Home renovation advice

FSnewhome

We are in the process of buying a new home which needs updating internally. 
We would like to knock out a wall to create a kitchen/diner, possibly convert the integral garage to create a utility room. We may have to move the boiler and gas meter in the process. 

Where do we start? I would like someone to come around and have a look, advise on most affordable way to do it and how feasible our ideas are, then get some drawings done.

Do we need an architect / architect technician / structural engineer or do we start by getting a building firm round to have a look.

I don't know who to approach first and I don't want to waste money on an architect if not required

Thanks for any advice! 

stuart45

You'll need a structural engineer for things like the removal of a load bearing wall. A builder to carry out the work. You can get a builder round first for an initial talk about roughly what you want. Keep it in mind that the work needs to be signed off by Building Control, so don't allow a builder to talk you out of this. 

FreeBear

stuart45 said: You'll need a structural engineer for things like the removal of a load bearing wall.

And just because a wall is of studwork construction does not mean that it isn't load bearing.

With an integral garage, you may find the ceiling is an asbestos cement board (or worse) - Get it tested and be prepared for extra costs should it need removing. Another thing to check is whether the council is OK with the property losing a car parking space. That may scupper any plan to convert the garage.

Section62

stuart45 said:

You'll need a structural engineer for things like the removal of a load bearing wall. A builder to carry out the work. You can get a builder round first for an initial talk about roughly what you want. Keep it in mind that the work needs to be signed off by Building Control, so don't allow a builder to talk you out of this. 

...and in addition OP, you'll need to find out whether you'll need planning consent to convert the garage, there may be a planning condition requiring it to be retained as a garage for parking a car.

Which wall did you want to remove?  You'll need a structural engineer to advise you, but those floor plans suggest the rear wall of the upper storey is sitting on a beam of some kind above the kitchen and lounge.  The wall between the kitchen and lounge may be essential to support this beam.

The floorplan also suggests this is a relatively recently built property - in which case the builders probably value-engineered the construction to the maximum, meaning there is little in terms of structural redundancy.

Typically there is usually a way to make structural alterations work - but the cost of doing so can be out of all proportion to the benefit achieved.

As a generalisation, if you need to make radical structural alterations to a property you are considering buying then it probably isn't the right property for you - you'd likely get a better economic outcome by buying something else.

I'd also echo stuart45's point - many builders will happily tell you what you want to hear, not what you need to know.

Albermarle

Which wall did you want to remove?  You'll need a structural engineer to advise you, but those floor plans suggest the rear wall of the upper storey is sitting on a beam of some kind above the kitchen and lounge.  The wall between the kitchen and lounge may be essential to support this beam.

Looking at the floor plan again, it looks very similar to our house at the rear, and yes the rear of the first floor is supported by steels resting on the wall between Kitchen and Lounge. Although to be fair ours is an older house with an extension.

As a generalisation, if you need to make radical structural alterations to a property you are considering buying then it probably isn't the right property for you - you'd likely get a better economic outcome by buying something else.

Especially with the cost of building works going through the roof since the Pandemic.

GDB2222

Albermarle said:

Which wall did you want to remove?  You'll need a structural engineer to advise you, but those floor plans suggest the rear wall of the upper storey is sitting on a beam of some kind above the kitchen and lounge.  The wall between the kitchen and lounge may be essential to support this beam.

Looking at the floor plan again, it looks very similar to our house at the rear, and yes the rear of the first floor is supported by steels resting on the wall between Kitchen and Lounge. Although to be fair ours is an older house with an extension.

As a generalisation, if you need to make radical structural alterations to a property you are considering buying then it probably isn't the right property for you - you'd likely get a better economic outcome by buying something else.

Especially with the cost of building works going through the roof since the Pandemic.

I am surprised that the OP is in the process of buying without even a rough idea of what the required works will cost.  Unless the property is dead cheap, I don't see how the OP knew what price to offer?

FSnewhome

Thanks for your comments, this is all new to us.
There is a rear extension
We are hoping to remove part of the wall between kitchen diner marked in red on the floor plan below, but this is a long term plan. 
Other similar properties on the street have converted the garage so we hope this might be an option in the future. 

FSnewhome

Sorry that posted before I was finished! 

Section62

FSnewhome said:

Thanks for your comments, this is all new to us.
There is a rear extension
We are hoping to remove part of the wall between kitchen diner marked in red on the floor plan below, but this is a long term plan.

There should be a large steel beam supporting the upstairs rear wall, and that is why there's that large projection down from the ceiling above the island. There's a stub wall sticking out from the wall between the kitchen and lounge which the beam is likely supported by. You've also got a chimney stack there which is not shown on the floor plan.

I'm not a qualified structural engineer, but I think it probable the wall you've marked in red is providing lateral support to the stub wall supporting the beam.  It may be possible to create a small (standard door width) opening in that wall, but removing the whole wall may be impossible - you'd need a structural engineer to carefully investigate exactly what is going on.  The presence of the chimney stack may complicate the options.

FSnewhome said:

Other similar properties on the street have converted the garage so we hope this might be an option in the future.

The property is older than I thought, so may have been built before councils commonly conditioned planning applications to keep garages for parking - but you do still need to check to make sure planning consent isn't needed.

Other properties may have got planning consent (if needed) at a time where the council has different policies to the ones they have now, or they could have gone ahead with conversion without consent.  What others have done in the past isn't always a reliable indicator of what you might be allowed to do now.

Albermarle

We are in the process of buying a new home which needs updating internally.

From the pictures it does not look like it needs updating. It looks rather nice !

In which case you will presumably have paid a price for the house that took into account it was in good condition and modern. Now you are thinking of spending probably many tens of thousands of Pounds on it. The latter is fine if a house really needs updating and you bought it cheaper for that reason, but updating an already OK house is unlikely to add much value, if any. Although a garage conversion, if possible, could make sense.

Teapot55

Just as a matter of interest: much space do you have on your property for parking a car/ cars not including the garage?