Is it worth building an extension 1.5M wide?

[Mamaofdos]

We live in a new build and feel like we have no space. We have a downstairs utility and toilet. If we removed them we could have a decent sized and open plan kitchen/dining/living room.

I would still want a utility and toilet. Would a side extension at 1.5m be worth the money and hassle? We have 8m in length at the side of the house. Would you use the whole space?

I’d probably need to see a floor plan, but 1.5m is the width of my sideboard, so you’d have to be very creative with space to make the cost and hassle worthwhile!

What wall thickness would you have and what units would you want?

You need at least 600cm for the washer dryers and another 600cm to walk.

Measure and mark it out. It can be done but you need to measure and plan accurately.

Can you extend back into the garden by 3m or so, or into the garage? That might give you a nice square open plan.

I have my washer and dryer in a unit which is under my bathroom sink - reason I mention this is the unit is 1.5m wide. So you could do a utility that was say 1.5m wide by maybe 4m long and have the washing machine and dryer at one end with cupboards above, and full height units at the other end with the door for entry being on the long wall between the house and utility. It's not huge but certainly useful. You could then also have a downstairs loo. If you are short on storage then depending on what is on the other side of the wall you could also build in some deep storage cupboards.

Plenty of people fill in side returns of that size.

Hi everyone, thanks for your replies.

We are about to remortgage our house and have a lot of equity. We don’t really want to touch it however it is very tempting to adapt our house to our needs. We are full to capacity with two adults, 3 children and a golden retriever.

We recently have done up our garden. It’s actually split in two. One half for our dog (Who was causing absolute carnage in our original garden) and one half for the kids (slabs and artificial grass). The dream originally would be to have a garden extension but due to getting our garden done up we are not touching it. We have also converted our garage into a play room.

As we have no hall and a small living room I really would like something more open.

Round the side of our house we have an area 2m wide by 8m in length. I would ideally like to knock two walls down in our house To make our living room, dining room and kitchen all open plan. then use the area at the side to build toilet, utility and and office. So potentially access the utility toilet from kitchen area and access office to living room.

The cost of this is the real crux.

Any thoughts or opinions would be welcome. Just feel the stage we are at we are tripping over toys and stuff in our house.

Will you still have access round the side of your house if you do it ?

I think it might be odd to have a wc accessed straight from the living area. Could you instead have one door from living area to the extension, with a door on left to wc and on right to the office? You've got a decent length to play with.

Depends where you live and what property prices are like. In South Kensington? Definitely worth the money. Somewhere with relatively cheaper housing than the national average? Probably not... Side return extensions are really popular in London because space is at a premium.

I think I would do it. 1.5m is wide enough for appliances and to be able to walk past them, and it will make a big difference to your living space.

From the kitchen our new door would access utility then through utility into the toilet. So toilet would not be directly accessed.

The office is a bit of a dream. But for the whole thing to flow I think I would need to create a door from my living room.

We have access round the other side of our house.

Not sure how close the extension has to be away from our neighbours fence...

Anyone have any idea of prices per m2? My husband is a plumber and has a lot of contacts. If only he was a joiner 🤣 We are based in Scotland.

@StatisticallyChallenged I was thinking of that too. However our utility is handy with access to the garden for our dog.

Whether it is worth the time and hassle is personal opinion but what I would say is that for the time, hassle and money which would all be disproportionate to the size of the bulls, probably not. I'm sat in an extension where we came out 3.5 m and partitioned off another 1.5m from a room which was spare...and I can't imagine 1.5m being much use

As a single storey extension that wouldn't be too expensive and the increase in space would really help the flow of your living / dining /kitchen. I think it would be worth it.

My side extension is 1.1m wide
and with a bit of care the spaces it has given me are worth every moment of the stress

I have a friend whose bathroom is 85cm across
I did not believe her till she got the tape measure out
it felt MUCH bigger

@MarieG10 that is my worry! That’s why I have even considered not using the whole space and just space for a small utility and toilet At the side of the house. Less money. It would also allow us to make house open plan.

I have to admit I'm not a fan of going through utility to wc, purely because utilities tend to be quite messy in my experience! I think going room to room would really highlight the narrowness of the extension too.

@ListeningQuietly this sounds more positive. What did you use your extension for?

This is pretty much exactly 1.5m wide

For me I just think having an office area would be very handy for me as a tea her and for kids at school. I love the idea of just printing something off without having to fetch laptop and printer from cupboards.

In terms of utility I would like a washing machine and tumble dryer and the rest of the space to be fitted wardrobes to store everyone’s coats.

Downstairs toilet is more for access for visitors and elderly grandparents.

@StatisticallyChallenged My current utility and toilet isn’t much bigger and I do feel I have plenty of space.

I think any additional space you can add Will make a difference to your quality of life. I have a utility room that is 1.75m by 1.5 and I would not like to be without it. I have second Belfast sink and washing machine. It is useful for kids to wash hands take off boots etc before coming into kitchen.

Side extension look. Although ours would be right to the fence. So potentially velux windows or window to front of extension.

We are starting an extension this month and first started planning in January.

If you speak to a builder there is an average price per square meter for your area at any given time.

Ours is around £2k/m2 and we are in the North East so wouldn't be too different for you in Scotland.

My advice would be to get a rough estimate from a builder done quick - this will help you make you mind up if it is worth pursuing.

Think about the ceiling price for your house in your street and if/when you would be looking to sell up and move on. Would it be worth moving to a bigger house instead?

Hope that helps!