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Advice on extending your home
 Renovation expert Michael Holmes |
Follow expert renovator Michael Holmes’ advice for how to find the space you need to extend.
Assess your property's potential
Extensions come in all shapes and sizes depending on the amount and type of space you require. The most common type of extension is to add space at the rear, but it is also possible to add an additional storey by redesigning the roof or even by digging a new basement storey. End-terraces may also offer some scope for side extensions.
ABOVE, LEFT: A floor-to-ceiling rear extension to this Victorian property has created a light and spacious open-plan kitchen/dining area; ABOVE, RIGHT: A timber frame side extension clad in brick has been added to this 17th-century cottage to create extra space.
Weighing up the costs
The most cost-effective away to add extra space is likely to be with a twostorey extension. This is because the cost of the most expensive construction elements, the groundworks and roofing, decrease as a proportion of overall costs the more storeys there are. Multi-storey extensions also sacrifice a small proportion of garden space than a single-storey extension. Using the roof space of any new extension will also help to reduce the average cost per m² of additional space.
ABOVE: A two-storey extension has been added in the same brickwork as the original house, in keeping with the planning guidelines.
Explore the building work and regulations
Adding further storeys to an existing structure can also be cost-effective, although only if the existing foundations are capable of carrying the increased loading. Structures built after 1978 are likely to have been built with footings capable of carrying additional storeys. In all circumstances, unless evidence can be provided that the foundations meet the buildings regulations requirements, the existing foundations will have to be exposed for inspection for statutory building control purposes. If the foundations are not adequate, they will have to be improved, most likely by some form of underpinning. This can be expensive so other alternative ways to extend should also be explored and a comparison made to find the most cost-effective way to add more space.
Like this? Try these...Find out more about kitchen extensions...Read about a side extension on a 1930s house... |
WORDS MICHAEL HOLMES PHOTOGRAPHS: REAR: DAVID GILES SIDE: KNIGHT FRANK TWO-STOREY: JEREMY PHILLIPS
Featured in the October 2011 issue of Real Homes
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Asbestos Awareness
Please make sure that any contractors you employ to work on your property have had asbestos awareness training. Asbestos awareness is mandatory for anybody who is liable to disturb asbestos while carrying out their normal everyday work (see regulation10 of The Control of Asbestos regulations 2006).
The training will cover the following topics
a. The properties of asbestos and its effects on health.
b. The types, uses and likely occurrence of asbestos and asbestos containing materials (ACMs) in buildings and plant;
c. The general procedures to be followed to deal with an emergency, for example an uncontrolled release of asbestos dust into the workplace.
d. How to avoid the risks from asbestos, for example for building work, no employee should carry out work which disturbs the fabric of a building unless the employer has confirmed that ACMs are not present.
The consequences of disturbing asbestos in your home could be very costly, both financially and on your families health.
The law requires that your Building Contractor, Plumber, Joiner and Electrician has a minimum of asbestos awareness training.
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