Has anyone split the main bedroom in a mid terrace into two smaller rooms?

[planthenact]

I would like to split the main bedroom of my 2 bed mid terrace into 2 smaller rooms by building a L-shaped stud wall down the middle and creating a small corridor so both rooms can have private entrances.

I want it to look something like the attached image.

The room is about 14ft by 12ft and already has two windows. Walls to be insulated and plastered. Each room would need to have new radiators fitted (there’s a long single radiator currently), new ceiling light(s) and new wall switches and sockets. Also, internal bi-fold doors to each doorway need to be hung.

Has anyone done anything similar? How much did it cost? Were the rooms spacious enough? Did it impact sale value if you sold later on?

Your diagram looks like there's only one window that you're splitting? Or is there already two?

You say that the single window is big, so hopefully dividing it will still meet Building Regulations. I'm sure you know these , but just in case it helps others: https://www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/doors-and-windows/building-regulations For England, they say:

Each bedroom window must :
*be at least 450mm x 450 mm
*have an openable area of at least 0.33 sq m
*have the bottom of the openable area no more than 1100 mm above the floor.

New windows also have to have thermally-efficient glass.

Hi All, thank you so so much for all your input and advice!!!!

In terms of layout, the rooms would be almost identical to the image attached, except for there are already two large windows at the front of the house.

The entrance to the current room is off centre (as in the picture) so there will need to be some sort of corridor in order for the stud wall to come down the middle and make the rooms of equal width. Room is approx 14ft by 12ft

Any ideas of how to minimise the corridor and how much space the doors take up would be much appreciated as well as cost estimates?

Can you post the actual floor plan?

A friend did this but the house is listed so if they ever sold they would have to remove the wall. It does work however the rooms are snug (she has three daughters who are teens) with one having a third room. All of the rooms have small single beds and small closets. Central London. Good luck with what you decide.

Have I missed something? Why can't you just have a door coming off the hall and a solid stud with no need to enter one room first.

I've shown the new door going into the room but it could open outward like the other one if you wanted. It's unusual but it could open that way

Current layout is almost identical to this image

i Have seen this done a lot over the years, and the easiest way is to make a square corridor in the big bedroom the size of the existing door frame, having a new stud wall in front of you, and the access (doors) to the new bedrooms facing one another, as in your picture the new right hand bedroom.

Electrics are as expensive as you choose it too be.
ie light fittings etc. one thing I would look into is plug sockets with the usb fittings as extra, so effectively minimum four plugs on a double socket.

how high are your ceilings, because a bed that is tall enough to walk under screwed to the wall frees up so much space, for the desk and wardrobe.

Or do you go for fold down desk and a fold down chair that can be hung on the wall, a wardrobe with the drawers inside it, screwed to the new partition wall which is the new wall opposite existing door frame, and a futon.

not to scale I know, but if the wardrobe is fixed with the clothes sorted, would your daughter like something on the lines of a Victorian daybed, and a Victorian dressing table to double as a desk.

i have a funny feeling the son will have the smaller bedroom, and if you could get a manhattan loft bed, he has all the floor space.

Have you looked into using the loft as storage. A decent ladder and boarding out is £2,000 approximately

Just seen your approximate layout.

doing a room in the loft shouldn’t be a problem as you have plenty of room in the hallway to have a proper staircase.

Three double bedroom houses go for alot more than a two double bedroom. Spending £15,000 making a three double will return you at least £35,000 profit in the south, done right.

Dormer lofts in this area cost in the region of £50,000😳 The landing isn’t big enough to allow for a spiral staircase for a velux loft. So dividing the largest room seems like the next best option.

I’ve seen houses on rightmove where they split the second bedroom and moved the bathroom to the middle of the house, but the bathroom didn’t have a window.

There was a thread about loft conversion prices recently and they were generally thought to be far more than 15k. Ours was 4 years ago in a terrace and was more like £50k and prices have gone up since then.

I’m hoping to get all the light switches and plug sockets to come off the new stud walls so hopefully they’ll be minimal work done to the existing walls

Should say that because the current doorway is off centre and closer to the left hand wall, there is not enough clearance for a door to open against the wall on the left hand side. This is why a small corridor needs to be created.

Wouldn’t a sliding or bi fold door work for the left bedroom

I think there’s enough clearance for a bi-fold if the door opens onto the left hand side but I’m concerned that not having full clearance on entrance into the room might look odd or not meet building regulations

Would you be able to have two 24inch or two 27 inch doors on the main existing hallway leading in like my “diagram”

sorry, I’m getting a little invested but I love house diy xxx

@ScroogeMcDuckling There’s not enough wall space for another door on the left.

Ditto with the DIY 😊

So unless you are prepared to have existing doorway to left new bedroom, a little hallway taken off existing bedroom2, to give right new bedroom its own door frame and both front bedrooms are square, no corridors, and then tidying up the floor space loss of bedroom 2 by fitted wardrobes, so it squares off bedroom 2, your original idea is the way to go.

i would look at getting a ladder installed into the loft and getting it boarded out (not chipboard) and electricked using strip lighting and a few double sockets.

Like my latest diagrams :-)

What I've seen.a few times in Victorian terraces is the middle room split into single bedroom and bathroom, with the bedroom getting the window. You end up with a windowless bathroom so need good extraction but that's not so bad, pretty much all hotel bathrooms are windowless after all.

I was wondering also what the downstairs layout is like, could the OP move her bedroom into a dining room maybe?

We're looking to do this as have twins and a loft conversion is so expensive. Similar layout to yours.

This is the idea we've had. We two windows too.

I'd go along the route of changing the bathroom back to a bedroom and creating a shower room taking some space from the second bedroom. It would mean you still had a master bedroom which is important if you ever want to sell the house. The second room is still a reasonable size and the third bedroom, made from the current bathroom is also a reasonable size. If you simply split the largest room with a corridor you end up with two tiny rooms and no master bedroom but a huge bathroom.

Cost for splitting a master bedroom would cost about £4k in the Midlands maybe more in the South possibly a little less in the North.

I think this as well. Especially if the bathroom is a bigger room than the resulting new rooms.

Bathroom can be small, wet room style, and no window necessary.