WHAT ARE THE TYPICAL HOME IMPROVEMENTS?
MAKING YOUR HOME TO WORK FOR YOU….
Enlarging The Kitchen To Make a Kitchen/Diner/ Family Zone – One of the key factors in purchasing a property is whether it is possible to extend the kitchen and make it into a kitchen/diner or a kitchen/breakfast room, which can add considerable value. A kitchen/diner/ family room can become the room that you live in, almost certainly the heart of the home. A small extension may enable you, with the re-arrangement of the kitchen, to achieve this most desirable space. You do have to think carefully about the design of the kitchen and the workflow etc., and don’t forget to also think about natural light and access to garden and outdoor entertaining spaces.
En-Suite Bathroom – Bathrooms are the next feature that most people look on for adding value, assuming the rest of the property meets the criteria they have. An en-suite bathroom is treasured if you have a large family and there are queues for the bathroom during the morning rush. An en-suite can range from anything from partitioning off a section of your bedroom to have a shower in, to planning a room within your bedroom, or ultimately a full dressing room facility.
Ground Floor Cloakroom – The advantages are that it means guests can use the cloakroom without having to enter your private living space upstairs. A popular place for a ground floor cloakroom is for it to be fitted in under the staircase, this means the work can be carried out without extending the property. The issues with a cloakroom under the stairs are major water supply pipes and of course the head room. If the drains are not conveniently located this can make it quite an expensive option.
Home Office – As working from home is becoming more popular, if you haven’t got a spare room or your own home office, then you need to look elsewhere. This can range from a basic under the stairs option to a full garage or loft conversion. Also becoming more popular are designer garden shed offices, locating literally at the bottom of your garden, where more often than not will require Local Authority approval.
Extending the Indoors Outdoors – Linking internal and external spaces is becoming increasingly popular by accessing outdoor entertaining spaces via folding doors onto a specially designed and located decked or patio area, further linked and in some cases to a standalone garden room with sauna or splash pool.
Eco-Friendly Additions – This is will inevitably become more popular with increasing fuel and living costs. Options can range from simple water buts or more involved rain water harvesting to re-use your rainwater, to more sophisticated and expensive items such as photovoltaic or water heating solar panels, which work from the sun’s rays, to ground source heat pumps and wind turbines. You should be aware that some of these require permission from your Local Authority as they can fall under a planning requirement , also initial capital costs vs. anticipated payback periods should be carefully analysed before proceeding with one or more installations.
Energy Saving Additions – It is very difficult to quantify whether adding extra insulation to your property adds value although it can certainly save money over the long term. We would advise that care must be taken when adding or changing the thermal properties of a building as it can lead to condensation and possible deterioration of timber or the building fabric if not installed correctly and professional advice should be sought before embarking on such a project.
Conservatory Extension – In theory a conservatory offers the benefit of adding an additional room requiring minimal heating at a reduced cost. Conservatories range from the UPVC DIY packs that you or a ‘specialist’ assemble to the more traditional painted wood or contemporary glass and aluminium structures. In our experience they offer a poor solution to the subject of providing additional living space. Unless carefully specified with high quality materials, specialist glazing and positioned correctly they often become too hot in summer and too cold in winter rendering them unusable through most of the year. Clients more often than not are now replacing them with more permanent structures that have all year round benefits whilst adding value to their property.
By engaging Grid Design you will benefit from our experience and knowledge in guiding on what solution(s) are best for your personal circumstances.
