I think you need to consider how many rooms you want when you have finished. I suspect you can work around the chimney without the expense of removing it. I think you should be weighing up the cost of an extension vs a dormer.

And I think you should be realistic about what features sell a 1920s property and what features have fallen out of favour…. For instance given the age of the property I bet the windows and the roof are charming but I bet the entrance is tight and looking at the plan may not be on the front. Furthermore the car was rarely considered when this was built- you may want to consider where you park in relation to privacy in bedrooms and having a visible front door.

So I’m saying more information please

Hi Jonathan,

You've asked exactly the question i am struggling with regarding entrance flow, and why the thought of living in the property before confirming extension vs dormer or both.

The front door has a path straight down to the front gate in the hedge, however i don't expect this to be used by anyone other than delivery's, as you mention the initial hallway is tight through the double front door entrance.

I can see myself using the lean to as the entrance as the silver topped structure to the far right of the plot is the garage and parking area.

Ideally 2/3 bedroom one being master en suite, large kitchen, diner, living room a separate bathroom away from the kitchen & if it can fit a utility and mud room.

All windows and doors require replacement.

Couple of questions……. Am I right in thinking this is your plot?Is the sunniest part of the plot where your garage is?
Is there any garden to the left (presumably west side).
Is the road noisy- because if the best garden is behind the house you might decide to extend to the side rather than on the kitchens side.
Is there any possibility/advantage of moving the drive

Couple of questions……. Am I right in thinking this is your plot?Is the sunniest part of the plot where your garage is?
Is there any garden to the left (presumably west side).
Is the road noisy- because if the best garden is behind the house you might decide to extend to the side rather than on the kitchens side.
Is there any possibility/advantage of moving the drive also is it pretty- will a dormer adversely affect it? Will the dormer have to be on the back?

The plot is everything within the snip, it is a 1.25 acre plot, the intention is to cut back the overgrown shrubs and reclaim some of the south facing garden. the road side of the house is north facing.

The road side could be noisy at peak times but only with village traffic, there is the possibility of moving the drive if required.

There is no garden to the west until ~50m back from the current lean to as the garden wraps around the neighbour however i didn't think this was required within scope.

The rear roof isnt overly pretty due to the current flat roof intersect the idea behind the rear dormer was to allow views into the orchard and further woodland.

That plot is much bigger than I originally thought- it’s quite special.

Firstly I would be looking at if it’s possible to fit an additional 2 houses on this big plot- if so the I say get the planning permission and either cash out or live on one of the three.

Next I think I would abandon ideas of going up for several reasons:
1/ you have the room to extend outwards.
2/ the property is undersized for the plot so the curb appeal will be improved by making it look more substantial.
Extending sideways gives an opportunity to build a grander front door near the driveway.
4/ even with a dormer the upstairs will be long and thin and so that has compromises on the layout and the size of rooms.

Given you likely have spent up buying the house the initial plan should be to work with the square footage you have.

And assuming you don’t sell the house for the plot you could then extend in phases as budget allows.

This is one possibility out of many

I really appreciate you taking the time to put some plans together as visually its really helpful!

I see where you are going with this, what would you do with the lean to on the original square footage plan?

The thought of moving the kitchen twice even if being partially repurposed into a utility seems a lot of work and potentially worth waiting for until extension is in?

I am an electrician and my brother in law is a roofer / carpenter, a lot of this will be carried out by ourselves, the lathe and plaster has failed in both the hallway and living room so that all needs to go and be re-boarded, a partial rewire will also happen.

The wall of what is the front right bedroom to hallway is non structural, while that's back to brick do you think its worth squaring off the hallway by removing the wall and putting in a stud wall to address the tight entrance, maybe making this into the family bathroom? The living room to hall way is currently stud, could the living dining become the master and en suite keeping the central double sided fire place along with vaulting the ceiling in the reception room area to bring light in?

We now believe the wall splitting the two left bedrooms is structural and like you have said would likely mean the effort to remove the chimney being high.

Wow that’s a lot of questions.
Lean to- that description makes it sound like you would have to rebuilt it to use it as accomodation- I assume it’s best used as storage at present.

You need to be realistic about how long it will be before you can build a big extension. Assuming it’s years then I don’t see the problem with installing a kitchen now - you might buy second hand if you imagine it’s soon going to become a utility room.

