Semi detached houses in the UK started with the Victoria Middle Class to make people look richer than they were. They were built with the front doors at the side so when you had guests that would not go beyond the parlour or dinning room anyway, they would think your house was twice the size it really was. From there they just became fashionable as they suited the arts and crafts style most of the 1930s suburbs were built in I guess.
It looks like a great project. This is the stage for getting ideas before everything is fixed. Having done several such projects, I would make the back of the house a living/dining area with the most light and views of the garden. You currently have two tables within a kitchen/diner which is a waste of space in my view. You then have the piano fridge room which is essentially a hallway, and a living room which doesn't look large enough and doesn't get enough light. Even if this suits you now, if you ever sold it on it may put people off. I would instead try and get all the kitchen units (including the fridge) where the living room currently is (possibly have to take out the chimney breast). It can still be open plan with the sink facing into the dining area for light and views. The area where the piano/fridge currently is could be boxed in to make a utlity/wc area off a hallway and you would then probably not need as large an extension saving several thousand pounds. The piano would then go in the front room combined with a study. Also, if you haven't done so already, geolocate/orient your SketchUp model to the house location and switch on shadows and you'll get an idea of the real world light and shadows and how light/dark the spaces will be.
Looking pretty cool so far, comments on the kitchen area, I’d be keen to bring the fridge freezer closer, the cooking triangle back and forth will drive you nuts as it is at the moment, but I see why it’s set up like this in your plans. The piano fridge room feels a bit like dead space in such a small house, I see it being a good place to gather loads of clutter :) Last comment on kitchens, see if you can make your plans with no wall cabinets, it makes such a huge difference to a rooms feel if you keep all the cabinets low level. Oh, boiling tap. Must have that!
Cheers Paul! Yeah, we did have the doorway next to the piano on one of the plans but it would have meant going through my workshop to get to the utility / downstairs loo, which would be a pain. So we're 60/40 towards having the doorway where it is, but know what you mean about that dead space - we thought the same. 😁
+1 I also think that the fridge is too far outside of the kitchen, but I understand that fitting it in is a challenge. Perhaps put the fridge where you have the ovens, and put the ovens to the left of the hob? Then you have the entire piano room as a main floor office? Or, put the laundry + WC in that room, put the piano in the front den/office and then you don't need to build quite so large an extension. (not sure that would really save much)
I m with you. I CAN'T have a large fridge in my kitchen. Anesthetics just wont let it happen. What we did is have a ginormous pantry next to the kitchen and fridge is right at yhe dooron the pantry side. Out of sight but litteral 10inch from the kitchen triangle. On your plan it would mean fridge on the kitchen wall of your utility room, and remove? Door from utility room. The visual can be tricked by a smart placement of the doirway so the view from the kitchen/ dining space is a couple of cabinets identical to the kitchen cabinets.
My 4 year old daughter loves the plans but wants to point out “he’s forgot the roof” 😂 Great plans- could the current upstairs WC not be made into a small walk-in wardrobe for bedroom 2 instead of opening onto landing?
Ah Thunder Thursday! I was working on a roof in East Boldon when I saw it coming in, never seen anything like it before or since, at least in the UK. Sat it out and watched in utter awe.
Have you considered putting the laundry units in the small closet at the top of the stairs? It doesn’t make sense to carry your clothes downstairs and through the kitchen when the bedrooms are upstairs.
We do have semi detached houses in the US, but we call them "duplexes". Some neighborhoods they are quite common. My sister owns both sides of one and rents out the second side. She and I were just talking about a back extension just last week. She would like to add a large kitchen and turn the current kitchen into a dining room.
I know budget is a limiting factor but if it were my project I’d try to make the rear extension 5m instead of 4 - then the American style fridge can be fitted in the kitchen and you could have an 8 place dining table. Absolutely right to think of the front room as potential bedroom and I would echo other comments to try to make the downstairs wheelchair adaptable (not necessarily wheelchair ready). If budgets won’t stretch then simply put a fridge in the island so the magic triangle is intact. I think your model is really useful, especially as you’ve already considered waste pipe runs. Keep up the good work Andy.
Suggest you move utility and downstairs toilet into the garage, which is plenty long enough, and extend the kitchen/living room. Also put electricals into the room under the stairs.
I would put a wall with a smaller door way where the refrigerator is. And face the refrigerator toward the kitchen. And then the room behind it with the piano can be it's own little room and there would be a walk thru hallway coming out beside the refrigerator. And then it seems the fridge would be more in the kitchen instead of over there on it's own. Maybe there isnt enough room for that. Hard to tell in the picture. It's so nice that you have such a large back garden.
I would put the washer/dryer unit in the old toilet room on the second floor then move your American fridge into the space where you would have put the washer/dryer as suggested.
Just on the American style fridge freezer... When we were doing our kitchen a few years back we wanted the same Andy but we saw an episode of room to improve here in Ireland (Irish version of grand designs) and the guy argued for the case of having two integrated fridge freezers and having them open out like the American style as you can select if the doors open left or right. We did this in our house and I'm glad to say it looks amazing and has way way more storage than the American style unit. Pics available if you like. Only draw back is no door ice dispenser but we have a unit for cold water inside one of them. Bonus is they are Beko tall fridge freezer units and cost very little compared to American style!
Great floor plan! Looks very functional and I love the upstairs storage area. Your kitchen will need plenty of countertop space, so figure out where the microwave and dishwasher will go and also the garbage can. I can’t wait to see the completion of your home!
Hi, great video, I think your plan is more than suitable for the area, and you are making the most of the the space you have available. Only suggestion I would say is, sky lights in the extension to ensure the house has a bright and spacious feel when you walk in. Highly recommend Peninsula windows for this purpose, used them in the past and definitely gives the finish that you are after here. Once again, great video, look forward to see what you end up doing with the place.
Great design, and not too from my own designs. The only thing I wasn't struck on was the open plan with the living room, dining room and kitchen. The aromas of cooking might be too much for the other two rooms, plus it might be quite chilly of a winter time with the French windows leading out into the garden. The radiators in those rooms would be working overtime to keep everything comfortable. Apart from that, totally awesome design!
I haven’t watched the videos after this one YET but one thing about the garage. I built a two storey extension over a garage and I wish that I’d knocked it down and started again, it would have been a lot, lot easier and cheaper.
Hi Andy, I bought a plot of land and designed our home, and did the plans on a program I bought on a floppy disc from USA, the one thing we did was , a load of stakes, a large tape measure and big ball of string, went into a field near our home at that time, and literally built the house on the ground allowing us to walk through it all, our house is 5 bedroom and is 3600 square feet, including a 6 metres x 6 metre garage, , the main bedroom being directly over the garage so a large bedroom.I worked out the budget but when my architect saw my plans he said I had under estimated by a lot, he said cost of the build would be 225,000, not including the land ( £43000 ), my wife panicked as I had calculated a total cost of just less than £125,000 INCLUDING the land, long story short, have faith in yourself, I was right , total cost came in at £131,000 , and seeing as I decided to have a massive patio built at the back, was all to plan, good luck with your build mate, from Garry in Barnsley
Not sure if this has already been posted. I would, but this is personal of course, have two full windows at the back (by full windows, I mean fro ceiling to the floor), instead of your one bug window and the small window overlooking the garden. And I would also rotate the kitchen and seating areas by 90° to the left so that the seating area and the dining table would be nearest to the garden. I would think that one spends more time at the dining table and in the sofas rather than in the kitchen. But again, this is just a personal view.
you should still do the bit at the back upstairs if you are able to afford it or get planning permission for it for someone in the future if they want too, that would add to the selling price i believe, also maybe make the porch wider to the edge of the house and put the wc and put the door on the front next to it there as well and then make that window upstairs in the cupboard bigger for more light and make it a desk area without a door and maybe do a window upstairs above the stairs to make the house look nicer, and do skylights on the extension because your light won’t travel into the fridge room and the living room
Hi. Great job with the channel, keep it up. Just a few observations from your draft plans. I have made these comments noting that you're coming from a fairly big, 5 bed modern new build house. From a complete amateur, your downstairs plans still look "busy" with many small rooms and possibly under used "dead space". Once inside the porch/ hallway, you have 5 doors visible, within a small narrow corridor. Right from the entrance you have a compact double turn staircase, close to the door, with unused space under and next to it. Then you have two small rooms, plant and toilet next to each other. Then a door/way to the kitchen dinner. (Good move to reorient the fridge- freezer! Utility looks look like a good size too!) You described a full width extension but kitchen dinner looks small, with few cabinets, a small two seater island and a "single column" oven stack. You talked about the magic kitchen "triangle" but your space looks cramped and doesn't flow well. Those sitting at the island look out to the sink? The tall oven cabinet is at the kitchen/ dining area dividing line and visually presents a barrier to the open plan feel? Then there is still the undefined small front room and not so big lounge. And the garage you haven't quite decided on. IMHO, garages are overrated. Or full size garages at least. Take 1/3 or 1/2 of the garage and take time to carefully design entrance storage, kitchen utility, plant room and w/c. This will give depth and full width for a spacious kitchen dinner.
