to knock down a wall in this flat, thinking it won't devalue it

[ditziness]

Seen a flat I want to buy, it's very cheap in a nice area. Ex council, needs plenty modernising. Was an old lady's flat. All in good nick tho, three beds, central heating, double glazed. Only problem is it has a little kitchen, and we wanted a larger one . The large master bedroom is next door, and we are thinking that we could knock the wall down And create a large open kitchen/living room/ dining room. There's an old chimney breast in there too we could reinstate, have a wood burner, and make the room the main living space. The use the current living room as the master bedroom ( also has a fire in it) and then have two extra bedrooms.

Am i being unreasonable, thinking that wouldn't devalue the property? Friends have warned against it, saying that we'd be losing a bedroom and knocking money off the house.

I've put a floor plan on my profile, along with two floor plans for two bedrooms in the same area that are valued at the same amount as the one i'm considering.

hmmm... aibu?

What about leaving beds 1 and 2 as they are, move kitchen to the living/dining to make kitchen/dining, use old kitchen as bed 3, and use master bedroom as lounge? You would only need to extend pipes and services along to the next room, and no need to knock down any walls. Noise from appliances and mess is contained.

The only thing is, if the central heating boiler is in the existing kitchen area, which would need to be moved. I don't like boilers in bedrooms.

Moving gas, AFAIK, is just a few hundred quid, extra piping type problem.

I was under the impression that moving drainage is a bit more complicated because the pipes have to run at certain angles, and presumably they'll still have to join on to bigger external pipes that serve the whole block. I guess these will be positioned conveniently for the bathroom and kitchen as they are now.

But it doesn't look from the floorplan like you'd need to extend them very far, it's only the next room on the same wall. I'm sure bigger drainy problems have been overcome!

Boringly the only 100% safe way would be to get a builder to look at it and confirm broadly that it's possible - as well as checking you can get permission etc to do it. I know you said it's freehold but there must be rules affecting the external appearance of the building and communal systems like drainage surely?

The other good thing about Stat's idea, by the way, is there'd be comparatively little disruption. You'd just carry on using the old kitchen until the new one was ready, then the old kitchen would be torn out.

Am quite , I have thought about doing this kind of thing with ex-local authority flats before, but they are leasehold in England and I'm sure you wouldn't get permission. They are always good sizes except for the damn kitchens!

i think you're geniuses!! if it is easy to move the services, that could totally work!!

I don't want to burst your bubble - but we wanted to move the gas meter about 2 meters, it was going to cost £3k as they are not allowed to T off of the existing pipe which meant they would have had to have put in a new line.

I think moving a gas meter is a very different beast as it related to the supply pipe. Whereas this would be an extension from the house side, rather than the supply side. We are about to have a new kitchen fitted, in a room which does not have a gas cooker point, and there is no issue with taking a new pipe from our meter.

Oh sorry, 'Moving the gas' to me means moving the supply.

I looked in to buying a flat without gas - so I recognised the crazy price from that :)

I moved the boiler from an upstairs bedroom to the kitchen in my house. Cost £1k :-(

To be fair, the pipe work was v complicated and had been made a hash of before (house into 2 flats back into house) so they ended up capping the old pipes and running new ones to the boiler!

Shouldn't be too much to move a boiler to the next room.

It's not the boiler, it's just a gas supply for a cooker!

Boiler is in living room cupboard .

Oooh excited! Emailed building regs today and they said that it'd be fine permission wise and a plumber friend has said he doesn't see it's too bigger deal as long as it's floorboards!

Woo hoo. Potentially still 3 bed with a decent size kitchen!!

ditziness, which layout are you going for finally?

I think you and Stat were describing the same idea, girlywhirly only wirh different room names if that makes sense.

Hope it works out, OP. ooh I love a reconfiguring thread.

We're waiting for a quote for moving the plumbing and gas to do as stat suggested. And then I think we're going to put an offer in.

Eeeeeeek! I feel a bit sick. After all this thought I bet we don't get it anyway.

Any thing else I need to think about before I put an offer in?

How lovely it will be to live there

Good luck!

Good luck!

without looking at anyone elses responses, a three bed property is a three bed property. I don't think you will take value off the property by switching it around and actually most people prefer open plan. Open plan lay out is very attractive these days.

what I would like to know is where is the garden in relation to your property? I would want an open plan lounge/kitchen area to look out onto the garden. Think large patio or byfolding doors maybe so you can just throw the doors open and expand the usable space in the summer. If it is a garden flat that is.

I quite like the layout you suggest and if push came to shove, I bet you could turn the mater bed room into two bedrooms if necessary? Not sure how small they would be though?

Alternatively you could steal a bit off the new mater bedroom and add it on to the living room/kitchen area to make the living area more substantial.

Or you could join turn the present kitchen into bedroom 3 and knock the living room into bedroom 3 (yellow room) to create the largest living area possible. You could always add a sliding door to separate the rooms into two distinct living areas if need be?

plumber said a few hundred quid . eeeek. so we've put an offer in!

interesting ideas, mid season sale

Oooohhhh ooohhhhooohhh oh

Will check back in obsessively tomorrow :)

Good Luck!!

Still waiting! Gah!

I guessed as much, I've worn the F5 button out

Mulledwine, I think Statisticallychallenged meant for the kitchen diner to be in the master bed (yellow room on plan) and for existing lounge to stay the same (green room on plan, next to existing kitchen) The old kitchen would become bed 3. I suggested the master room to become the lounge as it is largest, and the kitchen diner to be in the existing lounge.

I meant for the room next to get existing kitchen, the one that looks blue on my phone, to be the kitchen as I thought that would be cheaper for pipe moving, and the yellow room to be the lounge. I'm not sure what those are currently called as I can't make it out just now.

If they don't let you know soon I might have to charge for a new F5 button

what does the f5 button do?

exciting news op