Raising ceiling height in a pre existing small extension

Azalia · 25 January 2020 at 12:00PM

Good morning. I am after some advice and would really appreciate it if anyone could share their experiences or knowledge.

After a long search, we have found a house than could be our dream dream home. It is a 1950s detached house. At some point, a small extension was added to the left hand side of the house. It measures 2.4m x 3.7m. This extension currently houses a study on the ground floor which is accessed by double doors from the living room and a 4th bedroom upstairs. There is a single garage to the left of the extension.

The one thing that I really would like to do to the house is have a front door and a hall way where the current study is. The front door is currently to the side of the house. However, the ceiling height in the study is lower than in the living room. I am waiting to hear back from the vendors about the current height but I think it is about 20cm lower.

Does anyone know if it would ever be an option to raise the ceiling height in the study to make space for a hallway? We would not need to add a staircase as this is already is place...the dream is an L shaped hallway with the stairs being tucked round the corner from the front door. The ceiling height in that part would be fine as it is part of the original house. We would also need to raise the ceiling height in the 4th bedroom upstairs. I would not mind it being slightly sloped if that was needed due to the existing roof. I think we would be looking at an extra 20cm on each floor.

Is this doable? As I said, the bit we want to remodel is a small extension added later so I don’t think the floorboards would be need to altered anywhere else in the house.

And, if it is doable, is it a hugely expensive task? Even vague figures would be helpful here...would we be looking at 10k or 70k?

Just to reassure people, we have an appointment with an architect who is coming to see the house with us. However, I just thought I would ask here so I can prepare myself a little for what we might be told.

Thank you so much to anyone who can offer me any advice.

TELLIT01 · 25 January 2020 at 12:41PM

If there is a room above, it will be a major project as raising the floor 20cm will probably mean that the access door to the room above will have to be raised too. If it's a single storey extension it will be necessary to remove the roof, raise the walls and then replace the roof. Not cheap.