Best Way to Add a 4th Bedroom – Loft Conversion vs. One/Two-Story Side Extension?

[fandyman]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for advice on the best way to extend my house to create a 4th bedroom. Based on the floor plans (attached), the staircase is in the middle of the house, with the kitchen/dining room on the left and the living room on the right. I have around 7m of land to the side of the building to work with.

I see two main options:

1. Loft Conversion – This would require raising the roof level to get enough headroom, which might be more complex and expensive.
2. Two-Story Side Extension – This seems like a more straightforward option, but I’m not sure how best to connect the staircase to the new 4th bedroom. Should it be accessed from the existing landing, or would an additional staircase in the extension work better?

Has anyone done something similar? Which approach do you think is more practical and cost-effective? Any ideas on how to integrate the staircase smoothly with a side extension?

Thanks in advance!

 

[wessex101]

Unless you have a very large property ideally all rooms should be accessed from a single circulation area. If you start adding a second staircase just to access a single room the extra wasted floor area you need in the extension to accommodate the additional circulation space becomes expensive and the internal layout can become disjointed and awkward.
Whether you go for the roof enlargement or 2 storey extension depends entirely on the circumstances particular to your property. There is no standard answer.

 

[fandyman]

Thanks I was just looking for general ideas which way to extend how would it connect to the existing house if I chose to go the double storey extension.