Connecting dormers?

[Niall]

Hi,

 

We're planning a hip to gable conversion with a full width box dormer.

 

Our only issue is that our neighbours have already done this, before we bought the house, and their former comes right to the boundary. They seem happy with their build, no issues were aware of.

 

Should we get the dormers to join or leave a gap? What are the pros and cons?

 

Niall

[MikeSharp01]

can you squeeze a photo of the neighbours gable with your current layout.

[markc]

If their dormer sits on the boundary then I would look at matching the design and joining up. A different design with a gap could make your house lookout of proportion and/or a bit odd.

[Niall]

On 06/08/2021 at 08:13, MikeSharp01 said:

can you squeeze a photo of the neighbours gable with your current layout.

See photo...

Our stairs are on the outside, bathroom at the back.

[Adsibob]

We have this exact situation. The disadvantage of leaving a gap is that it will need to be accessible to allow repairs/cleaning, so probably minimum 50cm wide. That means you lose valuable floor space in your loft conversion.

 If you adjoin them, you need your party wall agreement to give you permission to remove some of their side tiles so that you can connect to them and then a detail as to how you will adjoin, so it’s all agreed in the party wall agreement.

 I’m not sure it’s so important to match their colour scheme or design. If we had done that or conversion would look hideous, but everybody had their own taste.

 The only advantage I see of not adjoining them is there is no need for a party wall agreement, and you might get better privacy/less sounds transferring between the dormers.

[MikeSharp01]

Basically leaving a gap would perhaps be daft but on the other hand the party wall stuff might cost a bit - you will also need to join the roof and looks like the chimney as well as the wall and if you do join to the existing one you are probably stuck with the same basic profile - IE same size.