What to do with this mess of an extension

[geeks]

Since we have lived here this extension has been an issue. It's cold in the winter, hot in the summer, there is no radiator for heating, it's badly laid out and it's not the best looking thing.

Ideally we would like to take the lot down, line it up with the house and ideally extend it out a bit as well. Happy with a flat roof type affair due to the power supply to the house being on the gable wall.

We are hoping given the existing single story extension is already there that the foundation will be sufficient some images below for thoughts...




(Apologies for the terrible hand writing)

Edited by geeks on Wednesday 9th July 01:18

[JD]

I had the power supply moved from a wall to underground during a rebuild, and it really wasn't a big part of the expense at all.

UKPN were also a pleasure to deal with.

[Rough101]

With the power over a flat roof, it shouldn’t even be there!

As per the above, get a quote from the DNO to underground the supply, you may need to get the meter relocated and an SWA to replace the tails until you can rewire and move the consumer unit.

As to planning, they are more likely to entertain a ridge line below the existing so as not to introduce a terracing effect.

That thing is a dead loss and has outlived it’s usefulness

[OutInTheShed]

There's a whole spectrum of possibilities from just painting it a less offensive colour through to knocking it down and building something bigger and better.

A can of paint is under £50, a proper extension will be the wrong side of £50k.

Only the OP can know what he'll get best benefit and value from.

One option would be an upgrade to the roof and insulation.
Personally I tend towards thinking it's too narrow as it is, so I don't see huge value in spending significant money without making it significantly bigger.
But that's me and my lifestyle, if that size of room does what someone needs/wants, then investing to make it better might be great value for them.

Don't forget the non-monetary costs of dealing with planners, 'professionals' and trades.

Traditional answers might include 'add a mock-grecian portico' and 'hide it with trees'? (-:

[DonkeyApple]

geeks said:

Since we have lived here this extension has been an issue. It's cold in the winter, hot in the summer, there is no radiator for heating, it's badly laid out and it's not the best looking thing.

Ideally we would like to take the lot down, line it up with the house and ideally extend it out a bit as well. Happy with a flat roof type affair due to the power supply to the house being on the gable wall.

We are hoping given the existing single story extension is already there that the foundation will be sufficient some images below for thoughts...




(Apologies for the terrible hand writing)

Edited by geeks on Wednesday 9th July 01:18

The world is your oyster there. It's just going to boil down to spend really.

A stepped gable end would look nicest but the extra weight will probably guarantee the existing pad isn't suitable.

The cheapest fix would be to rebuild the white extension part to match the yellow part then clad the walls with insulation and add a warm roof to the lot. That would give a uniform look and with new windows, maybe redesigned in size and location give a much warmer room.

Or remove the whole thing and start from scratch on a larger footprint with a timber frame structure that incorporates the insulation you require?

The options seem endless to be honest.

[Peanut Gallery]

Bloke around the corner from me had a similiar layout - double story house, random flat roofed half attached kitchen.

He removed the small kitchen (it looked like it only needed a strong breeze to remove), really extended the size and now has a proper single story gable end, large velux windows, solar panels properly installed within the tiles of the roof, enough insulation so an air source heat pump works, new toilet and store-room, nice floor with lots of noggins.

He has done lots himself, and says he is tired - the family is tired of microwave meals and takeaways, he has been at it for most of the year so far between his work, getting help when needed (he got a roofer to put the tiles up, etc). - To be fair he started the job just after really fixing the rest of the house, each room back to stone walls and start fresh.

His family are looking forward to having a heater of any sort installed.

[hidetheelephants]

At the low budget end of things you could remove the weird brick parapet things and fit insulated profile roofing over the top of the existing roof; it appears to have enough slope, if not increasing the slope with some timber framing is straightforward. The makers of the roofing supply all the flashing and trim needed, although fitting around the conservatory thing may be fiddly. The walls are presumably a single brick skin and no insulation, so external wall insulation would be a goer but as you want more room maybe look at SIPS and starting from scratch? There's a good chance that investigating the foundation will uncover that it's barely adequate for when it was built and unsuitable now.

