Floor plan advice

Stubabuba

We will do. We've got an architect lined up for when this lockdown is all over, the proposed plan above will give us something to run past him at least.

RelievedSheff

Mistral001 said:

I would try to find out what was the original layout.  Are there any similar houses in the area?  Reinstating walls will usually cost a lot less than knocking down walls especially if they are structural walls. 

This six bedroom house is probably worth quite a bit of money, so it is probably worth getting some professional help from an architect or good architectural technician who has done dozens of projects like this before.  

It looks very much like this house has been heavily extended in it's past. The rooms are a jumble and don't flow properly and the upstairs has too many bedrooms for the footprint and not enough bathrooms. I don't think it will be a cheap or easy fix to sort out the layout into something that works properly.

RelievedSheff

DOH.a said:

Food for thought?

I think that is a good start to a solution.

To my mind you would also remove the wall between the family room and study and have that larger room as the living room with bi fold doors onto the garden and turn the current lounge in its smaller format into the study.

Stubabuba

RelievedSheff said:

DOH.a said:

Food for thought?

I think that is a good start to a solution.

To my mind you would also remove the wall between the family room and study and have that larger room as the living room with bi fold doors onto the garden and turn the current lounge in its smaller format into the study.

There is a double story extension to the side and a single story extension to the rear. The layout upstairs works fine for us and the 2 bathrooms are sufficient. However I agree the layout is a bit of a jumble. 

The family room and study are currently a toy room and 2nd lounge to watch TV / play xbox etc so we plan to keep those as is. The real issue we have is no hall and wasted space in middle of the home. 

DOH_a

In doing what I had suggested will definitely not be a waste of money.

The corridor is needed because at present, the Living area cannot be used as a private space. At present, approx. 1m of the Living area is already taken up with people getting to the rear of the house from the Hall. So if you were to form a corridor and reduce the width of the Living area by 1m, you haven't really lost any "usable" space, so is really a no brainer.

The way the rear extension has been designed is literally that... an extension and there is no flow. Because the original rear wall has been retained, the room is a separate area which has therefore resulted in the Dining area being more like a corridor than an entertaining space. The design and use of the extension may have worked at the time the people built it but in today's world, the majority do want open plan spaces. When we are looking at putting on rear extensions, it's very rare to not break through and join rooms together in order to create this open plan and entertaining space. The wall does have to come down and it's a shame this wasn't done and thought about when the rear extension was "bolted" on. But as I said, they may not have wanted that before.

Doozergirl

It's hard to say how much, because the basic job of knocking down the wall and building others back up is fairly simple for a jobbing builder, but there are elements of electrics, plumbing, flooring, potential kitchen/utility units that need replacing and those are all going to depend on what is there and what you want. 

I don't see a different option to the one posted.  It provides the only real thing you've asked for, along with the thing that everyone wants at the moment... 

Mistral001

Stubabuba said:

We will do. We've got an architect lined up for when this lockdown is all over, the proposed plan above will give us something to run past him at least

Seems like a good plan.  The architect will probably suggest ways to get more natural light into the centre of the ground floor.  That is often a problem when houses have large extensions as this one has.  The roof lights that have been put in the extension has help, but I suspect that there needs to be more natural light provided.  

Stubabuba

DOH.a said:

In doing what I had suggested will definitely not be a waste of money.

The corridor is needed because at present, the Living area cannot be used as a private space. At present, approx. 1m of the Living area is already taken up with people getting to the rear of the house from the Hall. So if you were to form a corridor and reduce the width of the Living area by 1m, you haven't really lost any "usable" space, so is really a no brainer.

The way the rear extension has been designed is literally that... an extension and there is no flow. Because the original rear wall has been retained, the room is a separate area which has therefore resulted in the Dining area being more like a corridor than an entertaining space. The design and use of the extension may have worked at the time the people built it but in today's world, the majority do want open plan spaces. When we are looking at putting on rear extensions, it's very rare to not break through and join rooms together in order to create this open plan and entertaining space. The wall does have to come down and it's a shame this wasn't done and thought about when the rear extension was "bolted" on. But as I said, they may not have wanted that before.

Thanks again for the help, very much makes sense to me. The plans for the alterations have the current dining room as being the kitchen encompassing some of the space from the utility room.  The extension is down as a dining room with utility space at the same end the side door is on.  The arrangement currently in place was put in place some time between 2005 and now.  I suspect the fact one member of the household required a wheelchair may have had a part to play in the change.

Doozergirl said:

It's hard to say how much, because the basic job of knocking down the wall and building others back up is fairly simple for a jobbing builder, but there are elements of electrics, plumbing, flooring, potential kitchen/utility units that need replacing and those are all going to depend on what is there and what you want. 

I don't see a different option to the one posted.  It provides the only real thing you've asked for, along with the thing that everyone wants at the moment... 

Like you say the spec of the interior with have a bit part to play in determining the cost so appreciate it would be hard to estimate.  The positive is the kitchen is new and hopefully positioned alright although like you say might require altering.  I'd hope to have around 10k to do the works.

Doozergirl

£10k is reasonable.  

Stubabuba

Just a wee update on this post... I've had plans drafted which are similar to the ones suggested in the thread.  I have recieved a quote of 650 from a structural engineer?  Does this seem a fair price? Will have builders out start of next week for quotes.  Hoping to projext manage myself and hopefully save a few pounds - we have plasterer, electrition and plumber who have done work for us before at a reasonable price.