WWYD - Move or Extend

[BloominNora]

DH have been talking about this but thought it would be useful to get some more input.

We live in a three bed semi although box room is very very small. Offroad parking for 2 cars at a push. The street is OK - dead end so no through traffic, but long and can get quite busy in terms of parking. We currently have two DC but want to try for a third next year and DH is self-employed and needs workshop space - he currently uses a sectional garage we got from freecycle.

We've been talking about moving next year but want go stay in the area and don't want to increase the mortgage by too much, so wouldn't be able go afford something too much bigger - just perhaps better scope to extend / fourth bed / quieter road. If we do move, current house would need to be 'finished off' probably costing about £3k.

However last night we got talking about extending this house instead - building a carport with two new bedrooms above, putting an ensuite into our room, having a proper garage built and using one of its walls to create a sunroom off our kitchen diner (glass roof) and possibly making our pokey utility room bigger.

Pros would be it would probably cost about £35k which is the most we would extend the mortage by if we moved, but we wouldn't have the additional costs of moving or doing up the new house.

Cons are the busy street plus the back garden is north facing and the only sun it gets in winter is what comes between ours and next doors house in a morning. This would be blocked out by the new bedrooms.

It would also make it a big house for the street - top end of the ceiling, but I wouldn't be too bothered by this as if we do extend it will be a decision to stay put for the next 20 years at least.

So, to canvass opinions, WWYD?

hmmm.. i think it would cost you more than £35k to get a double story extension tbh

would you lose a room as access to the extension as well?
is your garden big enough to take it? with 3 children you may want more outside space (i know i do! lol)

Garden is pretty big given inner city location - about 25ft wide by 40ft long. Plenty big enough for the kids. Would like bigger but that would be one of the sacrifices of staying put.

Re the extension, my dh and dad would do a lot of the labouring - digging foundations etc and we know a builder who would do the block work for a good price.

I don't think we'd lose a room either. Current second double would lose space effectively turning it into a single albeit twice the size of our current box room and we would gain two doubles.

Will you get planning permission? If yes, I would probably extend but only if you will make the value back on a possible re-sale (can get advice from estate agent) as you may decide once number 3 is here you want to move anyway.

I think your big problems are planning consent - that sounds one hell of an extension and if it blocks out light to your home will it also affect your neighbours? - and budget: even with your husband labouring, the materials involved in a build of that size would eat up an awful lot of that budget.

Would you be better off extending into the loft which is doable for the money and staying put for a few years that way?

I don't think planning will be a problem - it's quite a built up street and we are unusual in having the land on the side of the house (driveway). The neighbour we are attached to doesn't have it.

I don't 'think' it would affect the neighbours light too much - the windows they have on that side of the house don't get any light even with the current set up.

Can't go into the loft without extending the roof as the eaves are too low.

My mom and dads extension which was a similar size cost about £25k, so I think budget wise it is doable, just about (but would need very careful planning).

I'm beginning to wonder if we can live with the upstairs space and just extend the downstairs. The DD's want to share and the box room will be fine for number three.

For all it's faults, I really quite like this house. It is a good size really - I just want that little bit more space. I have just been looking on right move - the only ones that give us the space we want are right at the top of our budget and would need a lot of work on top of the buying price.

We were in a situation a bit like yours 6 years ago: Like the house but a bit small, reasonably good location, long garden...

What we did was see what our money could get us if we moved in the local area. And in our specific situation, we could have added about 75k to our selling price, and that was going to get us 'just another' 3-bed semi with a small garden and a box room. We looked at a number and they all resulted in 'I like our current house better'... The specific situation is that we live in a ex-council house and as soon as you move away from our cluster of roads prices hike up for no noticeable improvement.

So we built an extension. 2-storey and loft extension. Total refurbishment, new windows, new electrics new plumbing, from having one family bathroom we added a downstairs toilet and an en-suite in the loft. It took just over 6 months. As we had 2 small children at the time we moved out for the duration.

So have a look round and also make sure you are certain of costs, there are hidden costs in the planning process and also if you bought: fees, solicitors, EA commission...

Good luck and choose what's best for you!