As a landscape designer, i would like to suggest you consider creating an office building that is more narrow and runs along your property line. As you stand in the garden looking toward the house, the width would be equal to the distance between the wall of the house and the first window to the left. This way you block the minimum of views. Alternatively, consider staggering the elevation that faces the house. That is, if your office is 4 meters wide and 7 meters long, add a bump out (or perhaps a bay to tie it into the original house). You will gain minimal square footage, but it will dramatically improve your view. In landscaping, you pull lines off the architecture of the house to guide your design. With a corner or a bay to work with, you have a better chance of making the office look intentional and well thought out.
Hello there! Might be a tad late, but have you considered inserting the trampoline into the ground? It can help make them safer, easier to access and you can sometimes get rid of the fence around it which usually turns out to be an eye sore. Love the project! Best of luck with it!
Great plans! My humble suggestion would be to close off the old kitchen from the new kitchen, steal some space for your massive fridge/freezer on that wall. And then possibly insulate that new smaller room to use for a drumming/music room.
Yes, you could recess the american fridge/freezer and a small pantry across the width of the old kitchen back wall, in the same way you have offset the new master bedroom and bathroom upstairs. It would also allow you to support that outside wall a bit. And as nerdlund says, it might leave you will just enough room for the drum room.
Sketch up has the option to change to a two point perspective, which is a more accurate way of gauging the views. Just a few architect things. I also wouldn't put a big unit right next to the double doors. Or an end table next to the entrance of the master bedroom. Otherwise, things are pretty good. I would encourage you to buy the steelwork for the extension at the back so it is stronger than it has to be so your option for extending on the second floor over that is open. You can even have it so the roof structure of the extension is cantilevered so the [ptential second-floor extension can be deeper than the first-floor extension.
Reno looks fantastic. A few points how I would consider when redoing this house- I would have potentially looked into building a back deck (this is maybe a super Australian thing) out from the two bedrooms on the top level. Perhaps french type doors opening towards views in the Garden (this could be done at a later date, obviously need to consider what support you will have to sort out for a deck above the new extension). Considering the weather in the UK, you could instead consider a sun room (however glass is a huge cost)...just brainstorming here. I would also switch where you have the study in the back yard with the vegetable plots, this would allow easy access from the kitchen (hopefully to a luscious herb garden!). This would frame the view from the kitchen and dining room as a complete back yard with a study down the bottom (creating a feeling of openness and inviting to enter the back yard, as the building may limit this more "open" feeling). The main advantage also of having the study lower down the block would also take advantage of the views directly to the river, patio/seating area, instead of the shed located a to the side of your view from the study.
I would consider moving the kitchen into the utility, we area and taking a bit from the sitting area and creating an ensuit with that ground floor 4th bedroom. Reinstall the utility area where the piano is or under the stairs.
Just started watching you, great so far and liking the format. Plans look great but I do think that you should reconsider your heating and hot water for ground source heat pumps, you've solar on the roof so running costs will be reduced, also slap a battery system in and your sorted. Looking forward to future episodes.
Suggestions: Upstairs: Keep upstairs loo where it is. Remove dividing wall (?structural) between the two small bedrooms. Have a narrow bathroom with just bath and sink. Waste could be routed underfloor to the street side of the building. Put built-in cupboards in the two small bedrooms on the common wall for soundproofing. There is a lot of wasted space with the upstairs landing. Downstairs: No separate utility room. Place double doors from utility room to garden so thru access may be obtained from street to garden. Use section of workshop for laundry needs.
Thanks for bringing us along for the ride ☺. Your plans look good to my untrained eyes, I agree getting a 4th bedroom upstairs would be hard without major changes to existing rooms. The main worry I would have is the lack of natural light due to the single story addition which could make those middle rooms rather gloomily. Maybe skylights/velux windows will reduce that problem depending on the orientation of the house. How much of an issue this is would depend on how you plan to use those rooms. An alternative would be to do a 1/2 to 1/3 width extension but make it twice (or more) as long. I'll be interested in seeing the garden plans as I've been working on a design for my garden over Christmas and adding a "hobby room" for doing wood working etc in. One thought is to deliberately break up the view in the garden to create multiple "rooms", that way you can have different parts of the garden reveal themselves depending on the viewers location. As I have a rather smaller garden I hope to use this approach to make the garden seem bigger then it is as well as to hide parts of the garden like the "allotment" which can look rather barron at times.
Great stuff! Yeah, there'll be velux type things in the extension so light should be fine. The living room is mostly for watching TV / movies anyway. Watch this space for the garden plans! Best of luck with your project! 👍
Eh up dude! A thought for your plans (having seen your comment about extraction in the new build). If you can work out where to duct it, and can fit it in the budget, I would highly recommend a Heat Recovery Ventilation system. I fitted one when I renovated my 1950s house, and although it's not ideal, and not as efficient as the quoted recovery % - because the house isn't airtight, I think it's great. I didn't open a window all winter, and not once did we have condensation on the windows in the morning (which we had before I commissioned the system) - we also dried clothes on maidens around the house, we have a gas hob, lots of showers etc. I will say be careful about what you buy - I bought one from an Irish company, that was cheap (turns out for a reason!) only lasted 6 months in actual use - but because I had purchased it 5 years ago, it was out of warranty - and was a totally sealed unit. I now have a Blauberg EC-SB-160, which was not cheap - but is app controlled, so, so much quieter, has pollen filters (and active carbon - should you have deep pockets!), and every single part is serviceable/replaceable.
Love the plans, I personally would keep the living a seperate room to the extention but thats because I aren't a massive fan of full open plan. Loving the plan with the bedrooms, that master bed is going to be a great size and gets the added benefit of the en suite
Cheers! We were tempted to keep the living room separate but it would have no windows unless we knocked through to the current dining room (plan version 104 🤣). Having that downstairs study would be handy though so that won. 👍
Great Stuff! If only I'd had the benefit of CAD when in 40 years of moving several times it would have made a great impact on design. I'm trying to learn Sketchup at age 65 for my son's house and extensions. Wish me luck! Thanks!
As you said, we all live differently, but this plan would work for me, too! You've retained the study/snug, you have a great open plan kitchen/diner, a nice master suite, and a total of three bedrooms works for your family (for now, anyway. ;-)). Your shop is perfectly located off the utility room. I've looked at countless plans for kitchens, and a large fridge/freezer is always a problem. You absolutely don't want to block the view of the garden, and although it won't be part of a cook's "ideal triangle", you've found a place where it will be close enough and not be obtrusive. I see that other commenters have offered other ideas, but you've given this plan a lot of thought. It's the one that works for you and your family, and it's within your financial ability - or at least we hope so!
My girlfriend is an architect, and says that daylight only travels 6 meters from window into the building, so that room with fireplace and the one with the piano won't have any daylight at all
Had you considered removing the chimney breasts. Will be beneficial in the two smaller bedrooms. No too much cost involved. Did something like this 20 year’s ago on a very small budget so there was a lot of recycling going on. Best of luck I will be following with a lot of interest.
I think it looks wonderful! You're doing a great job building/designing for your family. Just remember that opinions are like arses, everyone has one and most of them stink. Had to chuckle when you said an American refrigerator, don't know how you guys function with the typical size I see in videos. Probably because here in the US we have further to go to the shops so we go less often? In large cities, i.e. NYC, they have tiny kitchens but pass lots of shops every day on their way home. I live in the mid-West, and many have to travel 20 to 40 minutes to a grocery. Love the layout of the new second story. That storage cupboard will be wonderful.
