Closing an open porch

[katie0183]

Hiya all,

We currently have an open porch on our property with the front door set back. What we want to do is box in the porch and make the porch into the front door. This is so that the space we have can be made into a downstair toilet and bigger hallway. I wanted to know how to go about this... we've had a few quotes and this is far out of our budget so have decided if its possible to do it ourselves. There is an existing wall that goes half way along the open porch at the moment that we will remove. Would it be ok to use breeze blocks to block up this whole porch? Also I know we need foundations is 3 ft enough? We cant use existing brickwork there as its bloody crappy old paving slabs that the council has used to build it in hence why were removing the exisiting and making it all breezeblock. Also how do we join it to the exisitng walls?

Thanks!!

Katie

 

[noseall]

You would treat this new space as any other extension, i.e. building reg's required.

This means anything you do will need to conform to current regulations and will require inspection.

For example, does the porch jut out from the main building, i.e. does it have its own roof?

Likewise with any masonry, it is likely any new walls will require foundations particularly if the walls are supporting a roof.

So, all the work will need to conform to structural, thermal, electrical regulations and will cost in the region of £1000 per square metre.

 

[ajrobb]

It sounds like the front door is currently set back in an alcove and you want to move out to the line of the surrounding walls (i.e. no porch roof). I assume that you won't be keeping the existing front door.

As noseall says, if the old porch becomes living space then it comes under building regs. (If you left the old front door and kept the enclosed porch unheated you could get away with less.) If you want to DIY then consider getting plans drawn up by an SE. These should satisfy your local authority building control. Perhaps use a FENSA installer for the new exterior windows/doors.

Electrics in a new lavatory will come under Part P. This means that the work must be done by a sparks or inspected on behalf of the LABC.