Move or extend? Is extending hell?

[nappyzonehasastroppytoddler]

We are on the brink of putting house on market and have soent weekend looking round and to get extra space etc it is looking more expensive than anticipated ...... dh main thing is he wants more room for kids bedrooms as both are small and the bathroom is quite small also. I just want a garden rom type room to relax in. Sooooooooo as the 3 main problem rooms areo nthe back of the house and our house os on a good plot he wants to call a builder in for a quote and plans to extend the back of house creatign a large ground floor sunroom type thing the full width of house .......... whilst i am thinking this would be cheaper (no idea how cheaper) i am also thinking it will be hell on earth living through it. Would it be - has it been hell for anyone here?

sorry my typing is shocking - just to add to that that the bedrooms and bathroom are on 1st floor so it would be a 2 story extension.

storey

We have don eextensive restoration including an extension and yes, it was a pain, but compared to the stress of selling and buying and moving (which we are now doing) it is the lesser horror ime.
If you like the spot you are in then I would be inclined to stay put. Just make sure you get a good builder...

It was pretty hellish for us for about 3 months but definitely worth it.

We had the back extended outward only single storey though and our kitchen and dining room which were at the back knocked through so 1 big open plan family room with kitchen dining room and sofa space.

The ds's were pre-school and once they started knocking walls down inside the back of the house which included the kitchen was out of bounds all day. There were times when I wished we'd never started but our house is so amazing now, I love the space we have.

We did look at moving but were put off by the cost, the stress and we really couldn't see anything in our price bracket with the downstairs space we wanted.

pelly and me ye thats the look im going for then having the extra long big summer room type thingy - so only one day when they knocked in? doing upstairs as well im guessing dc wold have to move in our room for a week or so. It will be interestign to get a guage on how much an extension will cost as opposed t moving. We have aguy on our estate who has a good reputation and tends to do alot of the extension work around here. I just envisage mud hell - that said i dont suppose i need to be on site if they are working outside initially.

nappy I would extend...IMO if you move to a new house and then live there for a while, you may find the space doesn't work 100% for you, and you didn't realise it until you lived it, IYSWIM, so you would have had to move and have building work.

Better the devil you know, get the work done on your place as it is and get the house you really want that way.

Its awful, dusty and depressing while its going on by by jinkers its worth it in the end.

oooooooo i am going to ring mr builder guy tomorrow - i just commented to dh i would like to put our table and have a corner settee on our new downstairs room and he muttered something about a pool table

Your right though - i am concerned if we move on other part of estate dc will have to be bussed off to secondary school whereas were we are now we re in catchment for local one.

is your kitchen diner super sexy - i would love an island lol but thats a bit dreamy! oh and i am led to belive they are for baking on and i dont bake

I wouldn't say super sexy....but its airy and light and spacious and the kids can leave their Playmobile on the floor without me stepping on it and swearing. So that's got to be a good thing!

oh yes ! - playmobil foot stabbings are lethal!

Ugh we are currently considering a 3 bedroom house we viewed yesterday - we would need to add a double storey extension on it!! Ugh...

ooooo ally ally that sounds double painful - i only want one type of pain - moving or extending!

My friend did an extension. She did loft extension to create a further bedroom with an en suite bathroom, and she extended downstairs to create a large open plan kitchen and dining area, extended conservatory style out to the garden. Even if only the loft and downstairs was affected they moved into rented accommodation for 9 months during the build...

got builder comming tomorrow night for a quote

i have been out with my measuring stick as only want to go to end of patio and it was only 3m so im thinking with the width of a brick and the plastering on the walls it would only be an extra 2.5m. Madness or still enough - i suppose a 2 seater sofa isnt that wide .

prob in the region of 60k? be interested to know if any different.
i too was going to extend. 2 story like you. got all plans drawn up then changed mind and we currently in process of moving! (sale and purchase agreed STC)

