Hi,
Im looking to do an extension in the not to distant future (latest next summer), and am just trying to get my head around some of the details so I can get an idea of what is involved and how much it might cost me.
I plan to do most of the work myself, and don't want to involve a BCO, until I have a better grasp of what's involved, and when I might do this.
The house is a 1950's ex council mid terrace, and as it currently stands, the previous owners have 'extended' the kitchen by knocking through into what I guess used to be the outside pantry. This has been done to a very poor standard, with minimal insulation, and so that in heavy rain water finds its way in above the door frame....
My thinking is to extend to the same depth as the existing all the way across the back of the house.
My neighbors 'pantry' backs on to mine (their house is a mirror image), and the main thing I am wondering is if I would be able to utilise the existing party wall as part of the extension?
The main obstacle being that i would like to decrease the pitch of my roof, in order to increase the height of the extension at the back wall.
It is a single brick wall, so if it is ok to do this then would I:
1) Build the extra wall height as a single brick wall above the existing.
2) Just build a half brick wall on my side of the party wall...
If I do either of those, would I just trim the tiles on my neighbors roof to fit, and insert flashing?
Also given that this wall would be largely sheltered from the elements by my neighbors pantry, would it meet regs just to use thick insulated plasterboard on this wall or would I need to build another skin so the wall becomes a cavity wall? I realise that there would be nothing stopping my neighbor removing their pantry at a later date.
The rest of the extension would be reasonably straight forward I think, as I can build a cavity wall on the boundary with my other neighbor.
I know I would need party wall agreements for what i want to do.
Sorry for the verbose post, but I wanted to give as much information as possible. If anyone can shed some light that would be great!
Im looking to do an extension in the not to distant future (latest next summer), and am just trying to get my head around some of the details so I can get an idea of what is involved and how much it might cost me.
I plan to do most of the work myself, and don't want to involve a BCO, until I have a better grasp of what's involved, and when I might do this.
The house is a 1950's ex council mid terrace, and as it currently stands, the previous owners have 'extended' the kitchen by knocking through into what I guess used to be the outside pantry. This has been done to a very poor standard, with minimal insulation, and so that in heavy rain water finds its way in above the door frame....
My thinking is to extend to the same depth as the existing all the way across the back of the house.
My neighbors 'pantry' backs on to mine (their house is a mirror image), and the main thing I am wondering is if I would be able to utilise the existing party wall as part of the extension?
The main obstacle being that i would like to decrease the pitch of my roof, in order to increase the height of the extension at the back wall.
It is a single brick wall, so if it is ok to do this then would I:
1) Build the extra wall height as a single brick wall above the existing.
2) Just build a half brick wall on my side of the party wall...
If I do either of those, would I just trim the tiles on my neighbors roof to fit, and insert flashing?
Also given that this wall would be largely sheltered from the elements by my neighbors pantry, would it meet regs just to use thick insulated plasterboard on this wall or would I need to build another skin so the wall becomes a cavity wall? I realise that there would be nothing stopping my neighbor removing their pantry at a later date.
The rest of the extension would be reasonably straight forward I think, as I can build a cavity wall on the boundary with my other neighbor.
I know I would need party wall agreements for what i want to do.
Sorry for the verbose post, but I wanted to give as much information as possible. If anyone can shed some light that would be great!