Building a floor above a porchway

[SilverShadow]

Hey there,

 

Thanks for all your help with my previous queries. I have a new one for all you budding builders....😁

This one regards building above a front porchway (for a property we're looking to buy). I only have scant details i'm afraid, but we were wondering if it'd be possible to extend above the porch to make another room of the 1st floor?

 

A few basics:

• Existing porch is 2 x 2.5m (looks to have been built in last 20 years)
• Porch has a concrete floor from what i can see
• Porch materials are brick, with sloping tiled roof
• Porch exterior is mostly glass (door and 4 x windows), with brick corners (1ft by 1ft) and a brick wall over 0.5m high for walls under windows

Apologies if these are daft questions, but i wondered if:

• Anyone had experience of building over porches & things to consider (eg: foundation depths)?
• Presumably we'd need concrete or steel lintels to support above the door & windows, to build the upper floor with?
• Presumably this would not need planning permission?
• But it would need to meet building regs/been signed off?
• We'd prefer a pitched roof above it, to join to the existing roof
• Any yardstick idea of cost/m2? (i've read around £2-3k/m2 when extending both stories, so possibly up to £2k/m2 maybe)

 

 

Many thanks for your time and help

Shadow

[kandgmitchell]

13 hours ago, SilverShadow said:

Presumably this would not need planning permission?

On the front i.e the principal elevation? It certainly will require planning permission. If the existing house door is still in place then that porch could have been built without regard to building regulations (save the safety of glazing requirements). It may then have little more than a simple concrete slab as a foundation. It could end up easier to take down and start again, only a trial hole would tell.

[SilverShadow]

Thanks for the reply 😁

 

A little more info I've since gleaned. 

 

The vendor confirmed the original porch (we"re considering to build above) did indeed receive PP

 

My theory is (if anyone can verify):

We're building over an existing extension that was previously PP. So my assumption was a 2nd floor extension of 2 x 2.5m above the porch would not need PP, as the house footprint remains unchanged & it won't encroach forwards of the front elevation

 

The porch foundations are deep: >1m depth of concrete was poured,apparently 

 

Obviously all responses are not binding in any way, & we'd conduct further due diligence.

 

Just initial thoughts & opinions we're after 👍

Edited April 27 by SilverShadow

[kandgmitchell]

20 hours ago, SilverShadow said:

it won't encroach forwards of the front elevation

But it will though - it's the original front wall that is the baseline not the porch. Plus think the footprint thing through a little - why stop at one extra storey why not three or four; it's the same footprint. Planning doesn't work quite that simply I'm afraid. If only!

[joe90]

4 hours ago, kandgmitchell said:

why stop at one extra storey why not three or four; it's the same footprin

Which is why loft dormers on the front of a house requires planning permission but not on other elevations.

[SilverShadow]

Thanks guys - obviously come to the right place 😁

 

That was my first mistake - i thought the front-elevation encroachment bit related to changing the footprint. I'd assumed (wrongly) that because were just building upwards 1 floor (to the same height as the rest of the house), and with the same footprint profile that we'd be ok (ie: covered by the previous PP to build the porch)

 

Sounds like this would be trickier than we 1st thought then 🫠

[joe90]

11 minutes ago, SilverShadow said:

Sounds like this would be trickier than we 1st thought then 🫠

Navigating planning and building regs is not easy but loads of real world advise here on this forum 👍

[SilverShadow]

Very true

 

I'm a complete novice, so asking basic generalistic questions, as thoughts occur. Thought 1: ask the pro's on here 😁

 

Altho we could build a bigger extension in theory, the house has a really bad layout. We'd only need a small extension above the porch to make 3rd bed much better

 

I thought it'd be easier & cheaper to build above the porch. But I hadn't reckoned on the foundations not being up to it, nor the extra rigmarole of extra planning headaches of altering the front elevation 🙃

 

Gives me plenty to consider, whatever we do, or don't 

Edited May 1 by SilverShadow