Side area of land, old single garage turned into an annex
A good way to add space is to use the slim side area of land found around older properties, one particular house I worked on was a 1930’s detached bungalow which had a small loft conversion.
The family who bought it wanted to move to a particular area, a leafy suburb with good local facilities and schools, as they had 2 young daughters, but alone could not afford to live in this location.
The answer for them was to combine money from the sale of their mothers flat and use that to buy the bungalow and then convert it with additional space for their mother.
Finding the house wasn’t too difficult and the place they chose had a long slim side garage which was big enough for changing.
A chat with the local planning officer helped in their decision process who said in principal the garage area could be converted.
Taking out a larger loan to cover the shortfall until their mums place was sold got the bungalow and the family moved in.
The owners set about finding a builder [through recommendation] and architect [through recommendation] and set about designing and building their new home.
Whilst this was going on the sale of mums flat was going through so it was a race to complete the build before she wanted to move in.
However the build was not complete so mum, dad, 2 children, dog and granny all had to live together for a while until things were finished.
The design for this house was very simple, where the garage was [now demolished] they built a full length 2 roomed extension with lounge/kitchenette for granny
Two doors connected through the old outside wall of the house one into a ground floor shower room/ toilet and bedroom and the other door lead into the main house kitchen – keeping contact with the main house if required.
The first floor was then increased in size with a bedroom and bathroom for the growing family and all in all a very successful project.
I have since returned and seen the family who did this project and they are further extending to create more space but are very happy and contended withed the set up they have.
The other thing I did was take my mum to see what they had built and seeing a new annex for REAL made a real impact with my mum and I am sure went some way towards her doing her own.
Thanks
David
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