Dividing a bedroom into two, can it work?

savvymum1

Hi,
We currently live in a end terrace house with two double bedrooms upstairs one is a normal double the other a very large double with a large window. We really need a third bedroom and by our calculations if we divided up the largest double into two we would end up with two large single rooms plus our original double. Would I need planning permission for this? We would want to remove the large window and replace with two small windows so that both bedrooms would have a window. Has anyone had this done? We can't afford to get a extension built and don't want to move as the cost of houses in our area is incredibly high. Any tips would be great. What would we need to budget for this please?

FreeBear

What is the dimensions of this v.large bedroom ?

Splitting a room in to two smaller ones doesn't generally require planning unless it is a listed building. Depending on how much smaller you want to make the windows, you might need planning, although this would normally fall under "permitted development". You will need building regulation sign off for the window, but this will come as part of any FENSA (or similar) paperwork.

savvymum1

370 square feet. Thank you for your help

lincroft1710

savvymum1 said:

370 square feet. Thank you for your help

That would give you 2 good size DOUBLE bedrooms

ReadingTim

savvymum1 said:

370 square feet. Thank you for your help

That's the area, not the dimensions.  How many feet long by how many feet wide would be more useful.  Don't forget each bedroom will need a door as well as a window - how will you deal with that?

savvymum1

When we had a structural engineer round he said there is room for a small landing and door in addition to the there is already and we can remove the large window and replace with two smaller ones. I Just have no clue what to budget for it for yet 

FreeBear

Without more information, id suggest £1200-1500 for the windows, and the same again for a stud wall. Add in a contingency, and maybe £5000 would cover it.

But... If walls need knocking down and steel supports added, that is going to bump up the costs considerably and require Building Control involvement.

ProDave

We used to own a house that had 2 bedrooms and the largest was the whole front of the house.  We contemplated dividing that into two, it looked like it would work.

Then I met someone who had done it in an identical house, and when you factor in wall thickness of the dividing wall and the need to make a lobby to give space for 2 bedroom doors, the resulting 2 bedrooms were really quite small.

They were selling their house and it turns out the third bedroom made it worth £5K more, but it cost £5K to do the conversion so there was no financial gain to be had.

Mark it out on the floor with chalk or masking tape top properly allow for wall tbickness, new lobby etc and see how big the rooms will really be.  If it makes the house better for your needs and saves having to move then it is probably worth doing.

FreeBear

ProDave said: Mark it out on the floor with chalk or masking tape top properly allow for wall tbickness, new lobby etc and see how big the rooms will really be.  If it makes the house better for your needs and saves having to move then it is probably worth doing.

A stud wall made from timber & plasterboard will end up around 125mm thick. You can get plasterboard sheets with a honeycomb core that is around 50mm thick - These are OK for some partition walls, but I don't think they'd work too well for bedroom walls. The advantage of stud walls is you can fit sound deadening insulation to cut down on noise transmission (a good idea with small children).

Owleyes00

It can work!

My in law’s house was a 2 bed mid terrace that they made into a 3 bed when their kids were teenagers. They managed to get two single rooms and an extra piece of landing out of the space (so both rooms had their own entrance). Looks totally normal and you wouldn’t know it was supposed to be a 2 bed unless someone told you

Titus_Wadd

My best mate at school shared a large front bedroom with her sister and her dad put a temporary wall which became permanent which worked pretty well.  The original room had two sash windows which helped.  The older sister had to go through my friend's room to get to hers but given the 7 year age difference it was far better than them sharing.  Not great sound-proofing though.  I just looked it up on Rightmove and it's back to a large master bedroom now.