Extending the house down
Discussion
I know there have been posts on this before, but I'm wondering whether things have moved on in this field. It's very popular in central London, where the return on the property is there, but is it elsewhere?
Our house is a grade 2 old stone school circa.1820. There's a central section with 3 rooms upstairs, the 2 wings are single level. It's not a bad size with the ground floor being around 120m2/1300ft2. But as always, more room could be good.
As it's listed, there's little to be done on the surface and to be honest, we wouldn't want to change the appearance even if we could. So I've been thinking about extending down. I'm thinking there's less chance of the project being declined by the powers that be and it would give us an enormous amount of new space. The entire property would need underpinning, but there has been movement twice before in one wing, so underpinning the entire property would be good anyway. The ground floors would need to be removed and reinstated, a stairwell installed and, no doubt, a second one externally. It would need tanking, electrics and plumbing (including pumped sewage). So a vast amount of work. The question is though, would it be worth it? We're in an expensive part of the country (Sevenoaks), the plot is a good size with a view over an AONB and SSSI and I believe is more than big enough to handle a larger family home. I'm guessing we would have 5 more rooms averaging 16ft x 13ft. So how much is this going to cost to complete? And I mean complete! £250-£300,000? The house is difficult to value without an estate agent, as it's quirky. We have it as 3 bedrooms, but bought it as 4. We have an out building with a bedroom and en suite too. I'm guessing it would probably be around £750,000-£800,000 in this area. So, if the work adds its cost back to the value, we would consider doing it. Not to sell, because we are very happy here.
Any thoughts or comments from experience welcome!
Our house is a grade 2 old stone school circa.1820. There's a central section with 3 rooms upstairs, the 2 wings are single level. It's not a bad size with the ground floor being around 120m2/1300ft2. But as always, more room could be good.
As it's listed, there's little to be done on the surface and to be honest, we wouldn't want to change the appearance even if we could. So I've been thinking about extending down. I'm thinking there's less chance of the project being declined by the powers that be and it would give us an enormous amount of new space. The entire property would need underpinning, but there has been movement twice before in one wing, so underpinning the entire property would be good anyway. The ground floors would need to be removed and reinstated, a stairwell installed and, no doubt, a second one externally. It would need tanking, electrics and plumbing (including pumped sewage). So a vast amount of work. The question is though, would it be worth it? We're in an expensive part of the country (Sevenoaks), the plot is a good size with a view over an AONB and SSSI and I believe is more than big enough to handle a larger family home. I'm guessing we would have 5 more rooms averaging 16ft x 13ft. So how much is this going to cost to complete? And I mean complete! £250-£300,000? The house is difficult to value without an estate agent, as it's quirky. We have it as 3 bedrooms, but bought it as 4. We have an out building with a bedroom and en suite too. I'm guessing it would probably be around £750,000-£800,000 in this area. So, if the work adds its cost back to the value, we would consider doing it. Not to sell, because we are very happy here.
Any thoughts or comments from experience welcome!
How much land do you have? Is it feasable to build a separate building which could be connected to the main house by, say, a glass walkway thus connecting the two but keeing it separate. I've seen this kind of thing get around the listing aspect.
Digging out a basement is horrifically expensive but as you say you have no interest in moving, why does adding value matter so much. Surely the focus is adding value to the home for yourselves rather than financially?
Digging out a basement is horrifically expensive but as you say you have no interest in moving, why does adding value matter so much. Surely the focus is adding value to the home for yourselves rather than financially?
It's horrible messy work, you'd have to move out for an extended period, put all your stuff in storage etc. For pricing, start with the perimeter of the building multiplied by 750mm wide, 3 m deep. That's the rough volume of underpinning. Muck away is clearly the footprint multiplied by 3m, taken out by hand. New floors on both levels, all new drainage system including pumps as you'll probably end up below current gravity drains. Then a full redec with plaster repairs of the ground floor, plus tanking, plastering and decorating the new space.
