Expanding home file

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Learn more. Use our expert guide to planning permission to find out more, and make sure you have gone through your plans thoroughly with an architect or builder who is familiar with the local planning authority and their preferences.

As a general guide, when building a more ambitious extension you will need planning permission if:. What else might affect your planning application that you hadn't considered?

Here are just a few things to bear in mind when you're planning an extension. Features such as upper-floor balconies can be contentious if they overlook the neighbours. For windows, you can use obscure frosted glass, install them at a high level, or fit skylights. Building a two-storey, or higher, extension too far out from the back of the house into your garden may overshadow the neighbours, which will limit the permissible size. If your proposed extension could interfere with visibility for motorists, it will also limit how far out you can build.

See planningportal. Organising the access to your extension is an important early step to consider when planning a house extension because it could limit your design options. So, if access to the rear of your home is restricted, perhaps because you live in a terraced house, you will need to talk to your builders and neighbours early on in the process to ensure you won't be causing issues for later on in the build.

Having materials craned over a house is possible but it's extremely expensive and you need to get the agreement of the council to close the road temporarily. If you're planning to extend a house and your application is refused here's what will happen: your planning refusal notice will outline whether or not you can appeal and specify a time period in which an appeal must be submitted.

An independent planning inspector, who will take into account national and local policy, as well as the impact of the proposal, will then consider the appeal. Sometimes changes to an extension's design are unavoidable and any that are slight should be given the okay with few issues. However, any significant changes made to your extension's design after the planning application has been approved will require a retrospective amendment, or a new application all together.

Find out more in our planning permission guide. Side return extensions are a good example. Even in conservation areas you can build rear extensions as long as they meet the size criteria and are in matching materials. All home extensions need to comply with the building regulations. Most obviously, this relates to structural stability — including foundations, window and door openings, lintels, beams and roof structures. When it comes to submitting your application, you can either do this via local authority building control, or an independent firm of approved inspectors.

Either way, there are two ways of making an application — either full plans, or the short-cut method known as a building notice. Most extensions should naturally comply with fire regulations thanks to the inert qualities of building materials such as plasterboard, bricks and concrete blocks, which can normally resist the spread of fire for at least 30 minutes.

However, where you have any exposed major structural components such as timber posts and steel beams, they will normally need to be protected, for example with skimmed plasterboard lining.

Also, where holes are cut in ceilings for recessed lighting, they may need to be fitted with fire hoods. Extensions built with modern timber-frame wall panels are lined internally with inert plasterboard and also incorporate integral cavity barriers to slow the passage of smoke and fire. If your design includes an integral garage, then the walls and ceilings need to resist fire — which most materials should manage, although special pink-coloured plasterboard fireboard is the ideal cladding for ceilings and stud walls.

Ceilings to integral garages must be plastered, and any doors from the house must be fire doors with a suitable step down into the garage normally 10cm. Requirements become a lot more demanding for extensions of three storeys or more. Considered as part of the newly enlarged house, this might involve fitting special fire doors to all new and existing rooms as well as ensuring there is a safe escape corridor usually via the landing and stairs down to a main exit door, with the stairs protected with a fireproof lining.

If your extension is two storeys or higher, it is best to assume that you need to fit a mains-operated smoke alarm to the upstairs landing s in the newly extended house.

It's always best to pick a designer with a style or track record of projects that match up to what you're trying to achieve. Ideally, a local firm is a better choice than one that's distant, since they will be more familiar with the local vernacular and the local council's foibles. If you want expensive items, such as a certain brand of kitchen, or bi-fold or large sliding doors, let the designer know so the added cost can be factored into your budget. Bear in mind that some designers will charge for an initial visit.

Check their fee structures and flexibility before you appoint, too. You can find architectural technologists on ciat. Find out more in our guide to working with architects. We all know that recommendation from friends or neighbours locally, as well as via trade bodies such as the Federation of Master Builders, is the best way to find a good builder.

Questions to ask when looking for referrals? Was the project completed to schedule and as expected? Was it finished on budget? Were there any unforeseen problems and how were they dealt with? Ask to see examples of previous work and talk to past clients as well. Draw up a watertight contract using a template, such as a JCT homeowner contract, and make sure to state in it that payments be made following the completion of specific parts of work and not at different stages, as it is usually very hard to define when you are halfway or a quarter of the way through an extension project.

Use our guide to find a builder and reliable contractors from the best firm for your extension project. The annexe is such an improvement in size, shape and practicality compared to their old leaky garage. The Red cedar cladding is from Benchmark timber , the glass porch is from Optigen Engineering. A project manager, often the architect or lead builder, will oversee the project to ensure it runs smoothly, on budget and to schedule.

Or, you may wish to save money by running the extension project yourself. Use our guide to how to project manage an extension to find out what you need to know about the process.

And, either way, checking our week-by-week extension planner will give you an understanding of the extension process and help yours be built to schedule. Designing an extension doesn't just cover how the extension's interior will look when completed; it also encompasses details such as the roof's structure and height; the exterior materials used; door and window construction; and the extension's footprint.

Here, we cover everything you need to know about the practicalities — and, the fun bit, the extension's aesthetics. It's important to ensure that your extension's design suits your needs during the planning process, as it can be costly to make changes further down the line. There are many options to consider, including:. However, bear in mind that any extension that does swallow up a significant proportion of usable garden space may affect your home's future saleability.

However, side-extension roofs and walls often need to be set back slightly from it perhaps by 10cm to 15cm.