Extending the house - keep or lose the garage?

sweaty_betty

Seriously, I think I'm going to do some measuring to see how much space we actually have for the various options for garage, drive-parking etc.:)

Tippytoes

Maybe spare a thought for near neighbours who will be affected by your plans. My next door neighbour is about to build an extension which is going to look awful - from our side.

Hasn't promoted good harmony - in fact, I'm past the anger stage and hell bent on getting even.

Avoid bad feelings if you can...you may have to live with it for a long time.

whowants2brich

One dilemma we have is the access from the front of the house to the back of the house. If you extend and build a garage/kitchen then you'll lose the drive. If you do that, would you lose the ability to walk from the front of the house to the back of the house without going through the property?

If you have eg a lawn, rubbish, grass cuttings, or anything else (including taking big things through to the garden, such as a fence repair) then you'd have to go through the house or living area - which for some things is far from ideal.

PS our home's previous owners built a garage and extended the tiny kitchen into a L-shape, just as the OP explained. The kitchen is lovely, integrated garage is used as a kitchen extension - freezer, cans/jars etc - and has a tiny bit of tiled area in the kitchen to cross over from garden straight into garage. My in-laws want us to convert the garage to a playroom, but with the posts above, it's a big dilemma.

Good luck in making the decision!