On the other hand, with a suitable layout you shouldn't need an external stair...
Basements outside of silly parts of London rarely make sense other than on new-build, and even then it needs to be a pretty pricey area for it to stack up financially.
On the other hand, with a suitable layout you shouldn't need an external stair...
Basements outside of silly parts of London rarely make sense other than on new-build, and even then it needs to be a pretty pricey area for it to stack up financially.
E36GUY said:
How much land do you have? Is it feasable to build a separate building which could be connected to the main house by, say, a glass walkway thus connecting the two but keeing it separate. I've seen this kind of thing get around the listing aspect.
Digging out a basement is horrifically expensive but as you say you have no interest in moving, why does adding value matter so much. Surely the focus is adding value to the home for yourselves rather than financially?
Extending out won't work for this property, however we do plan an all glass type conservatory to the centre rear which currently sits about 6ft back from the wings. Digging out a basement is horrifically expensive but as you say you have no interest in moving, why does adding value matter so much. Surely the focus is adding value to the home for yourselves rather than financially?
I was thinking that the extra space would add great value to our lifestyle & if the additional value to the property financially matched the expense, then we're back to being even again.
There are other aspects to consider too. For example, if we invested £300k in a separate property for added income, there'd be various taxes involved, and our home lifestyle wouldn't improve. We have a 21 year old daughter, who like so many others, could struggle to get on the ladder, so downstairs could in effect become a flat for her until she can move on.
I believe that the old fashioned way of living will come back, like mini Downtons where the children take over the house and look after the parents.
Tom_C76 said:
It's horrible messy work, you'd have to move out for an extended period, put all your stuff in storage etc. For pricing, start with the perimeter of the building multiplied by 750mm wide, 3 m deep. That's the rough volume of underpinning. Muck away is clearly the footprint multiplied by 3m, taken out by hand. New floors on both levels, all new drainage system including pumps as you'll probably end up below current gravity drains. Then a full redec with plaster repairs of the ground floor, plus tanking, plastering and decorating the new space.
On the other hand, with a suitable layout you shouldn't need an external stair...
Basements outside of silly parts of London rarely make sense other than on new-build, and even then it needs to be a pretty pricey area for it to stack up financially.
I realised we'd have to move out, but luckily we have another property, so not too painful. I'd take care of all plumbing, decorating & majority of woodwork too. But whoever would be digging out by hand wouldn't be envied. I'm guessing it would be about 500m3 of clay!On the other hand, with a suitable layout you shouldn't need an external stair...
Basements outside of silly parts of London rarely make sense other than on new-build, and even then it needs to be a pretty pricey area for it to stack up financially.
One thing that could be an unpredictable & big expense is that there was once a working well in the front garden, so there could be water/springs down there.
A friend 'extended down'
It was a nightmare for quite a few month but he loves it now. The economics would only work in London.
Regarding the well/spring .. he has water pumps linked to an uninterruptible power supply to control that problem. I have no idea whether that's usual, substandard building or a specific issue at his property.
It was a nightmare for quite a few month but he loves it now. The economics would only work in London.
Regarding the well/spring .. he has water pumps linked to an uninterruptible power supply to control that problem. I have no idea whether that's usual, substandard building or a specific issue at his property.
Yup when we lived in London up until last year we thought about doing this....price was circa 500 sq ft. When property values above ground are over 1,000 sq ft above ground it can make sense especially if it means you may not have to move etc for extra space....although basement space doesn't get the same pricing come sale time.
There are almost as many stories of it going wrong as people that are happy! You'd need to do an awful lot of work looking at the contractors.
There are almost as many stories of it going wrong as people that are happy! You'd need to do an awful lot of work looking at the contractors.
schmunk said:
bernhund said:
We have a 21 year old daughter, who like so many others, could struggle to get on the ladder, so downstairs could in effect become a flat for her until she can move on.
You're planning to lock your daughter in the basement...?
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