Just starting out! Two storey extension

[RoseD]

Afternoon everyone 

 

I’m enjoying reading everyone’s posts on here. We’re just starting to plan our extension haven’t received advice from anyone at all yet but wanted to do an intro and ask a general question. 
 

I’ve added my drawings which are not to scale - I’ve also drawn what I want things to look like on sketch up but couldn’t work out how to add them here. Green lines are internal doors, blue external doors and pink lines are windows. The red area is the planned extension which actually comes out further than the kitchen line which I’ve not depicted in the pics! 
 

The pic with letters is the downstairs and numbers upstairs with the bathroom marked in black - and my idea in blue to extend it. I don’t think this will be possible though because to save costs I’m thinking it’s best we keep the external wall that’s already there. Which leads to my first question. Can an external wall be stripped of the external bricks and made into an internal wall? 
 

My second complete beginner question I think I know the answer to also - the downstairs already has a conservatory over half the area for the extension that leads to the garage. So the garage wall is where the extension wall would need to be up against - I’m assuming that means we’ll have to knock down the garage wall. Hopefully not the whole garage though and then the extension wall could replace the garage wall.

 

We have a waste manhole in the area too so will need to move it further into the garden and the toilet is on the window wall of the bathroom so would have to be moved to the outside wall. We’ve had the water pipe plans and spoken to the correct utility company so know this is possible. And the downstairs loo will have to be moved into the extension to stay accessible to the waste.
 

extension will be 5.5x5.5m with the aim of giving us another bedroom and en-suite. I wanted a bigger main bathroom but unless I take some of bedroom 3 I don’t think that will be possible. 

Thanks for reading all of this :-)

 

I’m in the excited research stage - I’m sure that will morph into stress once we start!

 

I also have some roof questions but still looking myself at how we might do this first - the current roof is in a T shape 

[DevilDamo]

Do you have any existing floor plans, even if they are the agents’ plans for when you bought the property? You may be able to find these via Rightmove or Zoopla.

 

Do you have or can you take and upload some photos, which will also help?

 

I’m pretty sure SketchUp designs can be saved into various formats of which are supported here. So just save them as JPG’s or PDF’s.

 

When are you looking to engage an architect/designer?

 

What is your budget, assuming it’ll be in excess of £120k?

[Russell griffiths]

Not sure what you mean by turning an external wall into internal, you would normally just plaster over the bricks so it becomes internal. 

 

You dont sort of take half half of it down to make it thinner, it stays there as it’s holding the roof up, you just hide it. 

[RoseD]

30 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Not sure what you mean by turning an external wall into internal, you would normally just plaster over the bricks so it becomes internal. 

 

You dont sort of take half half of it down to make it thinner, it stays there as it’s holding the roof up, you just hide it. 

thank you - that’s a perfect solution. I wasn’t sure if there was any reason why you couldn’t leave it there. 

[RoseD]

2 hours ago, DevilDamo said:

Do you have any existing floor plans, even if they are the agents’ plans for when you bought the property? You may be able to find these via Rightmove or Zoopla.

 

Do you have or can you take and upload some photos, which will also help?

 

I’m pretty sure SketchUp designs can be saved into various formats of which are supported here. So just save them as JPG’s or PDF’s.

 

When are you looking to engage an architect/designer?

 

What is your budget, assuming it’ll be in excess of £120k?

I will try and get my sketch up designs loaded on here in the week - it’s a lot easier to see what I’m going on about with them! I’ll also upload some photos.
 

We’re hoping to get an architect in the new year - my husband is a project manager at a large housing development company so we might use someone from there. Just started looking at some local people as well, from the stories on here and other places it seems most important to get the drawings right and then the specification so you know what the builders have priced to include etc.

 

We’ll be using someone to build to water proof (I think that’s the right term). Then do the insides with other contractors/DIY. 
 

We’ve budgeted £150,000 - though I really am not sure how much it will cost. Other than using a calculator I found on one site. So am prepared to have to amend the plan/compromise etc. Because we’re coming out passed the back of the house I think the roof may be problematic. 

 

 

[RoseD]

Photo

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by RoseD
Rear photo

[Russell griffiths]

Have any of your neighbours done similar stuff, have a walk around and be nosey. 

Knock on a few doors and say, I love your extension, this normally gets people on your side and there only to happy to show you. 

 

On a different note, have you thought of moving.

 

Putting £150 grand into a house might get you another rung up the ladder if you move or a better neighbourhood  

[RoseD]

1 minute ago, Russell griffiths said:

Have any of your neighbours done similar stuff, have a walk around and be nosey. 

Knock on a few doors and say, I love your extension, this normally gets people on your side and there only to happy to show you. 

 

On a different note, have you thought of moving.

 

Putting £150 grand into a house might get you another rung up the ladder if you move or a better neighbourhood  

Thanks for the tips - lots of the houses have been extended or had loft conversions so a great shout.

 

It has a lot of land that we wanted - big garden and not overlooked at all etc and needed a lot of work inside so we wouldn’t get better by spending the money on another house. 

[DevilDamo]

2 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

You dont sort of take half half of it down to make it thinner, it stays there as it’s holding the roof up, you just hide it.

If it’s a cavity wall and where space is tight, no harm in removing the external skin and taking the wall back to the external face of the internal skin.

[Mallaya07]

On 22/11/2020 at 16:35, RoseD said:

Thanks for the tips - lots of the houses have been extended or had loft conversions so a great shout.

 

It has a lot of land that we wanted - big garden and not overlooked at all etc and needed a lot of work inside so we wouldn’t get better by spending the money on another house. 

Hey Rose, we just started on the same journey and your story is similar to ours in the sense that we are looking at upwards and over 200k for extensive extension works; and putting the money into another property is not an option as we love the house and garden space.

Have you made some progress with your build?

M