Would we be mad to buy a home and knock down a perfectly functional extension?

[WaryRaven]

i have found a house I absolutely adore. It is a period home and absolutely stunning…from the front. Unfortunately there is a well built but rather awkward “garden room” extension I just don’t like. It’s the shape I have a problem with. Aesthetically it’s fine. Floors and walls are nice enough. I would just want to get rid of the whole thing. But would I be mad for doing so? Dh thinks I’m nuts but I assure him many people would also consider the garden room an eye sore and maybe build an orangery type thing to the west of the kitchen in a few years down the line. I hate how the original external windows have just had the glass removed so there are just big square holes between the kitchen and garden room.

It really is quite gorgeous from the front. Would I not just be knocking thousands off the value?

I used to live in a B listed property ( Scotland- Scottish planning law has different classifications). We needed planning permission for a conservatory. The planners were extremely prescriptive. They didn’t want a traditional type structure in keeping with the building, but insisted on something modern that distinguished the new addition from the old house. Could that be the reason for the design in your new house?

By "new neighbours" do you mean the "fishery and caravan leisure park"? Complete with a shed pretending to be a pub.

What a massive invasion of OP's privacy, to share this.

We've done this - twice!

You'd be better off taking the side wall down where the old opening was and then the kitchen opens into the garden room more and then you have the light you are after - if it's a period house though and listed they likely won't let you which is why the current owner hasn't done it

And the environmental impact - just because OP doesn't like it.

But looking at the link someone has posted if it's the same property it's lovely! Wouldn't change a thing!

Absolutely. Awful.

It can be diffiult to do a wrap around extension well, particularly with the constraints of a Grade 2 listing. Have you considered taking an architect/builder you trust to view so you can discuss options to improve what's there currently?

How on earth did you find that from what the OP posted?

It's a lovely house.

OP - I agree the extension is a weird shape and would get on my nerves too.

My thoughts exactly!!! It wasn't even like the estate agent was mentioned or the area?!?!

Slightly mad as you will be paying for the space so you would probably be out of pocket if you came to sell

But not at all mad if the remaining house is big enough for you ( looks big to me ) , it's where you plan to stay, and you can't find anything close to buy

I agree it's well out of order. Sneaky and snakey.

You can just do a reverse image search on the floor plan and the listing will come up. I had found the property too, but I wouldn’t post it on the thread as it’s an invasion of privacy.

Well, she posted the floor plan in a public forum....

There was absolutely no need to post the full listing on here though, other than to say ‘ooh look I’ve found it’. And of course to be insulting about the property.

Going against the grain here but if you have the money to buy it, knock it down and do what you want and it's value is irrelevant because you're going to live, there then it doesn't matter. Not many people are in that position though, so choose wisely!

It literally took 2 seconds.

If OP doesn't want 100,000+ people to know where she's thinking of buying a house, don't post the actual floor plans on a public forum 🤷‍♀️

Are we really OK with outing the OP's location without asking them if it was ok?

It's not the op's location as she doesn't actually live there, she could live in a totally different area.

Don't worry, the house won't be upset that I don't think it's very nice 😁

There was no need to post the listing.

But wouldn't you gather from that that she clearly didn't want the details posting?

Not very fair to the actual owners of the house who are having their property critiqued on MN without their permission.

It's a bit scary that reverse image thingy!

No, and I’m sure the OP doesn’t give a shit what you think about it either. It was just the superior tone of your post I was referring to really.

They probably used Google lens or similar.

No, indeed, I doubt she cares what I think about it.