[geeks]

Thanks for the replies so far all. Photos are from when we moved in, it has since been painted a less offensive colour and the tat removed from it.

We flip back and forth on what to do about it, in an ideal world we would knock the whole lot down and start again but its a very big investment and one we are not convinced we would see a return on if and when we come to sell. We were of the mind that we would be here for 10 years or so, we are 3 into that now. I dont think Mrs geeks appreciates how much it will cost to do from scratch again properly, my estimate is around 40k and I feel I have undercooked that a bit as I have no idea what lies beneath as it were (foundations are my big concern really as another poster said chances are they wouldn't past muster these days). The real kicker is that our Fuse Box is in there and the oil boiler is in that weird parapet section, they were definitely built at separate points in time and joined up. I suspect the boiler cupboard was once the coal store or something as the CH has deffo been retrofitted some time in the 80's. Its a pain as its a project I would love to take on myself and build a fresh extension from scratch either timber framed or sips but the issue with that is we would need the MCB and the boiler removing while we do this that adds time, cost and I have no idea what we do about power while all of that is happening with the added complication that power for 3 outbuildings is supplied by it and they appear to be buried under the floor as you can see where they exit the slab, same for the feed for the oil boiler. Getting the power ducted would also be an issue as the pole is directly behind our garage so would have be ducted under that somehow.

I think taking off the roof, removing the PVC "conservatory" and making it all look a little more cohesive would be sensible solution but still not sure hence I am asking the learned folk on here.

[Antony Moxey]

If you're only intending staying for the short term (seven years of your original planned ten) and you don't think a rebuild of the extension will give you a decent return then I guess you've got two real options: leave it as it is and live with it - the time will fly quicker than you think, or move now rather than waiting a few years. Otherwise do neither, plan on staying there longer and knock it down and rebuild it properly.

[JD]

I think if it were me and you don’t want to spend a fortune I would take stock of the amount of space and reconfigure the house to make it more usable, but with a mind to make the overall house look less like lots of bits have been added on.

I’d remove the “conservatory” entirely so it then doesn’t stick out proud of the main facade.

Get rid of the door between the house and conservatory to make it open, and then see about knocking through from the lounge and the kitchen into the extension.

But to make that work you are going to need to get a decent insulated roof put on, and wrap the extension in something insulating and then clad with something attractive.

It’s going to make the house a lot more appealing to buyers and nicer to live in.

If you aren’t living there for a long time I’d not even consider making it bigger or getting into changing foundations.

[DonkeyApple]

geeks said:

Thanks for the replies so far all. Photos are from when we moved in, it has since been painted a less offensive colour and the tat removed from it.

We flip back and forth on what to do about it, in an ideal world we would knock the whole lot down and start again but its a very big investment and one we are not convinced we would see a return on if and when we come to sell. We were of the mind that we would be here for 10 years or so, we are 3 into that now. I dont think Mrs geeks appreciates how much it will cost to do from scratch again properly, my estimate is around 40k and I feel I have undercooked that a bit as I have no idea what lies beneath as it were (foundations are my big concern really as another poster said chances are they wouldn't past muster these days). The real kicker is that our Fuse Box is in there and the oil boiler is in that weird parapet section, they were definitely built at separate points in time and joined up. I suspect the boiler cupboard was once the coal store or something as the CH has deffo been retrofitted some time in the 80's. Its a pain as its a project I would love to take on myself and build a fresh extension from scratch either timber framed or sips but the issue with that is we would need the MCB and the boiler removing while we do this that adds time, cost and I have no idea what we do about power while all of that is happening with the added complication that power for 3 outbuildings is supplied by it and they appear to be buried under the floor as you can see where they exit the slab, same for the feed for the oil boiler. Getting the power ducted would also be an issue as the pole is directly behind our garage so would have be ducted under that somehow.

I think taking off the roof, removing the PVC "conservatory" and making it all look a little more cohesive would be sensible solution but still not sure hence I am asking the learned folk on here.

Yup. From the picture it looks like the centre section was added first and the then owners moved the utilities in to it. They then added a single garage to the right of it and probably added the conservatory after that when they made the mistake of answering the door to a shiny suited grifter or after watching grand designs while on lsd.

