Old cottage kitchen/stairs issues

Duane_brc

Hi there

Lots of questions here - sorry it's long.

We have an old 1940s cottage with a large modern extension at the back. The new part is fine, but the main original part - kitchen, stairs and a sunroom off the kitchen which was built in the 80s - is problematic.

The stairs goes up from the kitchen - when we were doing the extension people said we should move it but we didn't want to as liked the "cottagey" feel - now we think this was a mistake. Whoever goes down first in the morning wakes the house with coffee makers etc. We are thinking of blocking it off from the kitchen with some sort of a wall and knocking into the new hallway behind (through original outer wall).

We also need more storage and counter space in the kitchen - big floor area but too many doors, stoves, stairs etc taking from usable space. So thinking of getting storage under the stairs and an island where the table is now, and moving the table into the sunroom.

This opens up another can of worms - the sunroom is fine this time of year but 6 months of the year it's an icebox. It needs serious revamping in terms of insulation etc. We got the walls pumped a few years ago but all that seems to have done is make the condensation worse.

There is a double-door sized archway between the kitchen and the sunroom, across which we currently have heavy interlined curtains to keep the heat in. Thinking if we sorted the sunroom we could knock half the remaining wall if not all (old external wall so would need some structural work there) and open up the whole room, put the table out there and make the whole space part of the "kitchen"

So basically we need in order of priority -

1. Someone to sort out the insulation issue in sunroom - windows/doors/ceiling/floor - or at least advise on what to do.

2. Someone to design stairs re-routing - not entirely sure that headspace issues will allow this. Do stair fitters advise on this type of thing? I assume we need an actual builder to knock wall and build some sort of archway? Do we need an engineer?

3. Someone to advise on kitchen redesign. We have an idea in our head of what we would like to do but we obviously went wrong on the whole stairs front 10 years ago so not sure we trust ourselves! Actually maybe we need someone to advise on the whole thing - but if money is a big factor then we don't NEED to do the kitchen, it would just be nice.

Are we looking at getting an architect to do all of this or do we get 3 different people? Just looking for advice on where to go first as we're going round in circles here. Maybe the little porch which is part of the kitchen could be its own little airlock space too etc etc Is this kind of job too small/bitty for an architect?

In Meath by the way in case anyone wants to pm some recommendations.

If you read this far, thanks a million! In a way, just even writing it down myself is helping to focus the mind

Calahonda52

The stairs goes up from the kitchen
Most lightly breaches fire regs, cannot say if your new plans will sort this but it needs sorting
page 53 section 1.5 here Part B
http://www.environ.ie/sites/default/files/migrated-files/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/BuildingStandards/FileDownLoad%2C1640%2Cen.pdf

How big is the sun room?
how it is glazed/roofed

Duane_brc

New plan would be to turn the stairs on the 3rd step or so and send it out to a hall which runs along the back of the kitchen in what is now a new build. Not sure if we can though, if there is enough headspace there. Then would somehow wall up where the bannisters currently are and where it currently opens onto in the kitchen.

Sunroom is approx 14 ft by 16 ft, has solid walls with 5 windows and a double glass door. It has a solid, low roof. Himself has already been up in it as much as he can and has put as much insulation in there as he could but thinks a lot of the air is coming down around the spots where he couldn't insulate for fire reasons.

Calahonda52

where he couldn't insulate for fire reasons.

Can you explain please/


The the stairs in the kitchen: it is dangerous, against there fire regs, will invalidate your insurance and will have to be done properly before you could ever sell the house to someone who wanted a mortgage, a cash buyer would just pay less

Duane_brc

Thanks for getting back to me on this, by the way

We bought the house as is - it has been bought and sold several times since the 1940s with the stairs in the kitchen. Our mortgage people said nothing about it. There are lots of cottages like this around here, with the same layout. Do you mean, because fire regs have changed in recent times?

BryanF

Op get an arch / arch tech to sketch & spec solutions and builder to
Price. Expect to pay for the privilege, as these old homes can be time consuming to solve.