Looking to extend house with garden drop off

[meefloaf]

Hi there, my name is Joe, and long story short, I'm looking to extend my house to give much needed space and need some guidance and terminology advice.

 

Need to extend the house as running out of room, but unfortunately the back garden is lower than streetside. Currently you walk out the back door, theres steps down 18" or so drop to a six ft by width of property concrete area, with concrete steps leading down into the garden. The drop from "patio" to garden level is roughly 10ft, And garden slopes down. I've been racking my brain on ways to extend the house, maximise space usage, and obv costs. Long story is it will effectively be a "granny annexe" for my mother and her partner to live in, but also toyed with using the space for myself, partner and small child, as we can design the space and not the 1930s layout of the house aha.

 

Just wondering what peoples advice would be. One idea ive had is to put our bedrooms backing onto the property, and having a living area at garden level. The other is extending the retaining wall into the garden and doing a one or two storey extension. The garden drop is so annoying.

 

Cheers, Joe

[Conor]

You've various options. Split level, building up. digging down to match the lower level and getting another story in. For accessibility you'd probably want to match the floor levels, so building up. You'd be best getting an architect/designer round for a professional opinion. They can also advise on best options for planning.

 

Any photos?

[Big Jimbo]

`Could you use the lower level and the existing ground floor level to do a Two story extension? Lower level could provide the granny annex, with the upper level providing an extension to your existing ground floor.

[Dave Anderson]

Our rebuild has very similar issues. However we specifically wanted to keep the bungalow as single storey living. So we are extending out at ground floor level and rather than in- filling we are constructing a store/plant room below, accessible only from outside (to avoid losing floor space to stairs).

[markc]

The garden drop is a real advantage for you to create a whole new lower ground space. 10ft drop means you can get drainage in without sump pumps etc.

[meefloaf]

Hi, thanks for the replies guys. Yes my preferred idea is to continue out at same level as ground floor, putting two bedrooms and a bathroom, and stairs leading down to a living area underneath. We have access from the back lane, so this would allow us off street parking, and garden for the little one.

[ProDave]

I would advise caution doing the actual build.  Your house is built on sloping ground but nobody knows yet how the foundations were built and how deep.

 

To do your new lower ground floor extension, you need to dig down right adjacent to the back wall of the house about 10 feet. That slab of concrete needs to come up and someone needs to carefully did and see what foundations the house is on at the moment.

 

This must be a real candidate for not knowing the costs of the ground works before you start.  If the house is not on very deep foundations then you are into deepening the foundations and it is really like adding a basement to the existing house.

 

Accepting the technical and possibly cost challenges, it sounds an interesting project.

[meefloaf]

3 hours ago, ProDave said:

I would advise caution doing the actual build.  Your house is built on sloping ground but nobody knows yet how the foundations were built and how deep.

 

To do your new lower ground floor extension, you need to dig down right adjacent to the back wall of the house about 10 feet. That slab of concrete needs to come up and someone needs to carefully did and see what foundations the house is on at the moment.

 

This must be a real candidate for not knowing the costs of the ground works before you start.  If the house is not on very deep foundations then you are into deepening the foundations and it is really like adding a basement to the existing house.

 

Accepting the technical and possibly cost challenges, it sounds an interesting project.

Yes, this is the big question.we are higher than the neighbours to the left. Theres also a rockery built against the retaining wall. 

 

Theres a trapdoor in the middle room and you can stand up in there quite easily. 

 

I just wish i had a TON of cash to throw at it and do something spectacular.