Remodelling

Simon_Essex

I am new to the forum as a contributor, but have read from time to time, I am currently looking at moving house (up sizing) I have found a house that meets most of my criteria, but I would want to remodel the downstairs, (add walls and remove walls) I wondered how others had dealt with this as it's a bit of a move to the unknown,. If it's not possible once ee have moved in the house would not be anywhere near as desirable. At this stage we have set aside 30,000-50,000 to knock down 2 walls build 1 new wall and door way. And get a completely new kitchen. Are we living in fantasy land. I really would love it if people had some stories that could help calm my nerves.

Davesnave

Your plan looks reasonable, but it really hangs on the mechanics of the wall relocation and removal.

With our bungalow, we knew that at one stage in its construction, the outer walls and roof formed the entirety, so all other walls were optional. This made it easy to re-jig the interior, and we moved or removed 6 walls to use the space better.

With a house, there's usually the matter of support, so steels may be required to carry loads that were formerly supported by walls that are removed/relocated. Steel beams themselves are cheap, but clearly, the more complex the structure needed, the greater the cost.

We can't see the house in question, so we cannot price the work, but a structural engineer could advise you in this regard.

If you allow £20k for a good-sized mid-range kitchen, any saving on that will be a bonus.We did ours for £15k. It would be possible to spend far more than that, but not necessarily sensible.

Bossypants

Sounds doable to me. As Dave says, the mechanics will depend on the construction of the house, but in general any wall is moveable, some just require more replacement support than others. When I did a full remodel of my house 5 years ago, it was the decorating costs which caught me out. The moving around of walls was actually less expensive than I was expecting.

phoebe1989seb

I'd agree that it sounds doable. This year in our new house we took down two load bearing walls (between living and dining rooms) and moved the kitchen into the new much larger space, relocating the living room into the former kitchen.

Total spend including in-frame kitchen, high-end range cooker and integrated dishwasher (but no other appliances as we already had these) and electrical/plumbing work was around £20k - of which the complete kitchen was just over £15k -although we've DIYed a big chunk of the work.

That's in a 400 year old two-storey, stone property, btw.

G_M

Are you getting a survey done? If so, speak to the surveyor beforehand, tell him your plans, an ask him to report specifically on the wallsin question.


If hesays he just followsa standard process/ticklist and you'll geta standard report, either pay him for additional feedbackor find another surveyor who will focus his report where you want.


it'spointless him spending time looking at the kitchen and then telling you it's dated, when that time could be spend assessing if specific walls are load-bearing.


Eventually you'll need a stuctural engineer to work out exactly how much weight the walls are supporting and what strength of extra support is needed, but a good surveyor can give you a good heads-up.

Simon_Essex

Thank you all for your replies. It had given me some thoughts on where to go next.