To move or renovate..

Homesick Alien

This is the question myself and my wife have been wrecking each other's heads with for about two years. We really like the area we're in and for lack of options of moving to a bigger house nearby we finally decided we would at least get a new kitchen which would make our main living space much more comfortable. It requires knocking through a chimney breast into a utility room and putting a new roof with roof lights in that room so a bit of heavy construction involved.

So earlier in the summer we approached a builder who came in and assessed and after chasing him for about 2 months for a quote came back with around 75k. This was way more than we had anticipated. So we went to a second builder and engineer who also required some chasing and eventually came back with basically the same price. It's taken about 4 months to get 2 quotes and in both cases the builders were apologetic about the cost as if it totally caught them by surprise too.

Thing is if we were spend that kind of money we would still only end up with U-shaped or galley style kitchen with a larger dining area but still not exactly a big kitchen so it seems like an awful lot of money for not much return. In addition we have friends getting renovations done and in both cases it's taking months longer than anticipated. So now we have swung the pendulum back the other way and decided that putting the 75k towards a bigger house would be a better investment.

Does this sound like a more sensible option? We do love our house and where it is but it'll never be very big. It's two beds plus a box room. Kids are sharing and box room is an office. We could go into the attic or over playroom (ex garage) but it won't ultimately add to our living space. Just more rooms upstairs. Our garden is already pretty small and we are very reluctant to eat into that with an extension.

Any advice appreciated.

looksee

Its hard to gauge what is involved in the changes you want, but 75k does sound a lot for rearranging the kitchen. If the structural work is taking out the chimney breast - what happens to the chimney breast in the rooms above? And how much does this affect structure at roof level? You will need some support to replace the chimney wall also. Presumably the utility only needs a new ceiling rather than a roof, or does it? This is all pretty substantial building work but does not seem to go anywhere near 75k. Does it include a new kitchen, how much of the cost is for the fitted kitchen and associated plumbing and electrical changes?

Having done all this you are still not gaining any actual space if you do not go out to the back, or up. That kind of expenditure leaves you still with a 2/3 bedroom house with modest downstairs rooms. In which case I would think in terms of moving.

Homesick Alien

looksee wrote: »

Its hard to gauge what is involved in the changes you want, but 75k does sound a lot for rearranging the kitchen. If the structural work is taking out the chimney breast - what happens to the chimney breast in the rooms above? And how much does this affect structure at roof level? You will need some support to replace the chimney wall also. Presumably the utility only needs a new ceiling rather than a roof, or does it? This is all pretty substantial building work but does not seem to go anywhere near 75k. Does it include a new kitchen, how much of the cost is for the fitted kitchen and associated plumbing and electrical changes?

Having done all this you are still not gaining any actual space if you do not go out to the back, or up. That kind of expenditure leaves you still with a 2/3 bedroom house with modest downstairs rooms. In which case I would think in terms of moving.

The idea is just to take out the chimney at ground floor level and put in supports. There's no rooms above it, hence we're looking to put in skylights. The utility will need a new roof alright as we're planning to raise it up. It's a lean-to roof at the moment which is too low at the far side to take any units. The price has allowed 20k for the actual kitchen (ex appliances I think). But yes I agree with your conclusion.

I guess the reason we're torn is that doing the kitchen is more or less within our control whereas waiting for the right house is not. So we can say OK, let's move, but we may not actually be able to move for another 12 months or more.

Calahonda52

semi d or D?
the chimney needs to be removed in full, forget about the supported idea: crazy

looksee

Don't do anything based on a timescale of 12 to 24 months. That's nothing in the grand scheme of things and could prove to be an expensive few months. Look at what would be the best solution and go with that rather than trying to do something quickly.

Lumen

Move.