3 bed Semi-Detached vs 4 bed Dormer Bungalow

[ReginaPhalang]

We are in the process of purchasing a 3 bed 1 bath Semi-Detached house in Reading, which we really liked when viewed. It's right size for us and near good schools. It is a 100 year old property and we are FTBs. After the survey, we got to know several issues that need to be fixed immediately (which are not very really blockers to move in) but we felt like it might be a little difficult to maintain if any issues keep occurring.

While we are thinking about this, we liked another property in the area which is a dormer bungalow. This is a regular bungalow from 1930s which is renovated into a dormer bungalow. This is 4 bed and 2 bath with wet UTF heating downstairs which I really like (not a fan of carpet). But this could cost 110k more than the 1st house. We are hoping survey won't have many issues since it's recently renovated.

Which one would you prefer based on our knowledge/ experience? Are there any disadvantages with dormer bungalows? How is the resale value for dormer bungalow? Please share your thoughts, as we are FTB and unaware of potential disadvantages.

is the bungalow detached?

I have a semi detached bungalow and my neighbour is lovely. But we can hear everything through the walls.

I'd always recommend a detached home if affordable. Is the other bungalow detached?

You have to be careful with bedroom sizes with dormer bungalows. If they are small, they will get extremely hot with little air flow in summer.

I find dormer bungalows to feel quite claustrophobic. The hallways are usually small, the rooms too close together, no real sense of be able to get away from other people.

Is the bungalow immaculate AND detached? I would not expect it to go for 110k more than a house.

We live in a house very similar to the dormer bungalow you describe. I’m not a fan to be honest. Some of the issues I have are: the upstairs gets REALLY hot in the summer. Much much hotter than a regular house. It’s renders the first floor almost unliveable in a heatwave.
There’s no loft so storage is very limited.
It’s ugly - not a pretty, traditional property.
Because of the nature of the dormer more than 50% of our roof is flat. Not an issue as it’s been well maintained but some insurers still don’t like it.

Some of the pros include - the conversion of former bedrooms into reception rooms means we have a massive airy ground floor space which in turn means we got a lot more square footage for our money (this includes a massive ground floor shower room which was once the main bathroom but obviously isn’t now, it’s really useful though)
Bigger than average garden.
Easy to put up Christmas lights/fix guttering/clean first floor windows.

yes the bungalow is detached

Go with detached x

I would always go for detatched having suffered noise from neighbours in every attatched house I've lived in except for very modern new builds. I've lived in 14 houses.

Regarding ongoing jobs I've lived in everything from a georgian flat to a new build and they all need maintenance work doing. After the initial renovation and decoration I've not found age to mean more maintenance.

Bungalows are great because they often come in bigger plots which allow for expansion. Also, it's possible to put doors out in all downstairs rooms which gives lovely light and flow.

Regarding the heat in the loft conversion I agree with that but have found it in all loft conversions, not just dormer bungalows.

The dormer bungalow is detached, with 3 rooms(potential bedrooms) downstairs and one bedroom and dressing room upstairs. We found the ventilation to be good but didn't realise it will be very hot in summer.

The storage is less compared to the semi-detached house because there is no loft, and the total floor area of bungalow(156 sqm) is more than that of the semi-detached(97 sqm)

This bungalow is detached. Does this issue happen for semi-detached house as well?

Go back and view the bungalow again on a very hot day between 3pm and 6pm.

If they have opened every single upstairs window, that tells you all you need to know.

If the biggest bedrooms are south facing, that's a double nightmare.

I’d go with the semi personally as £110k is a lot more to take on mortgage-wise.

As an aside we have underfloor heating and found it’s ridiculously expensive to run so it’s turned off.

More space and detached is a win for the bungalow but how will you absorb the higher cost?...and if you can afford 110k more r there any other properties that you could be on your short list.

We found the bedroom size to be good, didn't feel they are small. The house is refurbished , so it seems very clean and easy to maintain. And the main thing we liked is the under the floor heating and no carpets downstairs.

Did you have a wet or electric UFH? I've heard that electric is expensive while water based is more economical compared to radiators

Underfloor heating: I have lived in two houses where two UFH zones meet right under where I have to have my sofas. In one, it made it impossible to sit on where it go so hot. The second, I no longer put one of the zones on at all.

No carpets. Maybe it will be fine if you have carpets upstairs, but my current house has none at all, and sound carries so badly. I can hear my partner peeing on the other side of the house on a different floor.

110k is definitely more for our budget. The 3 bed one bath semi is perfect for our budget but needs little work (we want to have another bathroom and repair the conservatory a bit since the windows b/w kitchen and conservatory is single glazed).

I'm wondering if it's worth it to go for the refurbished bungalow because we don't have to do much and can directly move in( it also comes with most appliances, fitted fridge, freezer, dish washer, washing machine while we need to buy these for the 3 bed)

Have had both types in different houses. Both expensive to run so they stayed turned off - in a previous place the wet sprung a leak (landlord hadn’t been maintaining it) which led to a floor being ripped up. It wasn’t cheap to run even after replacement so we turned it off. Current place has the electric kind. We just turned it off outright as the electric bill for one month came to £300 and it’s only in the kitchen/diner! Don’t get me wrong - they feel really nice. The issue is how much you’re using certain rooms vs how long the underfloor heating takes to warm the room to your liking. Setting it to come on for an hour will do next to nothing in some spaces.

I’d go detached bungalow and Install aircon upstairs. Brits are weirdly snobby and suffering about aircon, whereas it’s just another utility in other countries. If it hit, get air con installed. It’s a game changer.

But I’d pay anything for detached again. If you like your neighbours great: if you fall out then the sounds of them in their house will eat you alive

Can you get a 3 bed detached house for the extra £110k ?

Detached over semi every time. If the detached one was renovated very recently, it should have sufficient insulation & ventilation to prevent overheating.

Having had bedrooms in a dormer before, never again, so hot in summer and freezing in winter.

We didn't know we can hear our neighbours in semi-detached. We didn't observer it during the viewing. Also, I think we have the bathroom adjacent to the shared wall and I believe neighbour's bathroom is adjacent to the shared wall as well. Does it make the noise a little less?

We haven't met with the neighbours to find out how they are? Is it something that people do while considering buying a property? Is it normal for us to go and meet the potential neighbours, or is it considered rude/ weird?

We didn't like any other properties in the area after increasing the extra 100k budget. So only these two options for now.

thanks for sharing! I wasn't aware of these issues and costs with UFH

How old are your children? Personally, I wouldn't want my children sleeping on the ground floor with me above.

Wet underfloor heating shouldn't be excessively expensive if used in the correct way. It's different to how you'd use traditional heating.