Turning a big bedroom into a bathroom- I think that’s a bad use of your square footage and would reduce the value now. My plan has a large bathroom and it’s still half the size you are suggesting.

Room with a double sided fireplace- I think this would make a poor master bedroom- firstly I bet it’s nowhere near the drains, secondly the ensuite would be way too big for this sized property. Thirdly your reception rooms should have directly access to your best garden not the bedroom.

We currently have ~60k ready towards what will be a mostly DIY build, potentially timber as thats where our skillset is rather than blockwork, thats why the dormer came to mind first with the current budget.

lean to as you rightly said would need to be rebuilt to be used as accommodation its currently single skin brickwork.

Your phased approach is smart! Removing the double chimney for a future staircase and converting two bedrooms into a master with en-suite makes sense. For the kitchen-bathroom layout, consider minor tweaks before the full extension.

Plan staircase placement early to align with the loft dormer.

Rear extension should maximize light and ceiling height for a seamless open-plan feel.

Structural check before chimney removal and get loft conversion sketches now to avoid rework.

Check planning permissions to ensure extensions and loft work align with regulations.

Might this be an option: (Assumes you will put loft bedroom/s in)

-removing the corner fireplaces

-building a small extension off the current kitchen and living room

-conservatory sun room in place of the lean to

-rebuilding the reception room as one large living room eventually with bedrooms above

Thank you for drawing that out! i think everyone has the same opinion of the entrance hall needing to be made wider, there are so many options and there are obviously pros and cons against them all.

I think the entrance is wide enough for the size of the property currently and in any case you have said you will likely not use the current front door. I say build a new hallway and resite the front door closer to the garage when you can afford to extend.

Right now widening the entrance just reduces the size of the number of rooms so you are in danger of devaluing it.

And I think you need to be realistic about the value of loft rooms. Although I appreciate this is cheaper to build than an extension it won’t add as much useable space or add as much value.

And since this is an oversized plot you should find out if it could become a building plot- it could potentially make you rich

Hi everyone,

The plot wraps around next door, red is next doors plot everything else is the plot for the bungalow. The current garage is concrete and will likely be removed or replaced.

Would this work for you? Could then extend in the next phase.

Thank you everyone for your input and vision its been great!

From initial conversations it seems the dormer conversion would be the quicker turn around combined with the choice to remove all the lathe and plaster ceiling which has failed, it would allow great access for materials in the first few months while having additional accommodation overlap.

If you were to incorporate stairs into the initial plan you've designed how would you go about this? Dormer loft configuration would be master and on suite potentially with a dressing area if it can be squeezed in, Full length rear dormer.

Personally I don’t think a loft conversion is worth doing because in order to create a bedroom and bathroom downstairs you will loose much downstairs space so by the time you are finished you will have gained very little. At the end is it you will have an additional bathroom and one small downstairs bedroom.

If you build upwards you will still have to build the dormer, buy a staircase and windows, insulate, plasterboard and skim the upstairs so you will easily spend £9-12k even without paying for labour. That’s money is still a lot of investment to gain very little.

I think you are fixed on a dormer because you want to feel like you are improving the property and making it your own but I don’t see the return of investment here. I don’t see a return because a lot of what you gain upstairs is lost when you have to reconfigure the downstairs to accomodate stairs.

Furthermore you have sent me the link to the details and I can see it’s not a very tall building which makes me doubtful that when an upper floor will have the minimum 2.2m when you have finished. Bare in mind that strengthening the ceiling trusses to make a load bearing floor for upstairs, adding insulation and plaster boarding will all reduce the available head height you have now- look at the head height under the ridge and if it is any less than 2.5m now then it’s not worth considering building upwards (unless you intend to raise the roof).

I think you should save your money until you can afford a bigger project such as an extension or raising the roof. And I stand by my earlier recommendation to explore planning for additional properties on this enormous plot.

Hi Jonathan,

I get what you are saying, truss to ridge is 2.56m and honestly the dormer fixation is partially for the bedroom views over the garden, as you have also said the loss of space down stairs is a factor, the only efficient use i can see would be in place of the joint triangular fireplace and chimney removal between the bedrooms, which i am trying to get priced.

