New House, Extension planning. HELP!

[lauraandneil]

Right. The other half and I have bought a house. 2 bed semi with a shared drive, long skinny garden, strange kitchen/bathroom arrangement downstairs, and we want to put an extension on the back of it to house a kitchen/diner downstairs, and a third bedroom upstairs.

The thing is, we dont have tons of money to spend on architects, surveyors, builders, plumbers, etc etc... We would rather save money where we can and spend money where it is going to make a difference. I am a practical person and know that I can do a reasonable amount of the work myself, but will of course need guidance and assistance in relevant places from experienced peoples, and that starts here.

Below are the plans tat I have started to draw, which shows the existing and planned layout on both floors. These are the basis for our planning permission submission, but before handing the completed drawings in (and the wedge of money that goes with it) I want to get some opinions in.

Key questions are:

The first floor extension will need support with RSJ's (one from current rear wall of house to new rear wall of house, and one supported by this RSJ across the back of the upstairs extension. Are there standard sizes for RSJ's? length/cross section? does the wall need to be re-inforced? pillar built rather than resting on single thickness?

What I want to avoid is putting in the planning permission and having it approved, then getting a builder in and they say 'why did you do that?!', 'if you had moved that a foot to the left you would have saved a grand here', and generally making things difficult for myself in the future build.


house plans

Any help would be appreciated, insults and all. Also, have a look at our blog we started to document the process so far.

http://57schoollane.tumblr.com


Neil and Laura.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

As you house is a semi, if your council have adopted the Right to Light or parts of it into the Local plan you could well have problems getting such a large extension through planning. If you have not done so already you should seek out the Local Plan online and ensure your proposals comply with its content otherwise your plans are likely to be rejected.

Had you thought about swapping the kitchen onto the other side and having some good sized french doors or folding/sliders looking out of the garden. That way you will go from the living room into the dinning part of the kitchen rather than the other way round. Your extractor for your cooker hood could also then just go straight out through the external wall rather than now where it would have to go down the wall to extract through the rear wall. You would also be able to see into the garden from the living room.

The door on the corner is just odd!

In a new extension, having a nice big kitchen dinner and then having a dirty great beam across the ceiling is just daft to me, I'd change the layout to get rid of that proposed beam, maybe shrink the depth of the kitchen down a little and increase the bedroom depth above a little so the walls align and remove the need for any beams. Beams are never just chosen off the shelf they need to be designed by a structural engineer or similarly qualified/insured person. There is no getaround for this.

 

[lauraandneil]

Hi Freddymercurystwin

Thanks for the response. The extension we have planned is pretty much a copy of what a lot of the neighbours have done (except for the angled corner). Having talked to one neighbour, they told us that the right of light was an issue with the first floor extension. I have a copy of the local planning documentation, but think I may be missing something, as a lot of it refers to permitted development, with not much/any mention of development with planning permission.

RE the beams to support the first floor extension. There is quite a drop from the back of the house to the garden, and we were planning to have 2 steps down into the kitchen from the front room. Hopefully this would allow us to hide the beam under the ceiling without it looking too low? Even if the 1st floor extension went to the back of the house, would it not still need a beam to support one wall?

Originally we had planned for the doors (set of french doors most likely) to be on the rear wall, rather than the corner. The corner is needed there to alllow access to the garage, and we thought the doors being on there would make more of a feature of it, rather than it looking awkward in the room.

Still a lot to think about though, and any comments are appreciated.

Neil.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

No this support would be in line with the wall and could easily be lost within the base of the wall rather than under the roof.

What your neighbours have done in the past may be of little consequence, just because something bad exists does not mean something equally as bad will be allowed now. Precedents set by other dwellings in the area hold little credence IMHO. As mentioned the recommendations laid out in the current Local Plan should be adhered to or some grief may be expected.

No offence but sometimes people need saving from themselves and this is why a designer, be that an architect (overkill for this anyway) or a technician can be advantageous. So make sure you find the right guidance from your local authority!