Steps to take pre-offer; want to knock walls down etc.

Pepperoni

Hi,

Be gentle please! Completely out of my comfort zone on this one.

We love a house but would only buy it based on being able to make a few adjustments to it;

1) Knocking a wall, which seems to be load bearing, down (to make two rooms into one).

2) Building a one storey extension above existing garage.

What should we do to find out if the above is feasible? Take a builder to view the property with us? A structural survey? Something else?

Thank you very much in advance. I appreciate this probably seems like a dumb question and apologies for that...!

kilby_007

I'm not a builder, but these might be some pointers to check out:-
1) Is it a listed building? If so you might need planning permission to knock out internal walls.
2) How old is the building? Old buildings can be a bit precarious when it comes to knocking out load bearing walls. New builds are much easier.
3) Does the supporting wall just run along the ground floor? In our new build, there were 2 internal supporting walls which held the upstairs joists in position - above the joists the walls were just stud walls and knocking out one of the ground floor supporting walls was a doddle for our builder.
4) Is the garage integral? And is it double skin? (e.g. breeze block internally / brick externally). If so, it's likely that you can build on top of it, but there are obviously other factors to consider (e.g. foundations, damp proofing, insulation) so yes getting a builder or someone with experience in garage conversions to take a look with you might be worth while.

Cakeguts

You need to look to see if the garage is built onto the boundary. If it is you would not be allowed to build an extension up to the boundary.

Pepperoni

Cakeguts wrote: »

You need to look to see if the garage is built onto the boundary. If it is you would not be allowed to build an extension up to the boundary.

Forgive me but how would I be able to find this out? Thanks.

Pepperoni

kilby_007 wrote: »

I'm not a builder, but these might be some pointers to check out:-
1) Is it a listed building? If so you might need planning permission to knock out internal walls.
2) How old is the building? Old buildings can be a bit precarious when it comes to knocking out load bearing walls. New builds are much easier.
3) Does the supporting wall just run along the ground floor? In our new build, there were 2 internal supporting walls which held the upstairs joists in position - above the joists the walls were just stud walls and knocking out one of those supporting walls was a doddle for our builder.
4) Is the garage integral? And is it double skin? (e.g. breeze block internally / brick externally). If so, it's likely that you can build on top of it, but there are obviously other factors to consider (e.g. foundations, damp proofing, insulation) so yes getting a builder or someone with experience in garage conversions to take a look with you might be worth while.

Thanks. It's not listed so OK there but it is an old house and the wall we wish to knock down runs along the bottom and first floor, it's on the outside of the house (if that makes sense). Thanks re garage info.

exiled_red

Another thing to consider is if the garage foundations are strong enough to take a 2 storey extension, obviously you need stonger foundations for a two storey extension compared to just a garage. And if the garage is an extension I would imagine that it is unlikely the owners who had it built paid the extra for stronger foundations unless they were already thinking of building above the garage at some point in future.

A friend of ours wanted to do something similar and ended up having to demolish the garage, have new foundations and build again from scratch.

robatwork

1) Ask the vendor if they'd mind you viewing again with a builder, with a view to changing the property layout.

2) Take a builder (or even structural engineer) and get him to quote

This has nothing to do with the survey, which you should get done anyway later, should the quote not be out of your budget.

AdrianC

You can apply for PP - or get whatever pre-application advice your local authority offers - before purchase, and you can make any offer dependent on the results of any application.

Of course, the vendor may well accept another offer before any application is decided.

Structural work is always technically possible - it's just a question of the amount of money you need to prop it all up with.

Cakeguts

Pepperoni wrote: »

Forgive me but how would I be able to find this out? Thanks.

You need to look to see where the outside wall of the garage lines up with the fence. If the fence line is along the outside wall then the garage is built up to the boundary. If not there will be a gap.

eddddy

An opinion/quote from a builder would be helpful for you, but you would be saying to the builder:

There's a house I might make an offer on
... and the offer might be accepted,
... and the sale might complete in 3 to 6 months time (or never),
... and then I might pick you to do you the job.


A lot of the more experienced builders will have learnt from experience that it's not a good use of their time to quote in situations like this - where there's a low probability of getting the job, and it would be a long time in the future. But I guess there's no harm asking.

jimbog

Have any of the neighbours built on top of their garages? Look on streetview
Search the planning applications for the street at the local council website to see if anyone has applied for planning permission and look at the drawings that were submitted
Visit the planning office with a photo and get their informal view of whether there would be any likelihood of permission being given
Walk down the road and see if similar houses have now knocked through one room into another