We are about to embark on an extension. We tried to move to a larger house, but had no luck on the market. Now we've decided to do a two-storey extension, plus renovation of our conservatory to create a kitchen/family room. We will also renovate the kitchen and convert our garage into an extra room. We have asked a surveyor to project manage. He estimates that it will take about 18 weeks and says that, because of the work on the kitchen, we should move out for the duration. Apparently, if we didn't, the work would take even longer (because of having to reconnect the water supply each day, etc). I'm a bit daunted by having to pay rent for this time (rents are very high in our area), but I think it will be worth it in the end. We hope it will give us another 4-5 years in this house. Then we really will have to move (the children will need more space), but, hopefully, by then, the housing market will have recovered.

our dowstairs kitchen and utility will stay where it is so im not anticipating major downstairs disruption as same external wall will remain down there and as will do the whole knocking diner into kitchen once things have settled and we are back to normal ish - back upstairs windows havent been in that long (upvc) so i am envisaging they can use the same windows as rooms will be same width just longer. Uostairs will be the major work as back of house will be comming of upstairs. oooo im hoping for less than 60k beleive me! Its only a modest mclean build 4 bed new build type shoebox so not a palatial mansion width! oldimum is your 2 storey in the region of 60k - i will report back when i have my price and decide to manage with no space lol

I'd say extend, even though it is absolute hell on wheels with sparkling knobs on. Less stressful moving, but (probably) more expensive overall.

Include in the budget renting somewhere local for 6 months IMO. Round our way, renting even a 1-bed flat for that period would be an absolute minimum of £7K plus a deposit, or about 5% of the project budget. Don't forget all the fees either.

Talk to your neighbours soon - now, preferably. DH and I kept saying we would talk to the neighbours when we knew a bit more what was happening. Not a good idea.

We are going to extend as well. We were in two minds to move or extend but we are hoping once everything is done this house shoud be pretty much perfect for us for the next 20 years or so.

Luckily the extension is seperate from the rest of the house apart from small knock through to the existing kitchen, so we wont have to move out. The kitchen will then be redone once the new utility is in place. I'm actually getting the existing house into order first then we will begin in the summer.

Our extension consists of large mainly glass fronted family room which will contain dining area. Then through to large utility/boot room with seperate wet room. Stairs go up from the family room into what will be a tv room. Next door to that above the utility will be a bedroom with balcony overlooking the garden.

However before work can start we have to build a new double garage and knockdown the existing old garage that stands at the back of the kitchen where the new family room will be.

I'm estimating £100k which will be much cheaper than moving to a similar property. thats if I could even find an existing property that is going to give us the space we want.

It is going to be hellish though I have no doubt.

fatjac i am led to beleive the more glass so the cheaper as its cheaper than bricks and less work! - hope thats right!

the costs of your extensions are making me nervous though!

Nappyzone, uur project will cost quite a lot more than 60K, I'm afraid. We got a quote for just the kitchen/conservatory part of the project three years ago and that was for 60K. The expense came from the quite high specs involved and also the plans for underfloor heating (the current conservatory is old and very low quality, too hot in summer and too cold in winter). I'll get back to you when we get some quotes for the whole job, but we know we're looking at well over 100K [this also includes another job - doing-up a brick outbuilding to make a playroom]. The advice we were given by an estate agent last year was to be careful not to invest too much in the house, as there was a risk we will not recoup it all when we finally sell. This is because, although the house is pretty and in a beautiful location, it's a semi, which puts a cap on the selling price. But we have to live here now and will get the benefit for several years, at least, so we will go ahead anyway.

I agree about talking to your neighbours. Ours have just submitted plans for their extension. Hopefully we can synchronise the jobs, to minimise disruption and noise for everyone.

i think you need to beef up your budget a bit. how many m2 will you be adding?

1st builder been out and said 42k plus we need to add on our bathroom suite and fitting and also new boiler......

god i have no idea of m2. Its 3m x the width of our abode on 2 storeys which is perhaps finger in the air.... 10m though am probs way out......