building a room over the garage

[sawman]

Just viewed a house for sale, it stacked up pretty well, but the smallest bedroom isn't big enough, a room over the existing garage would solve the accommodation issues. I could do with a bit of advice about how this might be done and rough costs.

The property is a 1920s semi, with an original garage. next door ( on the non attached side ) has a similar garage and have already done the room on top development.

Obviously planning etc will be required, but what is the deal with the neighbors wall this will become a party wall (the bottom of it already is with regards the garage). Would we need to build our own supporting wall adjacent to the existing full height wall? or can we use the existing wall to support our new floor and roof?

What would be the rough cost of a project like be?

cheers

[Paulbav]

depends on the existing structure and foundations, you may well need to flatten it and pour new footings so costs can add up, we did this at our last house (flatten and start again) for about 10k but that involved alot of both my wife's and my labour as well as having lots of good contacts. I guess you could easily double that figure...

[sawman]

Cheers chap,

I had figured 20k in my mind. I am still pondering how effectively taking a 3 bed semi and making it into a 4 bed terrace affects the long term valuation and how this might effect the neighbor, who effectively becomes terraced without any benefits.

[Busa mav]

sawman said:

Cheers chap,

I had figured 20k in my mind. .

even without seeing a photo of the property , that is far too cheap

[sawman]

Busa mav said:

even without seeing a photo of the property , that is far too cheap

heres one:


I'd say if its much over 20k I'd need to get the place significantly cheaper than it is listed for, otherwise the ceiling for the street will be breached

[RemainAllHoof]

Curious. If the neighbour does similar, it really does become a terraced house. Does a 4 bedroom terraces command more than a 3 bedroom semi? And the poor sod at the end becomes a 3 bed end-of-terrace.

[Spitfire2]

The obvious challenge there is - will the neighbour whos house butts up against the garage be willing to have a room built up against the top floor of his house?

Bit of a gamble I reckon.

[wolf1]

That's got party wall nightmare and a lot more than 20k written all over it. Don't expect your new neighbour to be best pleased with the 'hello I'm your new neighbour and by the way I want to turn your house into a terrace' regardless of the fact they have already extended.

[sawman]

RemainAllHoof said:

Curious. If the neighbour does similar, it really does become a terraced house. Does a 4 bedroom terraces command more than a 3 bedroom semi? And the poor sod at the end becomes a 3 bed end-of-terrace.

Thats my conundrum. The neighbor to the left has already converted his garage and built above, I would imagine there would be some negotiation needed with this neighbor in order to fill in the space, I would imagine roof drainage would be just one of the issues.

[RemainAllHoof]

I suppose you could speak to the neighbours before making an offer and say that you intend to do that, asking for their honest opinion. I wouldn't want to live there for 5 years starting out with this kind of issue. You never know. They may not care or even appreciate being asked.

[Paulbav]

Having seen the picture, I think it would be a very big undertaking. As stated above a party wall nightmare, as well as a lots of potential issues regarding the existing footings and roff lines with it being so tight, also if were your neighbor I would oppose the development as it will almost certainly affect the value and kerb appeal of their house. Anything can be done but it will be at a cost and a potentially high one at that!

[sawman]

Cheers for the feedback guys, Having looked at this project further I dont think its gonna stack up, which is a pity cos its a handy location, and the rest of the place is nice, but we need 3 beds and I dont think you could get a bed in the box room this has (well you might, but nothing else). I guess theres the loft which might convert......

[wolf1]

sawman said:

Cheers for the feedback guys, Having looked at this project further I dont think its gonna stack up, which is a pity cos its a handy location, and the rest of the place is nice, but we need 3 beds and I dont think you could get a bed in the box room this has (well you might, but nothing else). I guess theres the loft which might convert......

20k may well get you a decent sized master bedroom with ensuite in the attic. Worth getting some quotes as it would more than likely add rather than detract from the value.

[youngsyr]

A bit leftfield, especially for PH, but you could convert the garage into a bedroom or swap it with another room in the upstairs (bathroom?) to give you more bedrooms in the existing upstairs layout.

[sawman]

youngsyr said:

A bit leftfield, especially for PH, but you could convert the garage into a bedroom or swap it with another room in the upstairs (bathroom?) to give you more bedrooms in the existing upstairs layout.

Unfortunately we have 3 cars, one of which is not terribly weatherproof so the garage is needed.

Todays idea is to consider rebuilding the original porch and extending the front small bedroom over this, making the troublesome small bedroom 10x6 instead of 6x6. what do you guys reckon?

Would possibly need to consider how that effects the other two bay windows on the front but it might improve the front of the house

[Baron Von Alders]

we did something similar a few years back. Had to knock down the existing garage as walls / footings not strong enough to take a storey above.

Cost was £40k for rebuilding the garage and two rooms above (full width of the existing house) Quotes we obtained beforehand ranged from £36k to £80k (that one obviously didn't want the job).

bear in mind most councils ask for the first floor to be stepped back a metre to avoid "terracing", as per tour neighbours extension.

Their guttering also seems to overhang your property? This would need to be changed to a turret gutter to allow you to build up to the property line. Dunno who would pay for this bit as it seems strange that they were given permission to overhang?

[CaptainSlow]

I grew up in a similar house to this one. I was in the front box room, my old man knocked the wall down between the front two bedrooms and then rebuilt it further into the larger bedroom.

[mattdaniels]

Send a message to campfreddie on here. He's an architect and has been doing the designs and planning for almost exactly this job for me and has been really helpful.

[Busa mav]

I would suggest you don't enter into an agreement to purchase this property if a first floor front or side extension are critical to your plans .

Planning could be "difficult" with this one