Still hunting for a house, a few questions about extending etc.

[catpark]

The house hunting saga continues for us. Still no 3 bed houses but a few 2 bed semi's have come on the market which we are going to view to see if there is enough space to extend to the side. So I have a few questions that I hope someone can answer before we view.

1. One of the houses we are going to view has electric storage heaters, how costly is it to fit gas central heating and how messy is it ? Next door has gas so we know gas is in the street.

1. How thick should the exterior wall of an extension be ? So we know how much to take of the size of the driveway width when we measure it.

Thanks in advance.

Anyone ?

We viewed one of them and it had , 9 and a half feet at the side, is that enough width for an extension ?

But it had a few issues. It had a combi boiler but the cold water tank was still in the attic and it had leaked at some point as the ceiling had a huge bulge in it and was all discoloured (Although it felt dry) , the bedroom had what looked like black mould along the ceiling/wall join. Also the upvc window trims had the same mould on them. FIL thinks it might have damp in the attic from the leak and he said it should be checked for rot as the timbers up there might not have dried out properly ! So not sure about that one.

Seeing the one with electric heating tomorrow night.

You must keep looking. The house has serious issues which have not been fixed. I cannot quite imagine trying to sell house with a bulging ceiling. Also nine feet is not enough space even if you could use it all, clear up to the property line. Good luck on your search.

Just a word of warning - its not as black and white as saying you'd extend across the width of the driveway, so the room size would be the dirveway width minus the external wall width. You're not allowed to go right up to the boundary line (as gutters etc are not allowed to overhang the boundary line) and some councils will prefer you to be some way in - we're in the NW and have been told that the council prefer you to leave a gap of at least 80cm. Thats also useful if you want access down the side of the house for bins / into the garden etc. 9.5ft would be enough, depending on whether thats the width of the drive or what you'd end up with, but you're looking at quite a small bedroom (or a long thin room).

9.5 feet to the border doesn't seem enough for an extn as most councils insist on 1m clearance with boundaries. When looking at properties look at what the neighbours have done. I would be less worried about the ceiling and mould. The ceiling can be replaced - it's a messy job but can be done in a couple of days however if the water tank is old/leaking then that's more of an issue as it would be costly to replace.

Having done a couple of renovations I've learned what we would be happy to take on but it seems there is reasonable work in the house. An extn can be costly so you need it to be a good size..no point spending £30k for a tiny room.

Thanks all.

All the houses with extensions to the side have them right up to the boundry of the land. In some of the streets 2 semi's next to each other with extensions are now basically terraced as both extensions are right up against each other. Our council doesn't ask for any extension to be 1 metre from the boundry so we could build right up to the edge of the property boundry. The houses don't have gutters at the side of the houses the gutters and down pipes are at the front and back of the house.

The one we viewed last night was big inside but the drive was too small, 9 foot at a push but because they had a conservatory out the back there was hardly any garden. It needed a lot of work done to it, kitchen etc. plus needed proper heating put in and they had turned down an offer as it wasn't enough and are wanting the asking price ! It's been on a year and they haven't dropped the price so really it won't be valued at that price now.

We've decided not to proceed with either of the houses.

So the hunt continues, !