Thinking About an Extension?

Questions to Ask Before Deciding What to Build

When people first consider extending their home, it's natural to start imagining the extension itself.

"We'll go four metres across the back."

"We'll knock everything through."

"We'll put the kitchen in the new extension."

Those might ultimately be exactly the right decisions.

But they're solutions.

Before deciding what to build, it's worth looking at your existing home and asking what you actually want the finished property to do differently.

Start with what you've already got

Before adding another square metre, look carefully at the existing house.

Are there rooms you rarely use?

Is a dining room effectively just a corridor?

Is valuable space taken up by poor circulation?

Could changing a doorway alter how two rooms work?

Is the kitchen in the right place?

Does everyone walk through one room to reach another?

Is there a garage that isn't really used for parking?

Sometimes the existing layout is responsible for more problems than the actual size of the property.

The starting point shouldn't always be:

"Where can we add an extension?"

Sometimes it should be:

"What could this house already do better?"

What additional space do you genuinely need?

"We need more space" doesn't tell you very much.

Try to identify what that additional space needs to achieve.

Do you need:

• A larger kitchen?

• Family dining space?

• Another bedroom?

• A utility?

• A home office?

• A downstairs shower?

• A playroom?

• A separate snug?

• Better storage?

• Somewhere for coats, boots and everyday clutter?

Once you understand the function, you can start thinking about where that space belongs.

Think about the relationship between rooms

A good layout isn't simply a collection of correctly sized rooms.

Think about how they connect.

Should the utility be close to the kitchen?

Would you like to see the garden while cooking?

Should children's play space be visible from the kitchen?

Does a home office need to be somewhere quieter?

Would you like a separate snug close to the main family room?

Where do people enter the house with muddy shoes and wet coats?

Where will guests go?

Thinking about relationships between spaces can be just as important as deciding how large they should be.

What happens to the existing house when you extend it?

This is easily overlooked.

Imagine a rear extension being added to an existing house.

The new extension may have large rooflights and doors and feel fantastic.

But what happens to the room immediately behind it?

Does it become darker?

Does it become a passage between the front and rear of the house?

Does an existing window disappear?

Has one problem simply been moved somewhere else?

Every addition changes something that already exists.

A successful extension should improve the whole house, not create one impressive new space at the expense of another.

Do you really want everything open-plan?

Open-plan kitchen/dining/family rooms can work brilliantly.

But open-plan isn't automatically better.

Imagine everyday life.

Someone is cooking.

The dishwasher is running.

One child is watching television.

Another is trying to do homework.

Someone else is on a work call.

Would one enormous room still be ideal?

For some households, absolutely.

For others, connected spaces with the ability to separate activities can work better.

Design around how your family lives, rather than what happens to be fashionable.

Think about natural light

When you're adding new space, think about the light reaching both the extension and the existing house.

Where does the sun come from?

Which existing rooms are already dark?

Could extending behind them make that worse?

Would changing the layout allow light to penetrate further into the house?

Windows, glazed doors and roof glazing can all influence how a space feels, but their position should be considered as part of the overall design rather than simply added afterwards.

Your designer can assess the opportunities and constraints properly.

Rear, side, two-storey — or something else?

Different properties offer different possibilities.

A rear extension may improve the relationship with the garden.

A side extension might use land that currently contributes little.

A two-storey extension could potentially address problems upstairs and downstairs together.

An existing garage might offer opportunities.

Or a combination of alterations and a relatively small extension might achieve everything you need.

Don't choose the extension type first and then force your requirements into it.

Start with what you need the house to achieve and investigate the best way of getting there.

Think carefully before sacrificing something useful

Every design decision involves trade-offs.

A larger rear extension means less garden.

Converting a garage may provide valuable living accommodation but remove parking or storage.

Adding another bedroom could affect bathroom provision, parking requirements or how the rest of the upstairs layout works.

A huge kitchen might mean giving up a separate living room.

None of those decisions is automatically right or wrong.

The important thing is understanding what you're gaining and what you're giving up.

How much garden are you prepared to lose?

One simple exercise can be surprisingly useful.

Go outside and imagine where the proposed rear wall might be.

You can even roughly mark the position on the lawn.

Then stand in what's left of the garden.

Would it still work for your household?

Would there be enough space for children, entertaining, gardening or whatever matters to you?

More internal space isn't necessarily an improvement if you sacrifice an outside space you value.

Think about furniture before deciding whether a room is big enough

A rectangle on a floor plan can look enormous until you start putting things inside it.

Where does the dining table go?

Can people comfortably walk around it?

Where will the sofa face?

Where does the television go?

How much circulation is needed around a kitchen island?

Where are the tall kitchen units?

Where do doors open?

Where does storage go?

Thinking about how rooms will actually be furnished can reveal whether the proposed proportions really work.

Think about upstairs as well as downstairs

Even if your immediate problem is downstairs, look at the whole property.

Will you eventually need another bedroom?

Would extending upstairs at the same time make sense?

Could today's ground-floor extension make a future first-floor extension more difficult?

Would adding another bedroom create other requirements elsewhere in the house?

You may still decide to do only the ground floor.

But it's worth making that decision with an understanding of your longer-term plans.

Think about the practical side too

A particular design may look straightforward until you consider the property itself.

There may be:

• Drains

• Trees

• Difficult ground levels

• Limited access

• Boundaries

• Neighbouring properties

• Existing structures

• Roof complications

These don't necessarily prevent an extension.

But they can influence its design, complexity and cost.

The earlier they're recognised, the better.

Don't design around somebody else's extension

Other houses, magazines, Pinterest and social media are excellent sources of ideas.

Use them.

But rather than saying:

"I want exactly that."

ask:

"What do I like about that?"

Perhaps it's the natural light.

The connection to the garden.

The high ceiling.

The materials.

The layout.

The feeling of openness.

Your property, household, budget and constraints will be different.

The objective isn't to copy someone else's extension.

It's to understand the qualities you'd like to achieve in yours.

Bring everything together

Before deciding exactly what to build, try to understand:

What isn't working now

What additional functions you need

Which existing spaces could work harder

How you want rooms to relate to each other

How important natural light is to different spaces

How much garden or other existing space you're prepared to sacrifice

How the house might need to change again in future

What your priorities are

You don't need to solve the design yourself.

In fact, that's the point.

These questions help you create a much better starting point from which different design options can be explored.

Need help developing your ideas?

I'm Kieren Bentley from KJB Design & Planning.

With over 25 years' experience in the construction industry, I help homeowners across Leicestershire and the surrounding areas develop practical designs for extensions, alterations and home remodelling.

Thinking About a Project?

You don't need to have everything worked out before getting in touch.

If you're considering an extension, conversion or home remodel, tell me a little about your property and what you're hoping to achieve.

I'll explain how I may be able to help, what the likely next steps are, and provide a clear quotation for the design work you need.

Prefer to talk? Call Kieren on 07791 914801