Converting 4 bed house to 3

[hby9628]

We live in a 4 bed semi house, it’s a 1930s semi so a standard double at the front that DH and I are in, then 2 small doubles…when I say small doubles I mean if they had a double bed in they would literally just fit a double bed & wardrobe. At the moment the kids both have single beds, wardrobe & desks, then we have a standard box room & small bath room.
The small doubles are either side of the small bathroom. We have already done a lot of work to the house and have extended downstairs. We’ve considered extending upstairs but it’s going to be approx £70k which I don’t think we would really recoup as houses where we are do have a ceiling price. We are considering relocating the current bathroom to the box room and then using the bathroom space to make the children’s bedrooms bigger.
Our children are likely to be at home for at least 10 years and we aren’t planning on moving.
I am a little worried about devaluing the house but for us, 3 bigger bedrooms would be better than 4 smaller bedrooms as the box room becomes a bit of a dumping ground. Plus if we aren’t planning to move it’s a not a massive issue.
Has anyone done anything similar?

@Twiglets1 no the boxroom is accessed from the hallway

@user1492757084 the stairs run down the side of the boxroom. They come up into the small hallway where we access all of the upstairs rooms from

@sleepyscientist I don't think so. The loft area doesn't actually go over that room

I think I will get more information on full costs for moving the bathroom and what's viable.

I might seek some advice from a local estate agent too just to be fully informed.

I've just realised that on my floor plan the little corridor rooms right to bedroom 2. There is actually a door from the hall to the bathroom & all bedrooms.

I can see why this would make a lot of sense. Have you weighed up the cost of converting to 3 bed and building a garden room against the cost of a loft conversion? If the loft conversion is a lot more expensive, your plan sounds like a really good option. As others said, make it work for you now, particularly as you have no plans to move unless necessary.

I think it’s a good idea to get advice from a local EA before making a definitive decision so you can take their views into account (even if ultimately you end up doing something else).

@Norhymeorreason a new bathroom I would anticipate approx £10K. Not including the pipe moving.
I don't think the knock through would cost too much as we know a great builder. The only thing we might need would be a steel if the wall between the current bathroom & room 1 is the original external wall
Garden office if we decide we want one again, approx £10K based on what a family member has recently had done so I would hope approx £30kish??
Significantly cheaper than the £70k we were quoted to do the double storey & also less invasive.

Do it! A 3 bed with 3 good sized bedrooms is going to appeal to many many more people than a 4 bed with 2 small bedrooms and a box room I would think.

In fact we’ve just bought a roomy 3 bed over a similar bedroom situation to yours.

We've had someone come round before and look at doing a loft conversion but they said it wasn't possible but maybe that's worth looking at again with a different company actually. We could get stairs from the box room up there I presume.

@twohooverwannabe thank you
I did speak to an estate agent to get this house valued the other month and said we would consider moving for a house with 3 good bedrooms but nothing worth moving for has come on & to move would cost £30k alone in fees that's before we increased our mortgage.
Our problem is we absolutely love this house, the area, the neighbours are great, family nearby, excellent schools, good commute etc. it's perfect in every way....except that bloody corridor!

It really sounds like in that case you should absolutely do what works for you now and worry about the rest later

@twohooverwannabe I do have a tendency to overthink things. Drives DH mad

I'm going to investigate the bathroom moving situation alongside getting advice from an EA
Also going to check out the loft conversation idea as that's something I hadn't reconsidered so thank you for that suggestion @Norhymeorreason

Thanks everyone for your advice. If you think of any other ideas let me know

We rent a beautiful 3 big doubles house plus have a downstairs garage conversion to office, plenty of people would prefer 3 big beds and lots of downstairs space to 4 beds but pokey ones

I’m a bit confused by the scale and dimensions of the floor plan 😂 but could you rejig to make the master bedroom, box room and bedroom 2 into 3 equal(ish) sized doubles?

@trockodile my floor plan definitely isn't to scale 🤣
I don't think that would achieve what I'm hoping for as we would still have the bathroom & the extension room so essentially would end up with 5 smaller bedrooms overall?

lol, I think I’m probably confused! But is the bedroom which is on its own a reasonable size-ie bigger than the box so can be a study/guest room? Then the 3 rooms which share walls could be turned into more equal sized bedrooms? So you still have the original bathroom but the box can be more usable? So 4 better bedrooms but more equal?

Oh definitely do it then.

Most 1930s 3-beds are 1 beautiful double, 1 smaller but nice sized double, than a poly box room. If you have a great 1930s home with 3 good-sized bedrooms then you’ll sell it no problem in 10 years time. Stop overthinking and make it right for you.

@trockodile I don't know actually. It's not something I've considered but I will do. The box room is smaller than the extension bedroom (room 1) so that could be the guest/study. I'm just not sure if carving up the current rooms on the other side would create awkward shapes but I'll definitely look at it. Thank you.

Thanks @NoSquirrels I think it could make 3 gorgeous, light, very usable spaces rather than a good double, a half double & 2 boxy rooms.

If you're planning on living in it in your current family composition for 10 years... make it the house you want to live in NOW - rather than fretting about years down the line.

For what it's worth - we sold our 1935 semi last year. The houses traditionally had 3 bedrooms and one had been turned into a bathroom as toilets moved indoors - so the "norm" for those houses now are basically as 2 beds. Some people have moved the one bathroom downstairs using an external coal store under the stairs type space - but we put ours up for sale as two decent size bedrooms that you could comfortably have double beds in, plus one mini en-suite/"poo cupboard" as the kids referred to it - where we'd put a small loo and sink in a really random awkward alcove, against those houses converted into 3 beds and ours sold with minimal problems in a fairly shit market (we went on sale just as Kwazi did that crazy mini budget that sent everything absolutely crackers).

If its like the 1930s builds around here you may well not have the roof height to extend into the loft - I know we didn't. A good quality garden cabin would be a nice way to make extra space if you're needing it for WFH - we had to make do with a conservatory but I would have jumped for a house with a decent garden cabin at the time.

You can always photograph and keep a record of the current floor plans to explain how you can go back to the 4 bed configuration if needed?

@CoffeeWithCheese yes I think it was the roof height with the loft that was the issue although I'm not sure if with a dormer that could be solved but I would expect that we would be talking £40k for the loft to be done as presume it would need planning for a dormer too.

Im agreeing with those who say make it right for us as our family as we want to stay here.

It would make upstairs so much nicer opening up those back rooms.

I don't actually need a massive work from home space as I don't have paperwork etc to store so as our downstairs lounge is quite large I could just put a desk in that area for now whilst we figure out a garden cabin but I expect we would add that in the future & then if the kids need that space it's there for them too.

What would you like the children to use their bedrooms for? That would decide whether it's worth doing the work.

@Zonder just to future proof it for them having friends staying over etc. I don't anticipate them moving out for a long time

Our children's bedrooms are all small but we have got round it by having lots of space downstairs. So friends don't go upstairs. I just wondered if that would be a possibility for you.

I would do it. Personally I'd much rather have 3 good size bed rooms rather than 2 small ones. Much more appealing.

I've always looked at the square meter age of houses rather than number of rooms as I don't really care if there's 4 bedrooms if they're all tiny. I'd rather bigger rooms and a feeling of space. But other people do seem to think more rooms in the same space = better value.