I totally understand the planning aspect, this is what the property was listed towards, flattening the bungalow for additional properties.

However for now the property is in a very handy location for me. The plot's garden needs some attention but it was one of the factors that influenced me into the purchase.

I do like the thought of the bifold added into current living and or reception room to open it up as it would also work well with the extension ideas they you, tab and kat have suggested.

It’s clear that any upstairs would have the bare minimum of head height and I’m confident that the cost of the chimney removal is uneconomic not because it’s crazy money but because you have to spend too much to gain very little and you still need to steal off a downstairs room. It’s time to abandon the loft extension idea because all of the downstairs rooms are the right size and proportion for your over all square footage……. That wouldn’t be a problem if you were realistically going to build an extension soon but I think that’s a long way off.

Here’s what you should be doing. Use the current spaces only dividing the current kitchen to create a back entrance and utility and putting the kitchen in the living room that faces the garden.

You should then be trying to get planning permission for additional properties on the plot. If successful you would have an asset worth £700,000 you could pay off your mortgage, retain a good garden and build an extension……. although it is also possible that planners won’t like the new drive to the houses being where your drive is (given there is a junction opposite.). It may be that to divide the plot the entrance will need to be where the property is now, and for that reason you should anticipate its future demolition and reign in your spending to make it nice enough for the two years it will take to get the plans and find a buyer. At that point you will have the option of using one of the plots or taking your money elsewhere. But for the time being reign in the spending assuming that things could all change in a couple of years.

Knock it down and divide the plot. The plot is far too good for a dormer bungalow.

Hi Everyone,

I have had the keys a week, lathe and plaster is down in the bedrooms, hall and current living room.

There is an old doorway between the two bedrooms opposite the triangular fire place that had been plastered over.

Jonathan i bought this to be my home, finding somewhere with a plot like this took a long time, hence the want not the need for the dormer.

I understand the financial gains available and what you are suggesting is probably the correct way to go about it. You have the link, if you look at the sold prices nearby you can see the value is there for a nice bungalow.

This is why i have been asking for layout advice in stages, the plastering and rewire will be carried out by myself over the next few weeks.

There is access to the land from the main road through the village that could be utilized without the need of knocking the bungalow down should tuning it into a building plot even factor into the future.

Hi Forest,

Gosh, an awful lot to discuss in respect to this plot and project as a whole.

I'm not going to comment or give advice on this, other than the following...

You need to speak to a professional! Whilst this forum is good to discuss design and offering support that is otherwise economically inaccessible on small projects..... I will always caution against taking (or indeed giving) advice on potentially significant projects. Often there are circumstances and finances which have big influences on the outcomes, and on here it isn't possible due to the very limited available information. It will only serve to confuse things.

You may use Houzz to find said professionals. I recommend also checking the RIBA& ARB registers and other reputable sources.. sound like you could also speak to agents to give protection on values. Make sure they are RICS registered. Do your vetting of the professionals you hire. Good and solid advice is usually paid for and will pay dividends in the long run.

Good luck with your home and potential project(s). It looks exciting and if handled in the right way potentially profitable.

(Happy to speak with you informally separately if you would like to get in touch)

Kind regards

Donal

If you’re already thinking dormer + rear extension, I’d be really careful about doing any “big” internal changes now, because the staircase position and the new kitchen/living layout tend to dictate everything. In a 1920s bungalow the chimney breast and the wall between bedrooms might be doing more than you think (structure, bracing, weird loads), so ripping it out before you’ve got a proper measured survey and a structural engineer’s take can easily mean paying twice when the dormer design lands and the stair needs to shift 2 feet.

What I’ve seen work is doing only stuff you won’t regret: strip back to understand what’s there, sort any damp/leaks, and plan services routes with the future layout in mind (so you’re not moving drains and soil stacks twice). Even if you want a master + ensuite, I’d wait until the dormer plan is sketched, because sometimes the better ensuite ends up upstairs and you keep two decent bedrooms down.

If you want examples of firms that handle design + build together (so the loft stair, structure, and extension all get coordinated early), I’ve looked at pages like Rothamel that show the whole planning-to-construction approach in one place. It helped me understand how to avoid the “do it now, redo it later” trap.