Floor plan Dilemma on extending ground floor
This is a three bed semi detached .. the ground floor lacks dining area , can anyone kindly advice how to change this plan with a budget conscious extension to add more space and value to propery, my goal would have closed off reception room which can be used as gues bedroom if required and have an open plan with kitchen and dining.. the house is in zone 6 of london .. thanks
Comments (18)
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Extending a ground floor split level flat 2 stories
Comments (3)Hi Sarah I would advise that an extension to a flat needs planning permission in addition to getting Freeholders consent. The Planning portal states that: "To add an extension to your flat you must apply for planning permission." Wandsworth Council does have a duty planner service however if you feel the advice is not clear and they only point you to policy documents they do also have a paid for pre-application service which is £135 for a householder. You need to submit proper drawings for the pre-app as if you were for planning to get the best out of this service. Freeholder's consent usually requires planning permission & building control approval to be obtained and then submitted to the Freeholder but it wouldn't hurt to get the Freeholder's agreement in principal to an extension before embarking on planning. if you haven't already. I hope this helps, good luck with your project. Marienne...See MoreGround floor dilemma - Open plan or not?
Comments (11)Thanks for your feedback. It’s good to hear from someone with a similar setup. Yes most time is spent in the lounge as it’s near the garden and is the nicest of all the rooms. The current dining room can be a bit shut away and get quite cold. If we were to change it and move the lounge to the front we know this would still be an issue but we would plan on making is cosier with furnishings. There is also an external chimney breast we would reinstate to be able to install a fire. Which as a lounge we would use, but as a dining room not so much. Yes there is a room above unfortunately but we would have two side windows facing west and the large patio doors facing south. Usually once we get to mid morning the sun fills the current lounge and kitchen through most of the day and evening, which is almost too much in the summer! But I guess in the winter that won’t necessarily be the case. Something worth thinking about I guess before deciding....See MoreGround floor plan dilemma
Comments (8)option 2 for me! I would partition off the sitting room but with double doors (pocket maybe) to allow it to be open when you want. I also wouldn’t want to have to walk all the way through sitting and dining rooms to come into the kitchen every time, you want easy kitchen access from your front door and from upstairs. It’s true however that the kitchen space is quite limited in option 2 especially with the utility door there too. Would you consider putting the kitchen on the opposite side instead? A wall run and parallel island would work well there. And then have the dining table in the “kitchen” area? Appreciate that may be difficult if plumbing is already in place though. Alternatively, you might be able to make the under stairs space part of your kitchen (create a pantry in there?) to give yourselves more kitchen space. The utility room doors look likely to cause issues as drawn. I would change all the doors to open the opposite way from currently shown, if you can (so the garden door opens into the garden, not the utility; the door from kitchen opens into the utility not into the kitchen; and the door to the garage opens into the garage, if that works with a car in there). I would also consider whether you really need the door from garage to utility - you won’t be able to fit a lot in there with 3 doorways....See MoreGround-floor planning advice for 1930 semi extension/open-plan
Comments (13)Just on the chimney point. We knocked through between our kitchen and small sitting room. We needed a structural engineer to specify the steel. as part of the work they took out a similar chimney and supported the chimney higher up with a diagonal steel. the whole job was £15k and the diagonal steel wasnt itemised but we had the wall taken out, new plaster throughout, lights, new floor, radiators etc included. so i guess a couple of thousand pounds for the chimney removal to first floor....See More- 5 months ago
PRO5 months agoHi,
there are quite a few options, but one option could be a side extension, with a sloped roof and skylights. or even a window that would be south-facing, but neighbours might object or you might object due to privacy, so skylights/roof windows would be a safer optionIf you wanted you could reconfigure the stairs a bit as well, and get more of an entrance with storage, ( place to hang coats ext.. which would also give you an option to open up to the living room. As of now, you have to walk all the way around. I think this would give you better flow throughout the ground floor.
You could also have a small island in the kitchen with counter seating, and a dining area with an L-shaped bench seating.
Let me know what you think.
The extended area is relatively small ( under 6m2) which does affect cost, but opening that whole external wall will require a large RSJ that is quite long, so that would be one of the bigger expenses.
To get any costing, I advise getting quotes from the builders.
Let me know what you think, and best of luck with your project.
HU-18857958 thanked Piur & Co interior design
5 months agoSome fun with your floorplan :)
At the bottom two versions of the ground floor. One with only a staircase extension, the other with roughly 4m full width added. By moving the staircase you'd create a traffic line, which allows the front of the kitchen to be used as small dining area. Reducing the downstairs shower room to wc creates room for coats and shoes. The L-shaped wall seems loadbearing so i left that in.
Then above them is your first floor, where a bedroom was sacrificed to make a family bathroom. I removed the small 'toilet extension' as the staircase went up there anyway (and the tiny flat roof right next to the sloped roof looked off, imho).
The second floor dormer was replaced for a significantly larger one, it's window lining up wth the new staircase wall. And by opening up half of the gable, the dormer 'cuts into' the storage space, allowing for a small ensuite. (Hope my explanation of this makes sense.)
HU-18857958 thanked rinked- 5 months ago
Without extending, in case of low budget, there still is a way to make a dining area. I would suggest adding a porch, so you have some buffer before stepping into the kitchen and hang your coat, leave your wet shoes, etc.
However i do think a house this size 'deserves' a proper hallway eventually. So when your kitchen needs replacement and you have saved up enough to do a makeover, you might turn the front part of the kitchen into a hallway, move the front door over a bit, add a wc there. And then move the kitchen towards the rear extension.
HU-18857958 thanked rinked - 5 months ago
And i'm not a structural engineer, so please do get a report from one to find out which walls are structural and thus require an rsj when you want to open them up. This will massively help plan ahead. Here's my estimated guess, shown in blue:
HU-18857958 thanked rinked - PRO5 months ago
5 months ago- 5 months ago
I used rinked‘s photo here (because i cant seem to reply) i will try to use this plan and just open the living room and close kitchen and try to fit units in the hallway/kitchen 😀 if we decide against extending as 50 k would be an absolute budget if we do it which is why im not sure about doing it now but im saving all ideas for now 😀 i will ofcourse discuss with a builder that will take up such projects .. thanks all
- 5 months ago
Extension example, long term planning. Added 3.5m to the rear left, in the darkest corner i put wc and utility. Added 3m to the right hand side of the house, all the way up, basically elongating the existing hip.
Moved front door (hallway with internal window) and replaced staircase, opened up the whole ground floor. First floor now has two double bedrooms, one single and a family bathroom. Second floor has the existing small bedroom, a showerroom and a storage/spare with rooflight (or make it gable instead of hip roof and add a north facing window).
- 5 months ago
Made it 3.5m and had fun with the layout. Sorry, as it's obviously not a realistic idea with a 50k budget.
- 5 months ago
- 5 months ago
So let´s assume you could add 1.5m (+/- 1.2m internal) to the rear, without fancy finishings, this could possibly be achieved:
And if you'd opt for a single storey extension, the downstairs bathroom would just be a wc, but at least you'd gain extra space for a dining by removing part of the showerroom (vertical dotted line). I would suggest making the foundation suitable for an eventual storey on top, just in case.
- 5 months ago
Or leave everything inside as is for now and build an orangerie on a foundation suitable for that double storey?
And i will stop spamming now :)
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