I would consider switching the bed and closet in the master, and investing in soundproofing that wall. I grew up with my bedroom sharing a wall with the master bath AND my headboard being on that wall. Not the worst thing in the world, but I don't recommend it 😉
Happy New Year Andy & Family. Just a couple of points - one suggestion and one query. Suggestion: I know you are not going to do a loft conversion but that little 'broom' cupboard idea you had might be better used for a proper dog-leg staircase going up to the loft and where it is placed, it could easily steal a bit of the master bedroom en suite for the rise. You said that your roof joists are pretty sturdy, so double laying some more beams might allow you to board out the loft, add a couple of Veluxes and a load of sound insulation and you have your drum room plus a load of below roof storage to the sides. The location of that broom cupboard space enables you to effectively do the staircase as an inexpensive 'sidewinder' type access to the loft. Query: In your old house you had an incredibly large wood workshop which was superbly laid out. I can see the advantage of you having straight access from the front of the house to the back from the old garage and utility room but where are you going to have your large workshop??? Or is the new cedar clad office in the garden (on the left looking out from the house) going to be a workshop/studio/office ????
We had an American fridge/freezer but they don't hold as much as you would think. When we renewed out kitchen a couple of years ago we changed it for a full height 60/40 fridge freezer and bought a small chest freezer and put it in the utility room. I also agree with an earlier comment, try and keep the kitchen wall units down to a minimum. If you or your partner are into cooking, really consider having a pantry/larder for all your dried food/tins, food mixers etc. Try and streamline the kitchen area.
A thought on the boiler, after talking to a heating engineer about the prospect of losing natural gas in the future due to climate concerns and having to heat our homes solely on electric, he told me about hybrid gas boilers that are able to use natural gas but also hydrogen gas which he said is what's going to be replacing natural gas. Good luck with your plans and I look forward to seeing them come into fruition....
I know you said combi boiler but you could do a ground source or air source heat pump and recoup most of the added cost through the RHI grant from government. This would give you the added benefit of getting some cooling in the summer and it is more efficient and cheaper to run - especially if a carbon tax or something similar gets introduced as we start transitioning away from fossil fuels over the next decade. If the plan is underfloor heating this makes a lot of sense as it's perfect for a heating source for something like that, and underfloor heating can still be used to cool the property, you don't need a minisplit or anything like that to take advantage of the cooling.
Glad to see you are able to expand over the garage. The bump-out in the rear is great as well. Bit worried about shop space, but if you don't need much then you don't. The garden space is brimming with potential, can't wait to see how everything comes along. Happy New Year!
Looks like great plans, very similar to what we're exploring for our 1930s semi detached house. Looking forward to following along & seeing it all come together.
Put the trampoline as far from the house as possible - hate these things lol. Lots of thought gone into your project and as you say its personal. My only suggestion or observation would be to put garden buildings onto one side of the garden - leaving left or right with open views or flowing through to the river. Probably garden buildings on the left so the views from the bifold doors are uninterrupted. Good luck with your project.
Belated I know, as I'm fresh to this project, but before fully deciding I'd want to know if there's a strong prevailing wind, and if so whether it comes from the back...hard experience with my own place where in winter the wind is funnelled straight across our main (side) garden and hits the side of the house really hard...my missus bless her has (over my objections) removed the two trees and other garden plantings which offered that flank of the house a little shelter...the catflap is forever blown in, the back door now needs a porch (yes it's that bad...) and the downstairs wooden window frames keep getting "sanded"...probably a plastic replacement job...not to mention we now can't even keep the dustbins round the side...
That double oven will block some light from entering your kitchen from both windows, I had something similar, not a big deal, just a little bit of extra light, happy new year, I also did completely away with the extractor fan, I mean the old one was broken for years and I never had any problems with grease I use the oven more know and only cook an egg every morning
The fridge absolutely should face the kitchen. Remember the kitchen triangle. This will necessitate moving or eliminating the cabinets around the fridge. Put a divider behind the fridge. Semi-detached just means the the party wall is a firewall. The other wall is completely detached from any other building. It's just to save real estate.
We have had an American style fridge freezer for a few years but really there is not as much room in them as you think. They are Ok if all you want to store is small items but say you want to have frozen Pizzas they are really not compatible. We have changed ours now to a large fridge freezer which to be honest seems have just as much space as we had with the American style. All I would say take a careful look at what you want.
We had an American-style Fridge Freezer for many years (120cm wide), but when it needed replacing we found a Samsung Fridge Freezer (90cm wide) with the same amount of space in the fridge and more in the freezer!
I really like that room behind the garage..and how it opens to the garden, as well.. so if one was working in the garage or garden and got a bit dirty..you could disrobe in that room(near washing machine)
I like the plans it seems the logical solution to your family's needs , I envy you your ability to do much of the work yourself.as to the large number of semi's I was always led to believe it was for two reasons , 1 maximise land space per head of population and 2 minimise building costs. I look forward to watching you on your building quest and thank you for such an informative and interesting project.
The layout downstairs your planning is so similar to my brother's house (garage & utility at the other side by the dining room). The one thing they looked at, and plan when funds permit, is a balcony off the master bedroom, they have a flat roof over the extension which was added before they bought the house. Can't wait to see the garden plans!
Cheers! The balcony is something we'd consider but as it's north facing it would only really get morning sun, so not sure how much it would get used. We shall see! 👍👍
If you move the patio doors over a bit you could utilise the wall space adjacent for shelves storage, same units as the kitchen? Interesting project! If you are going for a modern minimalist look have a look at 'String' shelving, very adaptable.
Just subscribed! Excited to watch your progress. 2 suggestions, 1 move piano out to front room to be seen and enjoyed where everyone can gather comfortably. Make that room a huge pantry for your garden preserves. Secondly, place fridge to right of sink to get your work triangle to pull and place items from fridge on counters/ sink / stove and easy access that won't cross chef's workflow if someone needs in fridge. ( not sure what appliance that is there, microwave?) If microwave, place under counter of island facing sink, I have a drawer type that is most excellent to use. If that appliance is a wall oven, the sacrifice to switch to a full range is so worth having the fridge sink stove triangle!! Good luck and thanks for the new content
looks great, any thoughts to add a deck on 1st floor? Also suggest moving the laundry upstairs to the small storage closet so you do not have to drag laundry up and down stairs.
When we built a house 25 yrs ago with all the bedrooms upstairs my one absolute requirement was to have the laundry upstairs. Everyone thought I was crazy at first, but then then came around. It was the best decision ever!
Most LAs will not permit building over a semi's garage without a significant set-back from the front. This is to prevent a "terracing effect" where such conversions would in essence turn a street of semi-detached homes into a terraced block. If permitted, it would substantially spoil the visual appeal of a street. This does depend on the street and the LA so it may not apply in your circumstances. Looking at what has been previously permitted on the street is a good indication.
Looks lovely, I like how you chose to put the kitchen and dining room towards the back as you'll get to see the lovely views of the garden. I think it's best suited for kitchens and dining rooms and not living rooms. Living rooms are nicer when they have a bit of a cosy atmosphere being in the middle of the house. If you do get to rebuild the garage, I'd move the doorway a little towards the sink unit side so you can have a skinny storage unit along the wall that is shared with the kitchen. Perfect for all the household bits like vacuum cleaners, mops etc
Not sure if you guys ever do this over there but you should turn that upstairs storage room into a laundry room, looks like you might already have plumbing there too. So much better to have upstairs laundry next to where all the clothes are kept rather than carrying everything up/down stairs and through the kitchen. Just use the utility room for storage
I would make every attempt at putting a complete bathroom (meaning toilet + shower) downstairs. That way, if you ever sell, or in 50 years when those stair are lethal to you, you can have the study as a bedroom - and live completely independent of the floor upstairs.
If you're going to have a 4th bedroom on the ground floor , even for future selling purposes, you might want to consider adding a SHOWER to the WC or relocating the SHOWER ROOM closer to the 4th bedroom.
I would get rid of the downstairs toilet and make the utility room bigger. Get the big pantry cupboard in there. If you really want a downstairs toilet could you take some of the garage space?
Nice Job, Andy! Let’s see how things progress. First laid plans etc, etc, But the project has huge potential! Reminds me of our first Victorian terrace .....
