Add on utility room? Screenshot included

R11

Attached is a layout of a house for sale that I'm interested in. It doesn't have a utility room as can be seen. Is there any way to add on a utility room? There's side access to the left (semi-detached to the right) so I'd rather not block that access. But ideally, would like utility room attached to house if at all possible. If not, then very close to house.
Is it a big job to run electricity, water to it? Have to dig up kitchen floor? Or could I even convert that small cloakroom? Though it's very small..

R11

Pic

Delphinium

Depending on size of garden you could probably build a narrow room to the left in line with the house and form a little courtyard between it and the sun room. If it is a sun trap it could work, but not if it becomes a dark dank corner. You will lose lots of light to the kitchen. If a utility is a deal breaker I'd move on and find a more suitable house.

R11

Thanks. What about a small steel tech shed? Or similar? With electricity & water in it?

Utility not exactly a deal breaker, just very handy. We've 2 small kids so a seperate laundry /utility is very useful. Less clutter /clothes in kitchen

Tails142

R11 wrote: »

Attached is a layout of a house for sale that I'm interested in. It doesn't have a utility room as can be seen. Is there any way to add on a utility room? There's side access to the left (semi-detached to the right) so I'd rather not block that access. But ideally, would like utility room attached to house if at all possible. If not, then very close to house.
Is it a big job to run electricity, water to it? Have to dig up kitchen floor? Or could I even convert that small cloakroom? Though it's very small..

Convert the downstairs wc to a utility would be the easiest?

R11

Yes, was thinking of that also. Is it not very small area for a washing machine and dryer? I wonder would there room to expand that WC,like back under the stairs?

Sausage dog

I've seen a new house where they've done just that. The washer & dryer were accessed from the downstairs loo but were actually in the space under the stairs. I think there may have been sliding doors so you hide them from view. There was room for a shelf above them too. If you want the utility as just a space for doing laundry then it could work.

BryanF

Tails142 wrote: »

Convert the downstairs wc to a utility would be the easiest?

Disabled access wc should remain.

R11

BryanF wrote: »

Disabled access wc should remain.

Yes, ideally would prefer to keep downstairs WC. Space under stairs seems best option and lowest cost.

ustari

Could run the wall along the line of the cloakroom inside the kitchen either to give you a long narrow utility?

Delphinium

I think it’s a requirement that you have an accessible downstairs toilet. I’m also surprised that the WC opens directly into the kitchen. Cloakroom could work if you still have an accessible toilet

westgolf

Install under the stairs with access from kitchen. Build in around to match kitchen architrave and skirting.

the_sonandmoon

It's the space around the back wall at the sitting room end needed in the kitchen? If not, I would extend the cloakroom the full length of the wall, in line with the cloakroom as is. Im designing an extension , mostly to get a utility, at the moment. It's going to be 1.8x6m, so really narrow, but long. You always need more utility space than you think

R11

the_sonandmoon wrote: »

It's the space around the back wall at the sitting room end needed in the kitchen? If not, I would extend the cloakroom the full length of the wall, in line with the cloakroom as is.

The floor plan is not exact, cloakroom doesn't stick out into the kitchen as much as it seems.
Utility under stairs seems best idea but I don't know how much space there might be there, impossible to know.

mel123

Swap the cloak room and wc around, your utility can serve as a cloak room also, or, if like most families, you just use the banister of the stairs anyway regardless :-) If you look on pinterest, there is some lovely ideas for utility rooms that utilise space also, like your dryer stacked on top of your washing machine, presses and shelves etc.

seamus

I would do a bigger job - create a larger utility/wet/storage room. Put up a partition wall on the left side of the kitchen space, taking in the window. Make this a utility room, but also somewhere that you put a box freezer, some storage, coat hangers, etc etc. It means that you have an entrance that you can use on wet days without dragging wet and dirt into the house, somewhere to keep wet clothes, etc. It also isolates the toilet from the kitchen by a second door. It means that the heat in the kitchen won't get sucked out when someone opens the back door. And adds a little bit of extra security where an intruder would need to breach two doors to get in through that route.

R11

mel123 wrote: »

Swap the cloak room and wc around

That's an interesting one..... Would it take a lot of work to bring inlet & outlet water pipes to cloakroom if I was to convert it? Much lifting of floorboards or worse still, tiles?

seamus

R11 wrote: »

That's an interesting one..... Would it take a lot of work to bring inlet & outlet water pipes to cloakroom if I was to convert it? Much lifting of floorboards or worse still, tiles?

Depends on the layout of the kitchen. Pipes can be run above floor level and hidden behind kitchen cabinets and behind small ledges/boxes. So if your kitchen sink is on the right-hand side of the diagram, you might get away with it. You might even just be able to run a new feed down from the tank depending on what's above the cloakroom.
Wastewater is really the biggest issue, you may not have enough of a drop to route it to the kitchen sink.

Otherwise, you will have to go under the floor/stairs in the hallway to get your water and waste in that way. There's probably a waste water pipe in the side entrance that the WC is flushing to, so it would make the most sense to continue to send it that way.

Either way, converting the cloakroom into a WC or utility room may be the neatest option in terms of layout, but might involve the most redecorating work afterwards.

If your plan is to do a lot of work anyway, then knock yourself out. But if you're looking for a solution which requires the minimum effort and cost after buying, then forget about using the WC or cloakroom as a utility room IMO.

Delphinium

I agree with seamus. no matter what internal reconfiguration you do, you will end up with lots of work, including plumbing and electrical, and re decorating, and end up with just machine space and not a utility room.
Go back to the the garden shed or add an extension. But perhaps this house is not for you.

R11

seamus wrote: »

But if you're looking for a solution which requires the minimum effort and cost after buying, then forget about using the WC or cloakroom as a utility room IMO.

Minimum effort and lowest cost would obviously be best! What would you recommend?
We're only looking at this house, no offer made. But if it's too much hassle or too expensive, we'll move on & look elsewhere.

seamus

Minimum effort and lowest cost is going with whatever the house has at the moment

Even just putting your washing machine and dryer with their backs to the toilet (i.e. immediately to the left when you walk into the kitchen) will require some plumbing and electrical work, but probably the least amount of work overall.

I would generally advise that anyway. A utility room is a minor matter, and making changes immediately after moving in rarely works well unless you're completely gutting the place.

If you like the house and the location, then you can live without a utility room for 6-12 months. At that stage you'd have a much better view of things that you'd like to change and so you can make a mess of the place all in one go.

soundsham

Can you put the washer dryer upstairs
Saw this in a house recently that had a large bathroom upstairs reduced in size to accommodate a small room either the washer dryer stacked on wach other
Dirty clothes never even make it downstairs
There was a large landing area outside where the ironing was done
Don’t rule out the shed
I have a chest freezer and tumble drier outside myself

R11

soundsham wrote: »

Don’t rule out the shed
I have a chest freezer and tumble drier outside myself

Think this might be a decent option. Build a small steel tech shed at top of garden & put dryer in it. Think kitchen already fitted with washing machine so may as well leave it there, less hassle.