BUILDING OVER A GARAGE, A COUPLE OF QUICK QUESTIONS

[martin33100]

Hi, we are thinking of building over our attached garage to add a 4th bedroom and ensuite. The garage is flush with the front of the house but set back a couple of metres at the rear, I would want to have the garage lengthened at the back to match the house to cary the roof line over. My house is a 15 year old timber frame built by Wimpey Homes.

A couple of questions first, would I be better of having the exstension over the garage done in timber frame or the conventional brick and block?

Also after I have measured the width of our garage how much should I take off for insulation/ cavity space to gauge how wide our bedroom above could be?.

Ps. I have been a heating engineer for about 10 years but have never worked on newbuild hence the questions.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[noseall]

Unless the existing garage walls and foundations are up to current cavity wall spec's then you are likely to have to consider the most sensible option.

There are several ways to achieve this but explanations are lengthy.

It makes sense to extend the back of the garage bringing it flush with the external wall. However, you are likely to have to set the front back say 500mm to conform to planning rules.

The external fabric will need to match existing so building the extension out of brick - cavity - block is probably going to be the best option.

Whether you can achieve what you want by leaving the existing garage in place or demolishing and starting from scratch can be determined by a competent designer and will rest largely on the make-up of the foundations etc.

 

[martin33100]

Unless the existing garage walls and foundations are up to current cavity wall spec's then you are likely to have to consider the most sensible option.

There are several ways to achieve this but explanations are lengthy.

It makes sense to extend the back of the garage bringing it flush with the external wall. However, you are likely to have to set the front back say 500mm to conform to planning rules.

The external fabric will need to match existing so building the extension out of brick - cavity - block is probably going to be the best option.

Whether you can achieve what you want by leaving the existing garage in place or demolishing and starting from scratch can be determined by a competent designer and will rest largely on the make-up of the foundations etc.

Thank you very much for your reply, we are looking at all options as we have recently put our house on the market with the view to buy a 4 bed detached. The problem we have is we live at the end of a semi private cul de sac with woodland all round the house and all the 4 bed detached houses we have looked at within our budget (our house + 100k) are in a position not as disable as our house.
As I am a heating engineer and know people that do most of the other trades I was thinking of staying where we are and having a go at building on ours.

As to bringing the new building line at the front back 500mm, is that down to the local authority?, as we looked at a local exstended 3 bed that had built the 4th bedroom over the garage but kept the original roof line, ie it looked like it was built like that in the first place if you didn't know.

This is our house at the moment

 

[noseall]

Wow that place is crying out for an extension.

Get a local techie with good local knowledge to design you an extension.

 

[luisdesign]

Agreed!

Okay, you said that your house was only 15years old. Considering the age (and presuming you are not in a conservation area) you should double check your deeds in order to see if you have Permitted Development Rights or not. If you do then you will be able to do some extending of your home without needing Planning Permission. Your PD rights will generally give you more freedom to develop and you won't need to do things such as set-backs (ie; make the extension appear "subsidiary" to the house).

Once you know what rules you are allowed to play with you will be able to consider more carefully what you will be able to achieve.

you also say your property is timber framed (presumably with external brick facing from those pics). Is it fully timber framed or ground floor brickwork and first floor timber? Also, just to be clear is the frame doing all the structural work, or are the floors being carried on the brickwork?

Some things to think about is that is may be likely that you will need to end up pulling down the garage and building up from scratch - as i'd be quite surprised if the garage was constructed using timbers capable of supporting a whole entire floor (and roof above!). This is not necessarily a bad thing, as you may be able to go bigger anyway and starting fresh will give you more freedom.

given your budget for buying a new home (does this include the cost of actually moving - which I read recently was estimated at 20k!) I'd say that you'd be able to invest that into your house extension much better!

 

[martin33100]

Agreed!

Okay, you said that your house was only 15years old. Considering the age (and presuming you are not in a conservation area) you should double check your deeds in order to see if you have Permitted Development Rights or not. If you do then you will be able to do some extending of your home without needing Planning Permission. Your PD rights will generally give you more freedom to develop and you won't need to do things such as set-backs (ie; make the extension appear "subsidiary" to the house).

Once you know what rules you are allowed to play with you will be able to consider more carefully what you will be able to achieve.

you also say your property is timber framed (presumably with external brick facing from those pics). Is it fully timber framed or ground floor brickwork and first floor timber? Also, just to be clear is the frame doing all the structural work, or are the floors being carried on the brickwork?

Some things to think about is that is may be likely that you will need to end up pulling down the garage and building up from scratch - as i'd be quite surprised if the garage was constructed using timbers capable of supporting a whole entire floor (and roof above!). This is not necessarily a bad thing, as you may be able to go bigger anyway and starting fresh will give you more freedom.

given your budget for buying a new home (does this include the cost of actually moving - which I read recently was estimated at 20k!) I'd say that you'd be able to invest that into your house extension much better!

Hi and thanks for the reply. As for the timber frame our house is full timber up and down with just a single brick skin on the outside.
I have spoken to land registry and the builder has put on a restrictive covernant so I have to send in a form to see what this is.
Also will permitted development rights alow building over a garage? as a guy I know with a house under the same planning authority had to get planning to put the room over his garage. He was under the impression at the time P D rights was only alowed for single story work.

 

[luisdesign]

It may depend on when his done his extension - the PD rules changed about 5 years ago. The current rules allow a lot more freedom than previously.

Under the current rules you would be able to extend over the existing garage. However, you will need to see the content of the restrictive covenant - as you may be forced to apply for planning permission anyway.

 

[martin33100]

It may depend on when his done his extension - the PD rules changed about 5 years ago. The current rules allow a lot more freedom than previously.

Under the current rules you would be able to extend over the existing garage. However, you will need to see the content of the restrictive covenant - as you may be forced to apply for planning permission anyway.

I now have the info from Land Registry and covenant No 2 sais:- That no building or other structure whatsoever without the consent in writing of the Company be erected or constructed upon any garage comprised in the property which adjoins the dwelling comprised therein.