I’m so impressed with your plans. That American sized refrigerator is impressive. Here’s some trivia. The “average” (have no idea what average means anymore) American opens the fridge door 15-20 times per day. An “average” family of four could potentially open that door 60-80 times every day. Looking at the placement of your fridge, I noticed that it’s out there by itself and not part of the working triangle. And it looks like there won’t be a counter close enough to set things on when you’re adding and removing food. Over here, we would gladly sacrifice the double oven in order to put the fridge in that spot. In fact, we would be willing to squish the sink over to make sure the big American beast will fit in there. That’s just how we think and definitely not how you must do it. Just something to think about.
It might not be a cheap project but Gosforth is an expensive area anyway so if/when you do decide to sell you'll more than make your money back! Love the open plan layout. Be lush for entertaining in a few years when the work is done and Boris finally ungrounds us all 😂
Really loved this in-depth video. Loved all your ideas, I like older houses and this one reminds me of my Grans house, same layout butte never changed the layout in all the years she lived there, but it was gorgeous. The bifold doors are so trendy at the moment, they'll look fab. Sometimes come to Gosforth, I work for Sellafield Ltd and I often stay in a B&B there, can't remember what its called 🤫. So keep up the good work
Happy New Year to you and your family. Great to see your plans. Good choice on the heating system. As you say, it is a very personal choice about what layout is going to be best for your family. I think you will be very happy and comfortable in that house once all the work is done. The only thing I would change with the layout is to have the fridge in the kitchen, and have the breakfast table in the piano room. I'd do this by building a worktop out from where the oven is now, and move the oven to the end of that new worktop, and move the hob over to the space between where the oven was and where it will be. This arrangement means you are facing dinner guests when you are cooking rather than having your back to them.
Good idea! I think we tried that on revision no. 287 but we kept coming back to having the island. Not 100% set in stone yet so things may change again! 😁👍
Hey Andy, just watched episode 5. Whatever your finally rendition is will be a wonderful benchmark in your lives. My only suggestion, and I think the architect will agree, is there must be someplace in the garden for me to sit drinking ale and telling tall tales. So it goes here at Taipan Woodworks
Upstairs looks a lot like how I imagined. The downstairs, some parts are how I thought it out but the utility room... genius. I didn't think about that at all. Good job & beautiful plans. I'm eager for you to get cracking. Where's the after vids?! ;) Teasing.
Hello Gosforth Handyman, Great Plans I dont know if this has already been suggested in the comments but I heard you would like a room for your drum kit have you thought of going up in to the Loft with soundproofing. I live in the loft and so much can be done with that space. Even maybe adding a Dorma at the rear would give you more room. If you are looking at replacing the roof anyway would be worth while doing it all together. Good Luck on your Project with your plans it looks like its going to be an amazing home
I think most of the flooding is from not maintaining the rivers, something this government never does is make hay while the sun shines. Velux in the extension are a must, could add some solar panels alongside too. I hate when people stack washers and dryers unless they are built ins, put cupboards above if you must have the storage space but don't stack. Also what about a larder cupboard? Can't wait to see it done.
It's north facing so solar isn't really an option on the back unfortunately. If the dryer ends up stacked it would be housed in a unit so it wouldn't move around when the washer spins. Saves a lot of bending down. 👍
Your new upstairs plan is excellent! A few suggestions to improve upon this plan: I take issue with having your primary home circulation get in the way of your kitchen circulation...ie. interrupting the “work triangle” between the fridge/hob/sink having the access to the utility space come through and interrupt that flow. It means that kids will get in the way and so on. My suggestion would be to expand the kitchen portion even further into the garden and have a deeper kitchen (probably 60 cm in so your rear cabinets with the sink are inset/or even further if you need more room for the fridge) and use the footprint of the original kitchen for your utility space and guest bathroom. The current space allocation means that old kitchen footprint is a confused mishmash of music/kitchen and will honestly end up being used as a dumping ground for a lot of stuff. It doesn’t serve much benefit visually to the open concept you were hoping to get. You also end up saving a bit more money by not extending across the full width of the back of the house. Move the piano and drums into the front room and make it your music room. You already have an office planned in the garden with a much nicer view. Then again, for inspiration, maybe move the music into the garden? (Piano moving costs will be much worse) In an earlier comment conversation you mentioned the garage wasn’t wide enough to fit a car. Do you intend to use this space for your workshop? Very excited to watch this renovation happen. Hoping I’m still watching this in 2 years man.
First thing first, a NEW ROOF, Second thing take the extension out 5 or 6 metres, you will only regret it at a later date. You have plenty of garden so the bigger extension would site no problem 🤔👍❤️
Cheers! Roof is fine (so far) but a lot of it will need to come off for the extension so TBC on that one. Don't really need it any bigger - will be more expensive to heat. 👍😁
I also have concerns about the roof. Sprayed on insulation does appear to be pretty good insulation. However it is an adhesive which makes dismembering any part of the roof time consuming and messy. It also traps any water that might get through the tiles which leads to rot (and some of the tiles and valleys looked distinctly iffy in the previous video).
@@ianbird4737 my Money would ,Strip roof tiles , get rid of all that sprayed foam , repair/ replace any defective timber and install new tiles, PROPER JOB .
I'm a little concerned about the roof too, looks as though it hasn't been all that well maintained over the years and again that nasty spray insulation hiding issues.
I like open living area - living room + kitchen, other parts of the house should be behind doors (entry hall, bedrooms, stairs to upper floor..). I really like cooking and still be able to talk to my boyfriend watching tv. In closed in kitchen I would feel isolated and lonely.
I hate open plan. What was the point in inventing rooms if we were going to just lop off inner walls to every function of the house is merged into one hodgepodge of a room? I prefer a small cosy living room rather than joining it with a diner for instance.
Semi detached houses in the UK started with the Victoria Middle Class to make people look richer than they were. They were built with the front doors at the side so when you had guests that would not go beyond the parlour or dinning room anyway, they would think your house was twice the size it really was. From there they just became fashionable as they suited the arts and crafts style most of the 1930s suburbs were built in I guess.
One suggestion make down stair door ways wheel chair accessible to allow for front room to be used as disabled bedroom in future
It looks like a great project. This is the stage for getting ideas before everything is fixed. Having done several such projects, I would make the back of the house a living/dining area with the most light and views of the garden. You currently have two tables within a kitchen/diner which is a waste of space in my view. You then have the piano fridge room which is essentially a hallway, and a living room which doesn't look large enough and doesn't get enough light. Even if this suits you now, if you ever sold it on it may put people off. I would instead try and get all the kitchen units (including the fridge) where the living room currently is (possibly have to take out the chimney breast). It can still be open plan with the sink facing into the dining area for light and views. The area where the piano/fridge currently is could be boxed in to make a utlity/wc area off a hallway and you would then probably not need as large an extension saving several thousand pounds. The piano would then go in the front room combined with a study. Also, if you haven't done so already, geolocate/orient your SketchUp model to the house location and switch on shadows and you'll get an idea of the real world light and shadows and how light/dark the spaces will be.
I put a flat roof on my extension with French doors in the main bedroom onto it. Works well for us as we get views to the sea.
Looking pretty cool so far, comments on the kitchen area, I’d be keen to bring the fridge freezer closer, the cooking triangle back and forth will drive you nuts as it is at the moment, but I see why it’s set up like this in your plans.
The piano fridge room feels a bit like dead space in such a small house, I see it being a good place to gather loads of clutter :)
Last comment on kitchens, see if you can make your plans with no wall cabinets, it makes such a huge difference to a rooms feel if you keep all the cabinets low level. Oh, boiling tap. Must have that!
Cheers Paul! Yeah, we did have the doorway next to the piano on one of the plans but it would have meant going through my workshop to get to the utility / downstairs loo, which would be a pain. So we're 60/40 towards having the doorway where it is, but know what you mean about that dead space - we thought the same. 😁
+1 I also think that the fridge is too far outside of the kitchen, but I understand that fitting it in is a challenge. Perhaps put the fridge where you have the ovens, and put the ovens to the left of the hob? Then you have the entire piano room as a main floor office? Or, put the laundry + WC in that room, put the piano in the front den/office and then you don't need to build quite so large an extension. (not sure that would really save much)
I m with you. I CAN'T have a large fridge in my kitchen. Anesthetics just wont let it happen. What we did is have a ginormous pantry next to the kitchen and fridge is right at yhe dooron the pantry side. Out of sight but litteral 10inch from the kitchen triangle. On your plan it would mean fridge on the kitchen wall of your utility room, and remove? Door from utility room. The visual can be tricked by a smart placement of the doirway so the view from the kitchen/ dining space is a couple of cabinets identical to the kitchen cabinets.
