Would this house layout be considered very unusual?

ijrwe

I'm wrestling with various extension plans to turn my 2-bed into a 4-bed, and am trying to keep an eye on resale potential.

Due to issues with the stair layout (I'll lose a good bit of an existing bedroom to create a landing) I may go with single-storey only but it could lead to a very strange room distribution:

Existing
Downstairs
> Kitchen
> Large bathroom (shower-bath, etc)
> Sitting/dining room

Upstairs
> Two bedrooms

Proposed
Downstairs
> Kitchen
> Large bathroom (shower-bath, etc)
> Sitting/dining room
> Two bedrooms, one with small ensuite
> Utility room

Upstairs
> Two bedrooms


So almost like a bungalow with two attic rooms, in effect (though the existing upstairs rooms are of a good size)


This would give me as much new floor space as any of my other layout ideas but it wouldn't look as big from the outside, not nearly as imposing as an obvious full two-storey side extension. Do you think the proposed room distribution described above would be seen as quite unusual and undesirable?


Alternatives:

Proposed
Downstairs
> Kitchen
> Large bathroom (shower-bath, etc)
> Sitting/dining room
> Two bedrooms
> Utility room

Upstairs
> Two bedrooms, one with small ensuite.


Proposed (this coming from a two-storey extension)
Downstairs
> Kitchen
> Large bathroom (shower-bath, etc)
> Sitting/dining room
> One bedroom
> Utility room

Upstairs
> Three bedrooms, one with en suite (or as separate small bathroom)

GwylimT

I would want at least a toilet and sink upstairs.

p00hsticks

ijrwe wrote: »

Proposed
Downstairs
> Kitchen
> Large bathroom (shower-bath, etc)
> Sitting/dining room
> Two bedrooms, one with small ensuite
> Utility room

Upstairs
> Two bedrooms

To me, that layout is probably still a two bedroom house, but now with a lounge, separate dining room and study/ possible third bedroom downstairs.

Is the existing sitting/dining room massive ? If not I'd expect to see more than one reception room in a four bedroom house.

I know a room can really be whatever you want it to be but I think it will always be a struggle to get an estate agent to describe such a layout as four bedroomed or the viewing public to accept it as such.

ijrwe

p00hsticks wrote: »

To me, that layout is probably still a two bedroom house, but now with a lounge, separate dining room and study/ possible third bedroom downstairs.

Is the existing sitting/dining room massive ? If not I'd expect to see more than one reception room in a four bedroom house.

I know a room can really be whatever you want it to be but I think it will always be a struggle to get an estate agent to describe such a layout as four bedroomed or the viewing public to accept it as such.

True, downstairs rooms will be hard to pass off as "bedrooms". I could let them as bedrooms to lodgers (many houses around here have a downstairs room in use as a bedroom, lots of student houses) but yes when it comes to sale then maybe not.

The existing sitting/dining room is more than 20sqm, which is pretty big for this house. In fact it's the entire original footprint of the house, apart from the stairs.

The bedrooms are/will be all 10-12sqm each.

Katgrit

Had a friend who did something similar years ago but when circumstances changed and time came to move on they just couldn't sell it. Problem? No one wanted to buy a big house in an area of generally much smaller houses. Anyone being able to afford the bigger house wanted to buy on an estate of similar sized bigger houses.....I guess people didn't want to be surrounded by people who couldn't afford similar lifestyles. People who DID bid, just viewed it as a tarted up smaller house and hence bids were nowhere near what they wanted. In making their house so radically improved on the original they'd made it unsellable. 25 years on and they still live there.

getmore4less

I think you need to clearly define living space from bedroom space.

upstairs is the easy way, in bungalows/downstairs you want a divide as well.

Probably a good ideas to consider making at least one of the downstairs bedroom access friendly with facilities, opens up the mobility impaired and granny annex potential.

The other option if student area is to plan to make it that type of property with max letting potential and build in all the HMO requirements during the build just in case.

frugalsmurf

Just a thought but is it worth your investment?
Personally when I've looked at houses with "bedrooms" downstairs I've ignored them, or seen the rooms as extra living area as I wouldn't want children on a different level to parents (unless adult children, and we aren't there yet!)
Do you need the room?
Have others locally extended ?
Can you look on rightmove /zoopla to look for ideas.?
If they haven't, would that make yours hard to sell ?

