Extension. Your advice please

[t_allington]

Hi,
I have been a forum lurker for a while, and hae decided to register today, to get some advice.
I have recently moved in to a 3 bed terrace house. Think your traditional 1930-1960's 3 bed house.... 2 living rooms (one at the front, one at the back - these have been knocked through to make 1 big room in ours), a tiny kitchen, and upstairs 2 bedrooms at the front (1 box room with enough room to swing a mouse), and a back bedroom with a bathroom upove the kitchen. I imagine that 60% of the UK population live in a house this style.... this is just to set the scene!

The problem is that our kitchen is 8' by 7'. I have a number of ideas for it, and would love some advice.

1) Extend out the back by 10' by 6'. We only have a 42' garden and a dog, so this would take a lot of it away. Also, due to neighbours tall trees at the back, we only have sun down the 'house end' of the garden. It would however allow me to have a downstairs loo (by converting half the existing kitchen, which joins the waste pipe quite conveniently. The other half of the existing kitchen would then be a utility / dining room (don't worry there would be seperate doors from the hallway! My mortgage company have offered me £22k. Am I unrealistic

2) Put the wall back up between the 2 living rooms and then knock through from the exising kitchen. This option would be cheaper, but I woud have a large kitchen / diner at the back, and a smaller living room at the front.

3) I prefer living rooms backing onto the garden. Is it feasible to put a wall up in the existing living room, and convert the front of the living room to the kitchen (there is no waste or water connection though), and then have a living room across the back of the house?

Please bear in mind that my house was previously owned by an elderly lady and therefore is in desperate need of decoration, so any disruption to the exising decor is not a problem!

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[markf]

Prices vary from place to place depending on where you are in the country, the location of the extension to the rest of the house, access issues, materials to be used, etc.

To give you and idea, the cheapest price I could getto build a ground floor extension to the side of me house measuring 20ft x 8ft was £21K. This included all materials and all work from initial excavations (through concrete) and waste removal to final finish ready for painting. However, plumbing and electrical work was not included.

Bear in mind all the decorating costs mount up - not just the big stuff like a new kitchen - it's the small incedentals.

Councils tend not to like extensions going beyond the natural back or front walls of the house, although I shouldn't imagine the size you are specifying would be an issue.

Placing a kitchen at the front and needing to route waste to the drains at teh rear of the house is possible, but polanning permission may be difficult and cost could be prohibitive.

Hope this helps.