@@sophiesto6122 the fridge can be made to have the same finish as the cupboards so that it blends in visually
My 4 year old daughter loves the plans but wants to point out “he’s forgot the roof” 😂
Great plans- could the current upstairs WC not be made into a small walk-in wardrobe for bedroom 2 instead of opening onto landing?
Roof - ha ha love it! Tell her thank you but the weather is always so nice in Newcastle we don't need roofs! 👍😁
Ah Thunder Thursday! I was working on a roof in East Boldon when I saw it coming in, never seen anything like it before or since, at least in the UK. Sat it out and watched in utter awe.
Have you considered putting the laundry units in the small closet at the top of the stairs? It doesn’t make sense to carry your clothes downstairs and through the kitchen when the bedrooms are upstairs.
downstairs shower, a must for 4 bedrooms. As we have found out.
We do have semi detached houses in the US, but we call them "duplexes". Some neighborhoods they are quite common. My sister owns both sides of one and rents out the second side. She and I were just talking about a back extension just last week. She would like to add a large kitchen and turn the current kitchen into a dining room.
I know budget is a limiting factor but if it were my project I’d try to make the rear extension 5m instead of 4 - then the American style fridge can be fitted in the kitchen and you could have an 8 place dining table. Absolutely right to think of the front room as potential bedroom and I would echo other comments to try to make the downstairs wheelchair adaptable (not necessarily wheelchair ready). If budgets won’t stretch then simply put a fridge in the island so the magic triangle is intact. I think your model is really useful, especially as you’ve already considered waste pipe runs. Keep up the good work Andy.
As someone with a new build. I am so envious of your garden!
Can't wait to see the before and after photos :-) And the garden clean up video!
Suggest you move utility and downstairs toilet into the garage, which is plenty long enough, and extend the kitchen/living room. Also put electricals into the room under the stairs.
I would put a wall with a smaller door way where the refrigerator is. And face the refrigerator toward the kitchen. And then the room behind it with the piano can be it's own little room and there would be a walk thru hallway coming out beside the refrigerator. And then it seems the fridge would be more in the kitchen instead of over there on it's own. Maybe there isnt enough room for that. Hard to tell in the picture. It's so nice that you have such a large back garden.
I would put the washer/dryer unit in the old toilet room on the second floor then move your American fridge into the space where you would have put the washer/dryer as suggested.
Just on the American style fridge freezer... When we were doing our kitchen a few years back we wanted the same Andy but we saw an episode of room to improve here in Ireland (Irish version of grand designs) and the guy argued for the case of having two integrated fridge freezers and having them open out like the American style as you can select if the doors open left or right.
We did this in our house and I'm glad to say it looks amazing and has way way more storage than the American style unit.
Pics available if you like.
Only draw back is no door ice dispenser but we have a unit for cold water inside one of them.
Bonus is they are Beko tall fridge freezer units and cost very little compared to American style!
Cheers! Watch this space as we're now erring towards having a big stand alone fridge in the kitchen and a big separate freezer in the utility. TBC. 👍😁
Great floor plan! Looks very functional and I love the upstairs storage area. Your kitchen will need plenty of countertop space, so figure out where the microwave and dishwasher will go and also the garbage can. I can’t wait to see the completion of your home!
Hi, great video, I think your plan is more than suitable for the area, and you are making the most of the the space you have available.
Only suggestion I would say is, sky lights in the extension to ensure the house has a bright and spacious feel when you walk in. Highly recommend Peninsula windows for this purpose, used them in the past and definitely gives the finish that you are after here.
Once again, great video, look forward to see what you end up doing with the place.
Great design, and not too from my own designs. The only thing I wasn't struck on was the open plan with the living room, dining room and kitchen. The aromas of cooking might be too much for the other two rooms, plus it might be quite chilly of a winter time with the French windows leading out into the garden. The radiators in those rooms would be working overtime to keep everything comfortable.
Apart from that, totally awesome design!
the back extention is similar to what we have just done. we went 4.2m out and opened up the hole back of the house its great.
I haven’t watched the videos after this one YET but one thing about the garage. I built a two storey extension over a garage and I wish that I’d knocked it down and started again, it would have been a lot, lot easier and cheaper.
Hi Andy, I bought a plot of land and designed our home, and did the plans on a program I bought on a floppy disc from USA, the one thing we did was , a load of stakes, a large tape measure and big ball of string, went into a field near our home at that time, and literally built the house on the ground allowing us to walk through it all, our house is 5 bedroom and is 3600 square feet, including a 6 metres x 6 metre garage, , the main bedroom being directly over the garage so a large bedroom.I worked out the budget but when my architect saw my plans he said I had under estimated by a lot, he said cost of the build would be 225,000, not including the land ( £43000 ), my wife panicked as I had calculated a total cost of just less than £125,000 INCLUDING the land, long story short, have faith in yourself, I was right , total cost came in at £131,000 , and seeing as I decided to have a massive patio built at the back, was all to plan, good luck with your build mate, from Garry in Barnsley
Not sure if this has already been posted. I would, but this is personal of course, have two full windows at the back (by full windows, I mean fro ceiling to the floor), instead of your one bug window and the small window overlooking the garden. And I would also rotate the kitchen and seating areas by 90° to the left so that the seating area and the dining table would be nearest to the garden. I would think that one spends more time at the dining table and in the sofas rather than in the kitchen. But again, this is just a personal view.
you should still do the bit at the back upstairs if you are able to afford it or get planning permission for it for someone in the future if they want too, that would add to the selling price i believe, also maybe make the porch wider to the edge of the house and put the wc and put the door on the front next to it there as well and then make that window upstairs in the cupboard bigger for more light and make it a desk area without a door and maybe do a window upstairs above the stairs to make the house look nicer, and do skylights on the extension because your light won’t travel into the fridge room and the living room
Hi. Great job with the channel, keep it up. Just a few observations from your draft plans.
I have made these comments noting that you're coming from a fairly big, 5 bed modern new build house.
From a complete amateur, your downstairs plans still look "busy" with many small rooms and possibly under used "dead space".
Once inside the porch/ hallway, you have 5 doors visible, within a small narrow corridor.
Right from the entrance you have a compact double turn staircase, close to the door, with unused space under and next to it.
Then you have two small rooms, plant and toilet next to each other.
Then a door/way to the kitchen dinner.
(Good move to reorient the fridge- freezer!
Utility looks look like a good size too!)
You described a full width extension but kitchen dinner looks small, with few cabinets, a small two seater island and a "single column" oven stack.
You talked about the magic kitchen "triangle" but your space looks cramped and doesn't flow well. Those sitting at the island look out to the sink? The tall oven cabinet is at the kitchen/ dining area dividing line and visually presents a barrier to the open plan feel?
Then there is still the undefined small front room and not so big lounge.
And the garage you haven't quite decided on.
IMHO, garages are overrated. Or full size garages at least.
Take 1/3 or 1/2 of the garage and take time to carefully design entrance storage, kitchen utility, plant room and w/c.
This will give depth and full width for a spacious kitchen dinner.
As a landscape designer, i would like to suggest you consider creating an office building that is more narrow and runs along your property line. As you stand in the garden looking toward the house, the width would be equal to the distance between the wall of the house and the first window to the left. This way you block the minimum of views. Alternatively, consider staggering the elevation that faces the house. That is, if your office is 4 meters wide and 7 meters long, add a bump out (or perhaps a bay to tie it into the original house). You will gain minimal square footage, but it will dramatically improve your view. In landscaping, you pull lines off the architecture of the house to guide your design. With a corner or a bay to work with, you have a better chance of making the office look intentional and well thought out.
Hello there! Might be a tad late, but have you considered inserting the trampoline into the ground? It can help make them safer, easier to access and you can sometimes get rid of the fence around it which usually turns out to be an eye sore. Love the project! Best of luck with it!
Great plans! My humble suggestion would be to close off the old kitchen from the new kitchen, steal some space for your massive fridge/freezer on that wall. And then possibly insulate that new smaller room to use for a drumming/music room.
