Householder Extensions and Conversions – Page 4

Integral garage conversion: getting the front elevation right

Most integral garage conversions are permitted development, but the front elevation and the lost parking space are what get them refused. Here is how to handle both.

Head height and floor levels in a loft conversion

Measure from the top of the ceiling joist to the underside of the ridge before anything else. That one dimension decides whether the loft works at all.

Keeping a chimney stack in a loft conversion

Removing the breast and keeping the stack is the usual compromise. It needs structural support, party wall notices and a drawing that shows what stays.

Pitched or flat roof dormers on a rear slope

A flat roof dormer gives more usable floor area. A pitched dormer sits better on most roofs. Which matters more depends on the pitch of your roof and your council's design guide.

Bi-fold or sliding doors: the overheating cost

The choice between bi-fold and sliding doors changes your sightlines, your threshold detail and, more than most people expect, how hot the new room gets in July.

Corner windows on a rear extension

A corner opening takes out the element the structure wants most. The goal post frame, the glazing tolerance and the oblique overlooking objection all follow.

A glazed link between a house and an outbuilding

A glazed link makes a detached outbuilding part of the dwelling. That changes which permitted development class applies and how the use is assessed.

Stepping an extension down to keep the eaves line

Lowering the eaves is the simplest way to make a rear extension read as subservient to the house. Here is what it costs you inside, and how to keep the room usable.

Rainwater goods on a conservation area extension

Material and profile are what the officer is looking for. Name both on the drawings, show the downpipe positions, and the materials condition becomes trivial.

Eaves and fascia details where an extension meets the house

Fascia depth, overhang projection and the gutter line are read together. Match all three and a contemporary material palette becomes much easier to justify.

Matching roof tiles when the original is unavailable

A concrete interlocking tile beside a clay plain tile roof reads wrong whatever the colour. Profile, lap and unit size are what a case officer actually sees.

Steel framed windows on a Victorian terrace extension

Slim profile steel glazing usually works on the rear of a Victorian terrace and rarely on the front. The hard part is Part L, the thermal break and the window schedule.

Zinc and standing seam roofs on a rear extension

A standing seam roof is usually right for a shallow pitch rear extension, and the material is rarely the planning problem. Minimum pitch, how zinc weathers, and why patination oil is a lead product.

Replacing pebbledash with smooth render on a semi

Changing the external finish on one half of a semi-detached pair raises the similar appearance condition in Class A, any Article 4 direction over the street, and a symmetry argument the case officer will make. Here is how each one works.

Mortar colour and joint profile on a stone cottage extension

On a rubble stone wall the mortar network reads as strongly as the stone. How to specify the binder, the sand and the joint profile, and why ribbon pointing gets refused.

Brick bond patterns on a rear extension

The outer leaf of a cavity wall is half a brick thick, so there is nowhere for a header to go. How snapped headers work, where officers notice the bond, and what to put on the drawings.

Matching brick on a 1930s semi extension

Interwar houses used imperial bricks around 68 to 73 mm high, so a standard modern facing will not course with the old wall. What to measure, what to specify and what the council needs to approve the samples.

Electric vehicle charge points on a house frontage

Part 2 of the GPDO covers wall mounted charging outlets and freestanding upstands. Cables across the pavement are a highway offence, and no permitted development right helps.

Front boundary walls and the one metre limit

A front wall adjacent to a vehicular highway is limited to one metre, including coping and trellis. Rebuilding an existing wall to its former height is a separate and more generous right.

Garden rooms with plumbing and where incidental use ends

Class E covers buildings incidental to enjoyment of the house. A WC and shower normally qualify; cooking provision and sleeping accommodation are the features that take a building outside it.

Removing a chimney stack: consents and consequences

Taking down a stack raises three separate questions: does it need planning permission, does it need listed building consent, and is it a party structure. The damp arrives later.

Dormer rules under permitted development: eaves and ridge

Class B of the GPDO 2015 sets three geometric tests for a dormer: a 20cm set back from the eaves, nothing above the existing ridge, and obscure fixed glazing in side elevations below 1.7 metres.

Loft conversion volume allowances and how to measure them

The 40 and 50 cubic metre allowances are measured externally and consumed by any earlier roof enlargement. How to establish the original roof and record the calculation.