If you’ve extended your house, what would you redo again, or do differently?

[Yellownotblue]

We’re planning an extension to our house - the pre app has just gone in (it’s quite a big extension by London standards - not typical side return). Basically extending at the back, side (on two storeys) and over the existing outrigger. We’re not adding bedrooms, but we are making the whole house more spacious and adding bathrooms and a big scullery, as well as redesigning the ground floor and doing a new kitchen.

We’re now at the stage of planning the layout and the look & feel.

I have a lot of ideas, we have a good design team (I think!) but I’d love to know what works and doesn’t work in your extension.

Is there anything you think ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe I went without x for so long’?

And conversely, is there anything you think you wouldn’t bother with if you extended again?

Any idea, big or small, welcome. For instance, are you happy with your glazing, choice of flooring, flow between rooms, lighting?

Thank you lovely mners 💐

We went well above minimum on insulation and various other sustainability measures such as heat recovery. The cost difference was negligible but the difference has been significant.

Ooh that’s good to know @Daftasabroom! We definitely want good insulation and are committed to reducing carbon emissions.

Agree good insulation builders kept telling us it was way more than what we need but has been great.
Retro fit under floor heating I love it! Wish I'd done the whole of the ground floor ( budget is glad I didn't ).

Best things about our extension was a velux window, underfloor heating, considering the flow so areas weren't just corridors to somewhere else, a 'waterfall' end to the worktop on the kitchen peninsula rather than just the end of a cabinet, and the best thing ever was putting in a utility room. We are moving and will need to renovate; I'd do all those things over again but we are planning to do the full eco thing this time- air source heat pump & solar panels with battery.

2 dishwashers in the kitchen...

Hi @Yellownotblue
I'm curious to know what you mean by a design team? Is that architects?
I'm also planning a refurb and like the idea of a design team!

Re original question, the single thing I've taken the most pleasure out of is the hot tap! At the time Quookers were new but I can't imagine not having one now.

Decent sized utility
Contemporary window seat

Utility room as mentioned. A proper 'walk in' pantry. A boot room. Look at the plans you have and and really REALLY ask yourself if what you are planning will be used AS you plan...do you live like you imagine or will your life need to fit into a model from "Ideal Home" magazine? The wow factor is great but the practicalities you will be so much more thankful for.

@NewHouseNewMe our architects do all the interior design. One of the reasons we chose them as I wanted someone who thought about the whole project because we’re completely reconfiguring our downstairs

Ooh lots of good ideas, thank you! I’m taking copious notes. I would love a heat pump, it seems hard to find knowledgeable tradespeople to install it though?

@NewHouseNewMe, The ‘design team’ is an outfit that has both interior designers and architects on staff. It’s good to have a mix of perspectives, but I’m not sure yet how much it adds over having just an architect. Time will tell!

@laudemio, do you use the window seat or is it for the children? I think they look great, but can’t imagine sitting in one when we’ve got comfier armchairs nearby ☺️

Things I'm glad we did:
Corner bifolds in snug so opened it's like a garden room with floating roof
Roof light in bathroom where the planning wouldn't allow us to have a window - only a guest bathroom really but make a difference
Lots of windows and light
Ended up putting a velum in the attic so we use the space now as an office/cinema room

Cons: I'd be really strict with builder and deadlines - ours was flakey

We didn't extend, we bought an extended house but the one thing I would change is to have a separate utility. We have an enormous kitchen/dining/living room and a separate front room. I love the big kitchen living space, but we use it all the time and it can be annoying sitting there with the washing machine on. If we ever have the kitchen redone I think I would put a stud wall up just past the side door in the kitchen to section off a utility I could shut the door on.

In addition to well insulated extension, it may also be a good time to add insulation to existing walls and also to fit solar panels (or roof with integrated panels).

Insulation, insulation, insulation - both heat and sound.
Put in every carbon neutral thing you can (solar thermal, PV, passive solar gain) so that your house is cheap to run and holds value

Oooo I now want a design team!
Are you North of the river? If so, would you PM their Instagram details?!

OP - what about a boot room?

We already have a utility on the G/F, but I’m hoping we can relocate it to the first floor so I don’t have to carry laundry and down anymore. No boot room as such, but there will be a cloak room and hopefully lots of cupboards and shoe storage by the entrance, as well as a downstairs shower room.

The thing I’m most excited is the big scullery off the kitchen! It will be mine, all MINE 😁. And also redesigning the staircases, I hate our current ones.

We’ve already specified noise insulation, heat insulation and air conditioning in the brief (the loft is a furnace in summer). I’ve been researching eco measures, but finding it quite difficult to get an idea of the costs and benefits of various measures.

We are just in the process finishing our extension. From my experience I would encourage you to have extra money on top of your original budget. All these 'extras' that our builders found whilst building the extension have increased the final payment by thousands of pounds I think this is where builders make their money. Make sure to keep communication open with the builders before they start doing extra work and charging for it later.

Good luck.

Try greenbuildingforum for all things eco building.

You shouldn't need Aircon with a warm roof and MHRV

YY to having a big contingency in the budget and lots of windows/ roof lights. You won’t want to use a dark space.

I agree with the PP who said to think about your lifestyle in a realistic way.

So for me that was wanting spaces that didn’t have to be immaculately clean and tidy to look good.

So no to worktops that marked when someone put down one teaspoon.

Large utility room with a whole wall of cupboards. This has all cleaning products, overflow food store and all the other crap that everyone has but can never find a place for. As well as all laundry facilities of course.

Large boot room at the back door for our huge collections of coats / jackets / shoes / sports equipment / gardening clothes. We need this as well as a cloakroom.

There’s no point in having the most beautiful minimal space if your family will leave it messy because there’s no storage space and you will be angry spending your life tidying up after them.

Large area for bins / recycling boxes - otherwise you won’t do it properly.

Large pantry so all non chilled food is in the same place - no hunting through various cupboards.

Two dishwashers - the quietest we could find and they have sound insulation material on top , so we can run them and hear ourselves think.

My advice is to leave some money aside to landscape your garden. I’m always sad when I see magazine articles / blogs about £250k extensions and they look out onto a square of badly laid turf, bright orange fencing , some builders grade slabs pretending to be a patio and a set of white plastic chairs from b and q sale.

All that money spent and they have a hideous view.

We are in the finishing stages of our extension. The best things are:

Underfloor heating in extension and retrofitted in existing house coupled with good insulation

Walk in pantry cupboard for food storage

Large island with bora hob with integrated extractor ducted to outside which works brilliantly

Appliance cupboard in kitchen for coffee machine, toaster etc to keep worktops clear

Vaulted ceiling in upstairs bedroom to add to feeling of space

Can someone explain why two dishwashers? Is it so you never have to put the clean dishes back in the cupboard?

I would question aircon.
In the UK if you have proper insulation it should NOT be needed.