+1
Yes, you could recess the american fridge/freezer and a small pantry across the width of the old kitchen back wall, in the same way you have offset the new master bedroom and bathroom upstairs. It would also allow you to support that outside wall a bit. And as nerdlund says, it might leave you will just enough room for the drum room.
Watch this space 'cause we're currently tweaking the plans slightly. 👍
Sketch up has the option to change to a two point perspective, which is a more accurate way of gauging the views. Just a few architect things. I also wouldn't put a big unit right next to the double doors. Or an end table next to the entrance of the master bedroom. Otherwise, things are pretty good. I would encourage you to buy the steelwork for the extension at the back so it is stronger than it has to be so your option for extending on the second floor over that is open. You can even have it so the roof structure of the extension is cantilevered so the [ptential second-floor extension can be deeper than the first-floor extension.
Reno looks fantastic. A few points how I would consider when redoing this house- I would have potentially looked into building a back deck (this is maybe a super Australian thing) out from the two bedrooms on the top level. Perhaps french type doors opening towards views in the Garden (this could be done at a later date, obviously need to consider what support you will have to sort out for a deck above the new extension). Considering the weather in the UK, you could instead consider a sun room (however glass is a huge cost)...just brainstorming here.
I would also switch where you have the study in the back yard with the vegetable plots, this would allow easy access from the kitchen (hopefully to a luscious herb garden!). This would frame the view from the kitchen and dining room as a complete back yard with a study down the bottom (creating a feeling of openness and inviting to enter the back yard, as the building may limit this more "open" feeling). The main advantage also of having the study lower down the block would also take advantage of the views directly to the river, patio/seating area, instead of the shed located a to the side of your view from the study.
I would consider moving the kitchen into the utility, we area and taking a bit from the sitting area and creating an ensuit with that ground floor 4th bedroom. Reinstall the utility area where the piano is or under the stairs.
I'd put all the garden buildings on the same side to open a view down to the river & trees.
Just started watching you, great so far and liking the format. Plans look great but I do think that you should reconsider your heating and hot water for ground source heat pumps, you've solar on the roof so running costs will be reduced, also slap a battery system in and your sorted. Looking forward to future episodes.
Suggestions:
Upstairs: Keep upstairs loo where it is. Remove dividing wall (?structural) between the two small bedrooms. Have a narrow bathroom with just bath and sink. Waste could be routed underfloor to the street side of the building.
Put built-in cupboards in the two small bedrooms on the common wall for soundproofing.
There is a lot of wasted space with the upstairs landing.
Downstairs: No separate utility room. Place double doors from utility room to garden so thru access may be obtained from street to garden. Use section of workshop for laundry needs.
The only advice I could give is make light you’re number 1 consideration
Thanks for bringing us along for the ride ☺. Your plans look good to my untrained eyes, I agree getting a 4th bedroom upstairs would be hard without major changes to existing rooms.
The main worry I would have is the lack of natural light due to the single story addition which could make those middle rooms rather gloomily. Maybe skylights/velux windows will reduce that problem depending on the orientation of the house. How much of an issue this is would depend on how you plan to use those rooms.
An alternative would be to do a 1/2 to 1/3 width extension but make it twice (or more) as long.
I'll be interested in seeing the garden plans as I've been working on a design for my garden over Christmas and adding a "hobby room" for doing wood working etc in. One thought is to deliberately break up the view in the garden to create multiple "rooms", that way you can have different parts of the garden reveal themselves depending on the viewers location. As I have a rather smaller garden I hope to use this approach to make the garden seem bigger then it is as well as to hide parts of the garden like the "allotment" which can look rather barron at times.
Great stuff! Yeah, there'll be velux type things in the extension so light should be fine. The living room is mostly for watching TV / movies anyway. Watch this space for the garden plans! Best of luck with your project! 👍
For the garden, check out the "no dig" approach. It vastly reduces the amount of weeding that you need to do. It's been a game changer for me.
Eh up dude! A thought for your plans (having seen your comment about extraction in the new build). If you can work out where to duct it, and can fit it in the budget, I would highly recommend a Heat Recovery Ventilation system. I fitted one when I renovated my 1950s house, and although it's not ideal, and not as efficient as the quoted recovery % - because the house isn't airtight, I think it's great. I didn't open a window all winter, and not once did we have condensation on the windows in the morning (which we had before I commissioned the system) - we also dried clothes on maidens around the house, we have a gas hob, lots of showers etc. I will say be careful about what you buy - I bought one from an Irish company, that was cheap (turns out for a reason!) only lasted 6 months in actual use - but because I had purchased it 5 years ago, it was out of warranty - and was a totally sealed unit. I now have a Blauberg EC-SB-160, which was not cheap - but is app controlled, so, so much quieter, has pollen filters (and active carbon - should you have deep pockets!), and every single part is serviceable/replaceable.
Love the plans, I personally would keep the living a seperate room to the extention but thats because I aren't a massive fan of full open plan.
Loving the plan with the bedrooms, that master bed is going to be a great size and gets the added benefit of the en suite
Cheers! We were tempted to keep the living room separate but it would have no windows unless we knocked through to the current dining room (plan version 104 🤣). Having that downstairs study would be handy though so that won. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman I don't blame you, I'd love a downstairs study/ library in my house
Great Stuff! If only I'd had the benefit of CAD when in 40 years of moving several times it would have made a great impact on design. I'm trying to learn Sketchup at age 65 for my son's house and extensions. Wish me luck! Thanks!
As you said, we all live differently, but this plan would work for me, too! You've retained the study/snug, you have a great open plan kitchen/diner, a nice master suite, and a total of three bedrooms works for your family (for now, anyway. ;-)). Your shop is perfectly located off the utility room.
I've looked at countless plans for kitchens, and a large fridge/freezer is always a problem. You absolutely don't want to block the view of the garden, and although it won't be part of a cook's "ideal triangle", you've found a place where it will be close enough and not be obtrusive.
I see that other commenters have offered other ideas, but you've given this plan a lot of thought. It's the one that works for you and your family, and it's within your financial ability - or at least we hope so!
Cheers Bob! Still a bit tweaking but nearly there. 👍😁
My girlfriend is an architect, and says that daylight only travels 6 meters from window into the building, so that room with fireplace and the one with the piano won't have any daylight at all
A few well positioned skylights over the kitchen diner could solve that
@@johnj50 I was just about to say skylights 😂 think it would look so good!
Had you considered removing the chimney breasts. Will be beneficial in the two smaller bedrooms. No too much cost involved. Did something like this 20 year’s ago on a very small budget so there was a lot of recycling going on. Best of luck I will be following with a lot of interest.
It would get complicated since we need them for the wood burners and you'd still need the upper stack since it's shared with the adjoining property. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Are you not in a smoke control area?
I think it looks wonderful! You're doing a great job building/designing for your family. Just remember that opinions are like arses, everyone has one and most of them stink. Had to chuckle when you said an American refrigerator, don't know how you guys function with the typical size I see in videos. Probably because here in the US we have further to go to the shops so we go less often? In large cities, i.e. NYC, they have tiny kitchens but pass lots of shops every day on their way home. I live in the mid-West, and many have to travel 20 to 40 minutes to a grocery. Love the layout of the new second story. That storage cupboard will be wonderful.
I would consider switching the bed and closet in the master, and investing in soundproofing that wall. I grew up with my bedroom sharing a wall with the master bath AND my headboard being on that wall. Not the worst thing in the world, but I don't recommend it 😉
Happy New Year Andy & Family. Just a couple of points - one suggestion and one query.
Suggestion: I know you are not going to do a loft conversion but that little 'broom' cupboard idea you had might be better used for a proper dog-leg staircase going up to the loft and where it is placed, it could easily steal a bit of the master bedroom en suite for the rise. You said that your roof joists are pretty sturdy, so double laying some more beams might allow you to board out the loft, add a couple of Veluxes and a load of sound insulation and you have your drum room plus a load of below roof storage to the sides. The location of that broom cupboard space enables you to effectively do the staircase as an inexpensive 'sidewinder' type access to the loft.
Query: In your old house you had an incredibly large wood workshop which was superbly laid out. I can see the advantage of you having straight access from the front of the house to the back from the old garage and utility room but where are you going to have your large workshop??? Or is the new cedar clad office in the garden (on the left looking out from the house) going to be a workshop/studio/office ????