AnotherJoe

There's a lot that would make me question the whole idea of extending this. In particular the large bathroom downstairs. Unless you aim for a disabled / granny friendly set up, none of the layouts would appeal to me and my initial thought would be sell up and use the extension money to either buy a better place or one that more naturally can be extended to a more onventional layout.

Doozergirl

There's nothing that can't be solved.

The unusual propsed ground floor layout is not a good result from the smaller problem of stairs. The layout will affect the value.

You need professional advice to design the stairs in the best way. Having three bedrooms would be more desirable than many rooms downstairs. Unless it is obviously a bungalow, it will not be popular.

There are potential issues with light with large, one storey spaces.

The smallest problem to deal with is the stairs. Deal with that, get a conventional layout.

ijrwe

Had a friend who did something similar years ago but when circumstances changed and time came to move on they just couldn't sell it. Problem? No one wanted to buy a big house in an area of generally much smaller houses. Anyone being able to afford the bigger house wanted to buy on an estate of similar sized bigger houses.....I guess people didn't want to be surrounded by people who couldn't afford similar lifestyles. People who DID bid, just viewed it as a tarted up smaller house and hence bids were nowhere near what they wanted. In making their house so radically improved on the original they'd made it unsellable. 25 years on and they still live there.

Ah, in this case my two-bed is the unusual one and most in the area are three or four. From my drive I can count seven four-beds and ten three-beds, and one other two-bed. Good point to make but, hopefully, here that's not a problem.

frugalsmurf wrote: »

Just a thought but is it worth your investment?
Personally when I've looked at houses with "bedrooms" downstairs I've ignored them, or seen the rooms as extra living area as I wouldn't want children on a different level to parents (unless adult children, and we aren't there yet!)
Do you need the room?
Have others locally extended ?
Can you look on rightmove /zoopla to look for ideas.?
If they haven't, would that make yours hard to sell ?

I want the room, to let to lodgers - which is the idea for now. So no immediate sale is needed but "one day" it will have to go, of course.

There aren't any examples of my type of house being extended locally, no - I'm an end-of-terrace and all the mid-terraces in each little row are three beds and arranged differently. But I'm on a corner plot with a huge amount of space to the side and back, so I can do something with it, at least.

Doozergirl wrote: »

There's nothing that can't be solved.

The unusual propsed ground floor layout is not a good result from the smaller problem of stairs. The layout will affect the value.

You need professional advice to design the stairs in the best way. Having three bedrooms would be more desirable than many rooms downstairs. Unless it is obviously a bungalow, it will not be popular.

There are potential issues with light with large, one storey spaces.

The smallest problem to deal with is the stairs. Deal with that, get a conventional layout.

I'll have a think about it - the easiest way to deal with the stairs would be to replace the staircase altogether but I run into some problems with building regulations then. The simplest way is to cut off part of the existing back bedroom but if I can avoid it that will be great, every bit of extra wall I have to knock through, every light switch that needs moving - all adds to the problem.

If you're interested, the problem is that I currently have a left-turning kite winder at the top of the stairs. I need that kite winder to also turn right somehow (through the wall and into the new rooms)... and there isn't enough height on the whole staircase to replace it with a square or anything.

AnotherJoe wrote: »

There's a lot that would make me question the whole idea of extending this. In particular the large bathroom downstairs. Unless you aim for a disabled / granny friendly set up, none of the layouts would appeal to me and my initial thought would be sell up and use the extension money to either buy a better place or one that more naturally can be extended to a more onventional layout.

Aye, I've looked into it but on my current salary (which is only just five figures...) I think I'd struggle with that

Basically, I'd get about 125k for the house as it is. I could add 50 or 60k to that and, assuming they let me keep my current mortgage amount, then end up with say 180k to buy a new place.

And, in the cheaper parts of my region, that gets me a smallish "four"-bed (i.e. three and an extra reception room) house anyway... so it ends up about the same!

Waterlily24

It really surprises me that downstairs bedrooms are a no, no. We converted our small 3 bed bungalow into a 4 bed chalet bungalow, with a downstairs extension. The main bedroom with en suite bathroom is downstairs. All the rooms are large including the 3 bedrooms upstairs.