Hi All,
It's a tough question I know but what would be a ballpark figure to add a second storey to the following
1950's bungalow currently has a slate pitched roof 40'wide by 27' deep Located in Bolton, (North west)I'm just looking for a ballpark figure, i.e. 20k? 50k? 100k? 150k?!
Depending on this cost we may/maynot buy the house. There may be other option such as adding a dorma but a 2nd storey would be the way to go, it sit in a row of large houses so planning SHOULD be ok (!)
Cheers Steve
Do you have proof the foundations/walls were designed for a second story to be added later? If not this will be a major issue ........
Rick
And will this tower above your prospective new neighbours and be a blot on the landscape - like my neighbour is about to do? And I suppose you will tell the neighbours its a single room to house granny or something to get their sympathy will you?
What is it with you people? If you want a bloody house then buy one .... OK OK I know, its cheaper to buy a bungalow and make dosh putting an extension on it, spoil everone elses location and then move on making a killing on the housing market.
Whatever happened to buying a HOME not a money making venture?
< a bit p*ssed off neighbour>
I've seen two similar bungalows in Trafford knocked down and rebuilt as houses, so I guess the cost as pretty similar
I think you need to speak to your neighbour NOT have a go at me without knowing the circumstances. As it happens the bungalow is the only single storey residence in a street of very large 2/3 storey houses and IT'S the blot on the landscape.
Yeah I was wondering if demolition/rebuild would be cheaper. It seems a shame though as the original accrington brick house is quite pretty, though very small. I could do with a professional to take a look at it before we proceed with any offers. This will probably cost an arm and a leg though (OK, not much compared to buying a house that we can't extend)
Cheers Steve
My guess would be that the foundations are probably not up to modern requirements for a second story. My house had a single storey extension added about 25 years ago, with foundations designed to take a second storey, if required. When I extended my detached garage a few years ago, the foundations required for that were twice as deep as I have on the house extension.
Colin Bignell
(1) Go talk to a local builder - they are more likely to know what building costs are in your area. They may also have some idea of how solid the foundations are in that age of house, though you should have a surveyor dig a trial pit alongside the foundations if you are really serious. This is, after all, what the BCO will require before granting planning permission.
(2) A friend built his bungalow up to 2 storeys, and did a very nice job of it too. He suspended the second storey on a framework of I-beams so it placed no load on the existing walls - apparently better than trying to upgrade the foundations (presumably you would have to go all round the house digging out the existing fundations and underpinning before you could build upwards). Looking at the house you would never guess it started life as a bungalow.
HTH Dave R
Steve, have been looking at costs to extend/renovate a potential purchase ourselves and have been quoted a "ball park" figure of £90 per sq.ft. down in the SouthEast. Agreed you'll have different issues but hope this at least will help your decision.
On Sat, 8 May 2004 13:57:26 +0100, a particular chimpanzee named "David W.E. Roberts" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:
Planning Permission is separate from Building Control. Planning Permission wouldn't be contingent on the foundations being adequate.
Yep - guess I missed out a stage. If you got planning permission then the BCO would inspect the foundations to ensure that they were adequate when you started the build process. The point is still valid, though - at some point there will be a BCO inspecting the foundations. If they are not adequate then this will have to be fixed. Realistically this should happen when the plans are being drawn up - you can't plan or get proper quotes if you don't know if the foundations are adequate.
So you should really have this checked out before you commit to buying the property, unless you are happy to price on a 'worst case' scenario which includes underpinning and/or other work as required to provide adequate foundations.
Cheers Dave R
P.S. presumably then if you submit plans for a second storey and then find the existing structure isn't adequate to support the second storey, you may have to go back to the planning office to change the proposal if you decide to do anything other than underpin the existing foundations. Seems the long wrong way to do things.
Depending on foundations, which most certainly will not be adequate (building don't dig one extra inch), it is probably worth demolishing the bungalow and building a new house. Even if the foundations were adequate, the cost difference may not be that great. Also the old 1950s structure would not an ounce of insulation in it making it expensive to heat. The new house can then be to your own design and much more comfortable to live in. You could go for an eco design for not much extra, if at all. There are numerous timber frame companies about that will provide very good houses to your own spec.
Also you don't pay VAT on a new build.
"IMM" wrote | > Depending on foundations, which most certainly will not be adequate | > (building don't dig one extra inch), it is probably worth demolishing the | > bungalow and building a new house. Even if the foundations were adequate, | > the cost difference may not be that great.
And if digging down for new foundations, may be possible to put a basement in.
| Also you don't pay VAT on a new build.
At the moment, but there have been rumblings about that ...
Owain
Thanks for your advice, the zero vat bit is especially intersting.
Thanks for the info, all good stuff. We've actually had our offer accepted on this property so we'll have to look at all possible ways we can extend the place. I like the idea of putting in I-Beams but the logical plans seems to be to get a builders opinion then maybe dig down into the foundations and see how good/bad they are, no point using IBeams if the structure will support the extra weight. The bungalow is probably 1940's (ish). If we can avoid it we wouldn't want to demolish the building.
Thanks again, I'll no doubt be back with more news/advice soon!
Steve
And that is what matters.
40 foot x 27 foot. A 3 bedroom house. You can have one buillt using timber frame for 80K inc two bathrooms and all fitted out.
Sounds the complicated difficult way. It probably would be better demolishing. In 99% of cases it is.
I would not be surprised if the foundations were not up to standard but that is not necessarily the whole story for BCO's. In this area of Cheshire, sometime around 1960 ( I do not know exactly when) it became a requirement that the foundations for single storey parts of larger houses (and probably for bungalows) had to be adequate to take a second storey . In 1964 I bought a new house and about 1972 decided to build extra bedrooms on top of the garage and single storey half of the kitchen. Being a suspicious character, I borrowed a sledge hammer and dug a hole in a concrete path and examined the foundations of the single storey section of the house.which were about a metre down in sand. I found that the walls of the trench had partially collapsed before the concrete for the footings was poured and the latter had a triangular section instead of rectangular. The council whose BCO came to discuss the permissible extension design was the council which had been responsible for supervising construction! The officer involved in my discussions suddenly became very interested in lightweight extensions after being dead against them before he looked in my holes. The long and the short of it was that I had the foundations improved and built a conventional brick extension. Finally, in this area I think there is a blanket ban on demolition of a small house and rebuilding as a larger house. Check with your council. How much you can leave behind and then build on a large extension is another, and often contentious, matter!
I believe this to be the case in Bolton, particularly in this are of Bolton where a lot of old houses have been demolished to make way for larger houses/flats,
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