Cheers! Garage workshop should be fine if I can get a lot of the garage 'junk' in to other sheds in the garden. Watch this space! 😁
We had an American fridge/freezer but they don't hold as much as you would think. When we renewed out kitchen a couple of years ago we changed it for a full height 60/40 fridge freezer and bought a small chest freezer and put it in the utility room. I also agree with an earlier comment, try and keep the kitchen wall units down to a minimum. If you or your partner are into cooking, really consider having a pantry/larder for all your dried food/tins, food mixers etc. Try and streamline the kitchen area.
A thought on the boiler, after talking to a heating engineer about the prospect of losing natural gas in the future due to climate concerns and having to heat our homes solely on electric, he told me about hybrid gas boilers that are able to use natural gas but also hydrogen gas which he said is what's going to be replacing natural gas. Good luck with your plans and I look forward to seeing them come into fruition....
I know you said combi boiler but you could do a ground source or air source heat pump and recoup most of the added cost through the RHI grant from government.
This would give you the added benefit of getting some cooling in the summer and it is more efficient and cheaper to run - especially if a carbon tax or something similar gets introduced as we start transitioning away from fossil fuels over the next decade.
If the plan is underfloor heating this makes a lot of sense as it's perfect for a heating source for something like that, and underfloor heating can still be used to cool the property, you don't need a minisplit or anything like that to take advantage of the cooling.
I'm really enjoying following this series and I quite like how the design is looking. I'm sure it will evolve further as time goes by
Wood burning stoves also cause indoor air pollution, mainly when refilling them with more logs.
Glad to see you are able to expand over the garage. The bump-out in the rear is great as well. Bit worried about shop space, but if you don't need much then you don't. The garden space is brimming with potential, can't wait to see how everything comes along. Happy New Year!
Cheers! Yeah, bit of a smaller shop but think it will be fine. Good excuse to hoard less... or build another workshop in the garden ... 🤣👍
Looks like great plans, very similar to what we're exploring for our 1930s semi detached house. Looking forward to following along & seeing it all come together.
Put the trampoline as far from the house as possible - hate these things lol. Lots of thought gone into your project and as you say its personal. My only suggestion or observation would be to put garden buildings onto one side of the garden - leaving left or right with open views or flowing through to the river. Probably garden buildings on the left so the views from the bifold doors are uninterrupted. Good luck with your project.
Belated I know, as I'm fresh to this project, but before fully deciding I'd want to know if there's a strong prevailing wind, and if so whether it comes from the back...hard experience with my own place where in winter the wind is funnelled straight across our main (side) garden and hits the side of the house really hard...my missus bless her has (over my objections) removed the two trees and other garden plantings which offered that flank of the house a little shelter...the catflap is forever blown in, the back door now needs a porch (yes it's that bad...) and the downstairs wooden window frames keep getting "sanded"...probably a plastic replacement job...not to mention we now can't even keep the dustbins round the side...
Love your common sense and no nonsense approach, brilliant keep up the great content
Cheers bud! 👍
That double oven will block some light from entering your kitchen from both windows, I had something similar, not a big deal, just a little bit of extra light, happy new year, I also did completely away with the extractor fan, I mean the old one was broken for years and I never had any problems with grease I use the oven more know and only cook an egg every morning
Are you planning a video about your lighting requirements? Once you add an extension the rooms in the middle get affected for natural light
Great plan. I like it 👍
There's a guy down in London does really nice fitted wardrobes and tables etc... Give him a shout 🤪😉
@@JamesMears76 that's a shame I bet they would have worked well together
Out of budget for me 🤣🤣😉
@@GosforthHandyman London prices lol
The fridge absolutely should face the kitchen. Remember the kitchen triangle. This will necessitate moving or eliminating the cabinets around the fridge. Put a divider behind the fridge.
Semi-detached just means the the party wall is a firewall.
The other wall is completely detached from any other building.
It's just to save real estate.
These videos are so cool, just bought my first 2 bed house, I can't imagine having that much work to do but looks super exciting!
Cheers! We can't wait to get started! 👍😁 Best of luck with yours!
@@GosforthHandyman 6 months times....we can't wait to finish 😂 Good luck with it!
We have had an American style fridge freezer for a few years but really there is not as much room in them as you think. They are Ok if all you want to store is small items but say you want to have frozen Pizzas they are really not compatible. We have changed ours now to a large fridge freezer which to be honest seems have just as much space as we had with the American style. All I would say take a careful look at what you want.
We had an American-style Fridge Freezer for many years (120cm wide), but when it needed replacing we found a Samsung Fridge Freezer (90cm wide) with the same amount of space in the fridge and more in the freezer!
Will defo be checking that sort of thing. We had one a while back and loved it though! 👍
Agree - larder style fridge & separate freezer much better.
Love the plans, can’t wait to see the project come to fruition!
So glad CZcams recomendend this channel. New sub love the content.
I really like that room behind the garage..and how it opens to the garden, as well.. so if one was working in the garage or garden and got a bit dirty..you could disrobe in that room(near washing machine)
Cheers! Defo, and it gives front to back access with mucky stuff too (through my workshop, but that's fine). 👍
I like the plans it seems the logical solution to your family's needs , I envy you your ability to do much of the work yourself.as to the large number of semi's I was always led to believe it was for two reasons , 1 maximise land space per head of population and 2 minimise building costs. I look forward to watching you on your building quest and thank you for such an informative and interesting project.
The layout downstairs your planning is so similar to my brother's house (garage & utility at the other side by the dining room). The one thing they looked at, and plan when funds permit, is a balcony off the master bedroom, they have a flat roof over the extension which was added before they bought the house. Can't wait to see the garden plans!
Cheers! The balcony is something we'd consider but as it's north facing it would only really get morning sun, so not sure how much it would get used. We shall see! 👍👍
@@GosforthHandyman ideal spot for hot tub me thinks, French doors on to balcony in to hot tub, jobs a good 'un 😉 🔥🛁
I now it may be a bit weird in England but you could have a terrace over the single storey extension
I’ve just got a tingle like Christmas morning when this video got loaded up. Exciting times
Aw thank you and Happy New Year! 👍😁🎄
If you move the patio doors over a bit you could utilise the wall space adjacent for shelves storage, same units as the kitchen? Interesting project! If you are going for a modern minimalist look have a look at 'String' shelving, very adaptable.
Just subscribed! Excited to watch your progress. 2 suggestions, 1 move piano out to front room to be seen and enjoyed where everyone can gather comfortably. Make that room a huge pantry for your garden preserves. Secondly, place fridge to right of sink to get your work triangle to pull and place items from fridge on counters/ sink / stove and easy access that won't cross chef's workflow if someone needs in fridge. ( not sure what appliance that is there, microwave?) If microwave, place under counter of island facing sink, I have a drawer type that is most excellent to use. If that appliance is a wall oven, the sacrifice to switch to a full range is so worth having the fridge sink stove triangle!! Good luck and thanks for the new content
And they said refreshing youtube every 5 seconds was wasting my life. First!
Never a waste. Congrats. 👍😁
Those 2008 floods were terrible in some parts of Gosforth. I grew up with the River Osborne at the back of our garden.. wish it was utilised more !
looks great, any thoughts to add a deck on 1st floor? Also suggest moving the laundry upstairs to the small storage closet so you do not have to drag laundry up and down stairs.
Deck - possibly! Although it's north facing so not sure it would get much use. 👍😁
When we built a house 25 yrs ago with all the bedrooms upstairs my one absolute requirement was to have the laundry upstairs. Everyone thought I was crazy at first, but then then came around. It was the best decision ever!
if not a deck, how about a sunroom?
Most LAs will not permit building over a semi's garage without a significant set-back from the front. This is to prevent a "terracing effect" where such conversions would in essence turn a street of semi-detached homes into a terraced block. If permitted, it would substantially spoil the visual appeal of a street. This does depend on the street and the LA so it may not apply in your circumstances. Looking at what has been previously permitted on the street is a good indication.
The house on that side is already set forward so should be fine (not entirely correct on my plans). 👍
Looks lovely, I like how you chose to put the kitchen and dining room towards the back as you'll get to see the lovely views of the garden. I think it's best suited for kitchens and dining rooms and not living rooms. Living rooms are nicer when they have a bit of a cosy atmosphere being in the middle of the house. If you do get to rebuild the garage, I'd move the doorway a little towards the sink unit side so you can have a skinny storage unit along the wall that is shared with the kitchen. Perfect for all the household bits like vacuum cleaners, mops etc
Cheers! Some revised plans to come. 👍😁
Id think again about the position of that fridge. Keep it close to the main kitchen area.
