Any ideas how we could sort out this hideous side extension?

[minceypie]

We're thinking of viewing this house but I've no idea how I would rectify the problem of the ugly side extension. I suspect this was a garage and they have lazily put in patio doors where the garage door was so this needs to be sorted out (brick it up and put in a window?) as does the horrible stepped roof.

Anyone out there with more vision than me please? And would this be a really big job?

Looks a nice place. I'd discuss whether you want a garage or the extra living space. That way its either fit a garage door & convert back to a garage or alter it with a big window & block & render so it looks nice. I agree that stepped roof looks odd. Is it a flat roof behind the wall ?? U could either take the wall down & keep as a flat roof or fit a sloped roof on it. I'd ask a local builder for prices before making any offers.

Thanks for your comments. We definitely don't want a garage - need all the living space we can get.

I think it's a sloped roof behind the wall. Yes, I guess we should ask a local builder but we're in the UK and it's really hard to sort all this stuff out remotely so we may have to take a flyer on it.

I'd be asking to see all the paperwork before you took that any further, it's clearly a garage which has been converted on the cheap. Depending how cheaply (my DBro did the same thing last year) then it may be freezing (DBro didn't let the small matter of insulation trouble him) and god knows what botching that wood panelling is covering up...

All fixable of course and it has the potential to be nice, but I'd view with a builder.

Yes, I thought that brickwork looks very uninsulated and very cold but didn't think that the woodwork might be hiding something.

My FIL is viewing with my DH in a few weeks and he's not a builder so won't be able to give us an idea on costs but will be able to tell us what needs doing and whether something looks like a botch job.

Also, this is Ireland and I'd guess the work was done in the 90's. Accordingly, I'd very much doubt there will be any paperwork!

We sleep in the 'spare room' when we visit DB and it's always freezing!

I'd be kind of tempted to take the whole thing down and do a two storey extension but can't really work out the upstairs layout and if that would then lead to lots of fannying about (technical term) with the layout upstairs... And obviously there's your budget to consider.

You can tell in the photos that the walls are only single brick and the floor is on the same level as the ground. That's bad for flooding and cold. I'd guess they did very little work to convert it from a garage.

We have a reasonable amount of spare budget (up to about GBP 70k in total including new bathroom, kitchen etc) so it's a possibility.

I baulk slightly at the idea of taking the whole thing down but I guess that would solve the problem and add lots of value if the upstairs layout permits and assuming we can get planning permission for a two-storey extension.

I'd be kind of tempted to take the whole thing down and do a two storey extension

Me too.

Looking on Streetview, next door has a flat roofed garage in that position so I imagine the one on the house for sale is also flat behind the parapet.

As an aside, if you think the side extension is ugly on this house, you should look at how ugly the neighbour's garage it, which is presumably what this looked like before.

If the layout inside is the same as mine which has the same exterior window arrangement, a double height extension is simple - I have a door to the right of the top of the stairs leading into the extension.

Did you do your extension, SoupDragon. If so, were you starting from scratch or building over an existing garage? I'm desperately trying to get a feel for cost.

We had a loft conversion done before and that cost £35k so I guess that gives me something to work from but I've no idea what it might cost to knock down the side and start again.

If you decided not to knock down and start again , what about the house next door but one (to your left as facing "your" house ) from the street view on the maps link from your link , they seem to have made a more attractive job of the same thing.

Oh yes, that does look very nice and would be a good fallback position. I'm tempted now by the idea of an extra bedroom upstairs but I guess we could explore both options to see what they involve in terms of planning and cost.

I didn't do my extension unfortunately. The previous owners demolished the garage and built a full length two storey extension plus small single storey at the rear (he was a builder). Also, I'm in London so any costing would be inflated.

My childhood home had the same basic extension done on it too as it was a virtually identical house to this one.

The next-door-but-one neighbours have done a better job of it, haven't they? I think it would be fairly easy and cost effective to remedy the ugliness in a similar manner.

Thanks soup for your replies. I think this one is definitely worth exploring. Lots of potential and we have some budget for that so fingers crossed we like it when we view as it's a brilliant location for us but there's sod all else on the market.

I think there are a range of possibilities to improve it from a basic tarting up to knocking down and adding a full height extension - all would be a vast improvement! Good luck :)