We're considering extending a house but don't know where to start or even where to get ideas for floor plans. Where would we start?

[pernickety]

We are in the process of looking for a house to buy. We are currently renting having sold our house a few months ago.

With children in school, we're now tied to a very small area. We'd like to stay in this area for the convenience of the primary school and to remain in catchment of the local secondary school in a few years time.

BUT - the housing stock is limited here. There are ots of small 1930s semis, with a tiny 3rd bedroom that cost far less than we sold our last house for, bigger houses on busy, noisy roads, or a few bigger houses on quiet streets which we could not afford even if we stretched ourselves.

This is unknown territory for us. I would like to go into it with eyes wide open. We rent one of those small semis and I scratch my head wondering how it could be built on without losing light to the original dining room and I don't see how we could give access to a 4th bedroom if we managed to build one on the side. Before going into the issue of planning permission and architects and builders, I'd like to know what a possible extension would look like.

Is there anywhere online that I can see floorplans? The original houses have a bog standard 3 bedroom layout and we'd need to add a cloakroom, extend the kitchen to allow a dining area, and add a room suitable as a study/spare bedroom.

Look on rightmove for similar houses to yours but which have been extended. It is a bit of a trawl but worthwhile.

We are in the process of buying a house with a sep toilet from the bathroom. I had been playing with the layout trying to merge the two but could not manage it. Then found a similar property (in fact almost identical) on rightmove which had the bathroom just how I wanted it. Bingo - I copied the layout!

Incidentally that house also has a large extention so I have printed out their floorplan for future reference

You need to consult an architect who will discuss your needs and draw up plans for you.

Any idea of cost?

A loft conversion might be an idea for the extra bedroom? Otherwise agree with hippo re: rightmove.

Get an architect.

Also, could you swap the bathroom with the box bedroom and then extend so that you get a bigger 3rd bedroom?

Ring round a few for some quotes of how much an initial consultation will be and then how much the cost of drawing up the plans will be.

Yes, the latter is an option if we could get a big enough single storey extension to put a 4th bedroom/study/reception room dowstairs.

A loft conversion is another option if we only want to do a single storey extension. I worry about them being too hot though.

have a look at the houses on the rest of the street and see if they have extended at all, gives you an idea without consulting an architect.

Is the garage next to the house or set back behind it?

1930's semis are easily extended either upstairs or at the back depending on garden size. Usually you can lose the side window at the top of the stairs, you can extend the width of the 3rd bedroom, and build next to the bathroom (unless I am mistaken in the design of the house you are looking at)

I am assuming it looks like this as a floorplan (forgive crudity)

bed 2 bathroom ] new bedroom
stairs ]
bed 1 bed 3 ] extended bed 3

I have seen it done on lots of property programs like "Don't move, improve"

Buy Real Homes magazine - they always have lots of floor plans of extensions, and costings. Obviously it will be very different depending on what you have done/where you live, but it's a good starting point for ideas.

ah, it shunted it out when I posted message. The "]" should be in a vertical line.

bed 1 is at the front,
bed 2 is at the back behind bed 1

bed 3 is at the front over the hall and stair bulkhead, bathroom is at the back behind the stairs and landing space.

I get real homes too (used to be "don't move, improve" mag, I also buy homebuilding and renovation which also has floorplans.

Oh yes, have a look at the planning permission section of your council's website and search for your street - it will show you what other people on your street have done.

Gosh - thank you for all this useful advice. The garden of the house we have in mind is a good size. The plot has a garage width to the side but the current garage is set back, detatched from the house, and in the back of the garden. Lots of the houses on the street are extended.

So, if I look at the council's planning pages, I can see what others have applied for on the street without having to knock on their doors? That would be useful.

Good idea about looking at magazines.

Thank you everyone. I do need to be able to visualise what we might get so I can be excited about potentially going this extending route as I understand that the whole process will likely cause us a lot of stress!

pernickety,
when we were planning an extension we asked about 4 different architects round to quote for us, and chatted informally about the sort of thing we had in mind. We found that they responded with ideas and discussed options, some of which we hadn't even considered, and it helped us to formulate what we wanted. This didn't cost anything, as they were simply coming round to price up what it would cost IF we hired them.

Mind be worth trying.

Second what others have said about looking at other extensions - as well as giving you ideas, it will help you to see what you don't want too.

Pernickety

We have exact same layout as Fizzylemonade has described, and our garage is set back.

We are considering bringing the garage foward (so it is level with front of house) and having utility/cloakroom coming at the rear of garage (kitchen is under bathroom, so would lead into new utility)

We already have a window at the top of the stairs, so would use that as doorway into 4th bedroom, and we would hope for an ensuite too.

(I hope that makes sense)

We haven't done anything more than talk about this, but a builder friend had recently bulit a 2 stoery extension and he charged around £35k (not inc architects or planning etc)

Hth

If you go onto the RIBA website and put in where you are and what sort of project, it will send you a list of 3 or 4 local architects who deal with your sort of thing. They will come and have a chat for free and then send you a quote. We did this and it's where we got our architect from and we're very happy.

Also ask around anyone you know, at work etc who have had stuff done recommendations are always a good route.

For general idea of what might be possible, what everyone else has said. Neighbours, magazines, talk to people you know who have extended who will already have been through all the though processes etc.

runnyhabit - that is the exact layout of the house we are buying, even the garage is in the same place. We too are hoping to bring the garage forwards, attaching it to the house with a utility on the back, and then at some point go over the garage and use the window at the top of the stairs for the door into the new bedroom.
But we are in Surrey and I fear it may be a lot of money - more than we have anyway....

Thanks everyone. I like the sound of that layout. I am not yet convinced it is a wide enoug plot to fit in a garage without disturbing the neighbours driveway int he process. I think we need to visit the property again with a tape measure.

The stairs in our house (identical to the one we'd buy to extend) turn around at the top, so if we wanted to build over a garage, how would we give access to that side of the house? If the door went where the window is, it would be a lower floor level.