We build a lot of semi detached houses here in Ontario Canada as well.
Interesting! Would love to visit Canada one day. 👍
@@GosforthHandyman Pretty sure we can squeeze in another person in Canada!! LOL!!
Not sure if you guys ever do this over there but you should turn that upstairs storage room into a laundry room, looks like you might already have plumbing there too. So much better to have upstairs laundry next to where all the clothes are kept rather than carrying everything up/down stairs and through the kitchen. Just use the utility room for storage
I would make every attempt at putting a complete bathroom (meaning toilet + shower) downstairs. That way, if you ever sell, or in 50 years when those stair are lethal to you, you can have the study as a bedroom - and live completely independent of the floor upstairs.
If you're going to have a 4th bedroom on the ground floor , even for future selling purposes, you might want to consider adding a SHOWER to the WC or relocating the SHOWER ROOM closer to the 4th bedroom.
It looks lush. Can’t wait to see how your garden will turn out too! How exciting that we’re able to follow along!!
Cheers and have a great 2021! 👍
I would get rid of the downstairs toilet and make the utility room bigger. Get the big pantry cupboard in there. If you really want a downstairs toilet could you take some of the garage space?
Nice Job, Andy! Let’s see how things progress. First laid plans etc, etc, But the project has huge potential! Reminds me of our first Victorian terrace .....
Cheers Paul! 👍
I’m so impressed with your plans. That American sized refrigerator is impressive. Here’s some trivia. The “average” (have no idea what average means anymore) American opens the fridge door 15-20 times per day. An “average” family of four could potentially open that door 60-80 times every day. Looking at the placement of your fridge, I noticed that it’s out there by itself and not part of the working triangle. And it looks like there won’t be a counter close enough to set things on when you’re adding and removing food. Over here, we would gladly sacrifice the double oven in order to put the fridge in that spot. In fact, we would be willing to squish the sink over to make sure the big American beast will fit in there. That’s just how we think and definitely not how you must do it. Just something to think about.
Cheers! Watch this space as there are still a few tweaks to be made. 👍👍
It might not be a cheap project but Gosforth is an expensive area anyway so if/when you do decide to sell you'll more than make your money back! Love the open plan layout. Be lush for entertaining in a few years when the work is done and Boris finally ungrounds us all 😂
Cheers Rachael! I don't think we'll make much on this one but we'll be staying put for a while. 😁
Really loved this in-depth video. Loved all your ideas, I like older houses and this one reminds me of my Grans house, same layout butte never changed the layout in all the years she lived there, but it was gorgeous. The bifold doors are so trendy at the moment, they'll look fab. Sometimes come to Gosforth, I work for Sellafield Ltd and I often stay in a B&B there, can't remember what its called 🤫. So keep up the good work
Happy New Year to you and your family. Great to see your plans. Good choice on the heating system. As you say, it is a very personal choice about what layout is going to be best for your family. I think you will be very happy and comfortable in that house once all the work is done. The only thing I would change with the layout is to have the fridge in the kitchen, and have the breakfast table in the piano room. I'd do this by building a worktop out from where the oven is now, and move the oven to the end of that new worktop, and move the hob over to the space between where the oven was and where it will be. This arrangement means you are facing dinner guests when you are cooking rather than having your back to them.
Good idea! I think we tried that on revision no. 287 but we kept coming back to having the island. Not 100% set in stone yet so things may change again! 😁👍
Brilliant video showing the plans in 3D as this poor house has really taken a beating over the years!
Cheers! Yeah, it's a big project but will be fun to see it take shape. 👍
Very useful, thank you!
Hey Andy, just watched episode 5. Whatever your finally rendition is will be a wonderful benchmark in your lives. My only suggestion, and I think the architect will agree, is there must be someplace in the garden for me to sit drinking ale and telling tall tales.
So it goes here at Taipan Woodworks
Ha ha cheers Tom! There will defo be a tall tales area. 😁👍
Looks great. We have the same right angle kitchen-dining-living layout and it lives quite well.
Great stuff! We tried every possible layout and that seems to work pretty well. 👍
Upstairs looks a lot like how I imagined. The downstairs, some parts are how I thought it out but the utility room... genius. I didn't think about that at all.
Good job & beautiful plans. I'm eager for you to get cracking. Where's the after vids?! ;) Teasing.
Hello Gosforth Handyman, Great Plans I dont know if this has already been suggested in the comments but I heard you would like a room for your drum kit have you thought of going up in to the Loft with soundproofing. I live in the loft and so much can be done with that space. Even maybe adding a Dorma at the rear would give you more room. If you are looking at replacing the roof anyway would be worth while doing it all together. Good Luck on your Project with your plans it looks like its going to be an amazing home
I think most of the flooding is from not maintaining the rivers, something this government never does is make hay while the sun shines.
Velux in the extension are a must, could add some solar panels alongside too. I hate when people stack washers and dryers unless they are built ins, put cupboards above if you must have the storage space but don't stack. Also what about a larder cupboard? Can't wait to see it done.
It's north facing so solar isn't really an option on the back unfortunately. If the dryer ends up stacked it would be housed in a unit so it wouldn't move around when the washer spins. Saves a lot of bending down. 👍
Your new upstairs plan is excellent!
A few suggestions to improve upon this plan: I take issue with having your primary home circulation get in the way of your kitchen circulation...ie. interrupting the “work triangle” between the fridge/hob/sink having the access to the utility space come through and interrupt that flow. It means that kids will get in the way and so on. My suggestion would be to expand the kitchen portion even further into the garden and have a deeper kitchen (probably 60 cm in so your rear cabinets with the sink are inset/or even further if you need more room for the fridge) and use the footprint of the original kitchen for your utility space and guest bathroom. The current space allocation means that old kitchen footprint is a confused mishmash of music/kitchen and will honestly end up being used as a dumping ground for a lot of stuff. It doesn’t serve much benefit visually to the open concept you were hoping to get. You also end up saving a bit more money by not extending across the full width of the back of the house. Move the piano and drums into the front room and make it your music room. You already have an office planned in the garden with a much nicer view. Then again, for inspiration, maybe move the music into the garden? (Piano moving costs will be much worse)
In an earlier comment conversation you mentioned the garage wasn’t wide enough to fit a car. Do you intend to use this space for your workshop?
Very excited to watch this renovation happen. Hoping I’m still watching this in 2 years man.
Cheers Steven! Watch this space as we agree on the work triangle thing. 👍👍
First thing first, a NEW ROOF, Second thing take the extension out 5 or 6 metres, you will only regret it at a later date.
You have plenty of garden so the bigger extension would site no problem 🤔👍❤️
Cheers! Roof is fine (so far) but a lot of it will need to come off for the extension so TBC on that one. Don't really need it any bigger - will be more expensive to heat. 👍😁
I also have concerns about the roof. Sprayed on insulation does appear to be pretty good insulation. However it is an adhesive which makes dismembering any part of the roof time consuming and messy. It also traps any water that might get through the tiles which leads to rot (and some of the tiles and valleys looked distinctly iffy in the previous video).
@@ianbird4737 my Money would ,Strip roof tiles , get rid of all that sprayed foam , repair/ replace any defective timber and install new tiles,
PROPER JOB .
I'm a little concerned about the roof too, looks as though it hasn't been all that well maintained over the years and again that nasty spray insulation hiding issues.
6m extension would mean a very shallow pitch for a tiled roof.
The main problem with open living areas, is they end up with cooking smells everywhere and a lack of privacy.
I like open living area - living room + kitchen, other parts of the house should be behind doors (entry hall, bedrooms, stairs to upper floor..). I really like cooking and still be able to talk to my boyfriend watching tv. In closed in kitchen I would feel isolated and lonely.
I hate open plan. What was the point in inventing rooms if we were going to just lop off inner walls to every function of the house is merged into one hodgepodge of a room? I prefer a small cosy living room rather than joining it with a diner for instance.
Great use of space. Looking forward to seeing it happen. Fridge is long way way from the main kitchen area though; 'golden triangle' and all that
Cheers! I think it will be OK. Our current fridge is miles away and it's not been as bad as I thought it would be. 😁