If you leave the central section in place you can then do either side of it yourself. Replace the conservatory with stud work to tie it in dimensions wise, then reroof the whole lot with a warm roof up to the parapet levels so that you can have a single, full length, uninterrupted roof loaded with 150-200 mm of foam. Give the roof a good overhang so you can then fit insulated cladding to the entire exterior.

[geeks]

View from above, red is the power line from the pole, green is supply to outbuildings.

Garage has been there since the 70's according to the neighbours, the extension was always that apparently was never a garage but it was joined to the parapet section when it was built, it had a new roof 25 odd years ago from what we are told. The rest I think DA is on the money about.

I think the plan of taking out the conservatory adding a timber framed structure in its place then a proper roof across the lot is the best plan. In terms of adding with insulation given the existing external walls are 300mm thick (if my measurements are close to correct which I like to think they are ) surely we shouldn't need to do that too? Fine if I am incorrect here and it will need doing.

ETA to actually add the pic I was describing

Edited by geeks on Wednesday 9th July 14:06

[DonkeyApple]

So the garage bit is double skin brick? I'd assumed a more simple structure. If brick/block then easier to replace the roof with a warm roof. If the walls are that thick then probably no need to add any external insulation.

I reckon you could smarten that all up very nicely and doing most of the work yourself.

[hidetheelephants]

Impressive collection of sheds there.

[geeks]

DonkeyApple said:

So the garage bit is double skin brick? I'd assumed a more simple structure. If brick/block then easier to replace the roof with a warm roof. If the walls are that thick then probably no need to add any external insulation.

I reckon you could smarten that all up very nicely and doing most of the work yourself.

The garage bit was never actually a garage someone built what is there purposefully just many many years ago, our place used to be one of the farmers bungalows, the extension was originally added to store wet clothes, boots and such. The walls are decent, the roof, less so! I think your way is the way to go, remove conservatory, put something better in the place then redo that whole roof to something better.

hidetheelephants said:

Impressive collection of sheds there.

Sheds would be underplaying it but thanks

[DonkeyApple]

geeks said:

DonkeyApple said:

So the garage bit is double skin brick? I'd assumed a more simple structure. If brick/block then easier to replace the roof with a warm roof. If the walls are that thick then probably no need to add any external insulation.

I reckon you could smarten that all up very nicely and doing most of the work yourself.

The garage bit was never actually a garage someone built what is there purposefully just many many years ago, our place used to be one of the farmers bungalows, the extension was originally added to store wet clothes, boots and such. The walls are decent, the roof, less so! I think your way is the way to go, remove conservatory, put something better in the place then redo that whole roof to something better.

Re roofing to cover the parapets and incorporate a wad of insulation would certainly be an easy diy job. As would a simple oak frame in place of the conservatory that you could either leave open or glaze etc.

Seeing as the pad extends several feet beyond the building you could even consider over hanging the roof and supporting it with oak beams to give a sheltered walkway etc.

[geeks]

DonkeyApple said:

geeks said:

DonkeyApple said:

So the garage bit is double skin brick? I'd assumed a more simple structure. If brick/block then easier to replace the roof with a warm roof. If the walls are that thick then probably no need to add any external insulation.

I reckon you could smarten that all up very nicely and doing most of the work yourself.

The garage bit was never actually a garage someone built what is there purposefully just many many years ago, our place used to be one of the farmers bungalows, the extension was originally added to store wet clothes, boots and such. The walls are decent, the roof, less so! I think your way is the way to go, remove conservatory, put something better in the place then redo that whole roof to something better.

Re roofing to cover the parapets and incorporate a wad of insulation would certainly be an easy diy job. As would a simple oak frame in place of the conservatory that you could either leave open or glaze etc.

Seeing as the pad extends several feet beyond the building you could even consider over hanging the roof and supporting it with oak beams to give a sheltered walkway etc.

DA thanks for the help on this it has been really useful. Will start to look into it and costs over the next couple of months, likely we will go with a closed timber structure in place of the conservatory as it has the washing machine and tangle dryer in there, then reroof as per your suggestion and probably extend it for some shelter too good idea that you are very much speaking Mrs geeks language!