! the house four doors up has done some nice work and gone up to a dormer in the roof. They couldn’t go across the full width of the house as it would also block light to next door, but i don't have that issue as widening takes me out to the road.
I have to agree with working out what the ceiling price of the same property is in the area before deciding what option to choose. If it isn't your "forever home" and something you will sell at some point (10/15yrs) then think of it as a business decision not a personal decision. With it being a terrace id personally go with single storey extension as everyone wants larger kitchen/diner, hopefully keep some rear garden. Maybe a downstairs w/c with shower depending on layout of the original property (under stairs?!) I wouldn't bother going into the roof as you'll need double sided dorma's as you'll want an en suite up there and as mentioned it takes up half a room downstairs. (Nevermind the new regs regarding frosted glass in all windows depending on your neighbours) If you do a double height extension then you normally lose quarter of the new floor area on hallways/layout. Brick built single storey with standard trench footings, 1 window & small bi fold door, lean too tiled roof with a few velux to keep the light. Plumbing + electrics (LED spotlights) 8 weeks work inc all labour and materials looking roughly 20k -22k (area dependent obviously) Stu.
Yeah - thats my point if someone else has (and theres other properties that can be extended/upgraded) then that will become the president...if all the houses have the scope (in your area) and a few make the jump then over time others will do it also. I think also, the thing is longevity - if you do extend it and do plan to hold on to it long term then thats where youll score.
