Terracing rules

[Plick]

Hi,

I'm about ready to start the extension on our new house, I have noticed there is a tight area where the hall way meets the kitchen, so the kitchen door is right up against the staircase.

This is because of the 450mm recess put in by the architect to avoid the terracing effect

My question is; are there rules which stipulate how deep the recess should be so that terracing is not reached or did the architect just pluck a figure out the sky?

If I could make it 300mm for example it would help with the doorway.

Thanks in advance


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[cjard]

I think it would be a lot easier to answer your question if you include a picture of your house and your neighbour's house so we can get a better idea of the street scene/feel

Oh, and tell us about the external appearance of your extension

http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/plan...sign_guidance/avoid_the_terracing_effect.aspx

 

[Plick]

I think it would be a lot easier to answer your question if you include a picture of your house and your neighbour's house so we can get a better idea of the street scene/feel

Oh, and tell us about the external appearance of your extension

http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/plan...dance/avoid_the_terracing_effect.aspx[/QUOTE]





Brilliant thanks for the reply, our house is on the right, the extension is obviously going out to the right, the extension will be exactly as the original

 

[cjard]

I understood the terracing effect to be that of making multiple detached or semidetached look like one long row of houses through large extensions. Given that your neighbour on the right doesn't seem to have an extension, and that you seem to have a driveway that is wider than your house I'm not sure that any extension that is less wide then your house would bring about a terracing effect. Your architect might be looking to make the extension appear subservient to the original house, given that your street would seem to have a feel of open space as it isn't very dense. If an extra 150mm would help you open your kitchen door I'd ask him to move it. In my personal opinion it wouldn't impact on the subservience of the extension significantly

Don't forget that you're paying him.. You give the spec and he does the design. "I want to be able to open my kitchen door" is a requirement, he needs to come up with the goods (Otherwise, why are you paying him?)

 

[cjard]

note that if you decide to retain the existing roof hip above your front door, and then have another roof face valleyed in, set back 300mm from the main roof face, your roofer might not be too impressed. Having finished a cut roof that had 6 hips and 2 valleys when it could reasonably have just had 4 hips (the projections are less than a 800mm each, I'm really wishing we'd simplified it). It hugely increased the cost of the trusses and the time and money required to fit; I'm not certain the complexity was worth the aesthetic

 

[Plick]

I understood the terracing effect to be that of making multiple detached or semidetached look like one long row of houses through large extensions. Given that your neighbour on the right doesn't seem to have an extension, and that you seem to have a driveway that is wider than your house I'm not sure that any extension that is less wide then your house would bring about a terracing effect. Your architect might be looking to make the extension appear subservient to the original house, given that your street would seem to have a feel of open space as it isn't very dense. If an extra 150mm would help you open your kitchen door I'd ask him to move it. In my personal opinion it wouldn't impact on the subservience of the extension significantly

Don't forget that you're paying him.. You give the spec and he does the design. "I want to be able to open my kitchen door" is a requirement, he needs to come up with the goods (Otherwise, why are you paying him?)

At last someone who agrees with me!

I've had this conversation a few times, and I'm of the same same opinion as you, we are the only semi in the road of 8 houses, all the others are big detached ones, and opposite are nothing but fields. So I think we have a good case to put forward.

Here's the thing- we have only very recently bought the house and it came with the PP for the extension, so we have to go back to the architect and get him to re do the plans.

I'm hoping it will just be a small adjustment and won't sting us too much!

 

[Plick]

note that if you decide to retain the existing roof hip above your front door, and then have another roof face valleyed in, set back 300mm from the main roof face, your roofer might not be too impressed. Having finished a cut roof that had 6 hips and 2 valleys when it could reasonably have just had 4 hips (the projections are less than a 800mm each, I'm really wishing we'd simplified it). It hugely increased the cost of the trusses and the time and money required to fit; I'm not certain the complexity was worth the aesthetic

Oh ok, that's interesting, I didn't actually think of the extra financial implications of adding the subservient over a seamless, I think I need to book in with the architect and get some of his views.