A semi-detached house extension is any enlargement built into your home to suit your needs best, including loft, side, and rear additions. Depending on the demands of your family, they come in a variety of designs and may do a variety of tasks.
Extensions for a semi-detached house can be created to serve as a kitchen, an additional bathroom or bedroom, a playroom, a living room, or a utility room. Semi-detached houses are prevalent in Britain and are often less expensive than detached homes. They rose to popularity in the late 1920s, particularly in the 1930s when various construction firms constructed estates of these homes.
What Are the Benefits of a Semi-detached Extension?
Extensions to semi-detached houses have various advantages, including:
- Your semi-detached house may be expanded to accommodate a growing family.
- It’s a beautiful method of allowing more natural light into your house.
- It’s an excellent substitute for relocating and all the stress accompanying it.
- A well-constructed addition may raise the value of your house.
Types of Extensions for Semi-detached Houses
Indeed, there are no restrictions on architectural concepts while extending a semi-detached house. You may choose from any of the designs below, depending on your family’s requirements, your tastes, and the amount of space you have available.
Single-storey Ground Floor Extensions
These expansions are typically back, although side and wrap, which combines rear and side enlargement, are also frequently utilised. The majority of expansions are one story. Although it is legal to construct a double-story building, it is sometimes challenging to satisfy the requirements, and you must get planning clearance.
The three main factors to consider are the size of the addition, how the roof will fit with the existing structure and its effect on the neighbourhood. The locations of chimneys and drains, as well as any necessary excavation, are other possible challenges.
Two-storey or Multi-storey Extension
Every portion of the current structure is capable of receiving a multi-story addition.
An additional bedroom or bathroom can be added via a double-storey side extension. A dining area with a fantastic ceiling height is possible.
Because of its complexity, the expenditures are more significant than for a single-storey house addition. The effect on the neighbourhood is far more profound. Only detached or semi-detached homes with a side plot or garden are eligible for a two-story addition.
Cover the House Extension
Combining a side return extension with a rear extension results in an L-shaped wrap-around extension, which is wrap-around extension. To create an L-shaped house addition, they include expanding the side wall of your property closer to the boundary of the neighbouring building and shifting the back wall towards the rear yard.
Front Porch Extension
Adding an entry porch to your semi-detached home will frame your property, give it a feeling of depth, and offer some shelter from the weather, whether you choose a basic timber structure or a more ornate design.
- The porch’s entire area is little more than 3 square metres (measured externally).
- The porch can be positioned above three metres from the ground.
- Any construction portion shall be approximately two metres from any house’s boundary that borders a roadway.
Improve Your Attic Space
Your semi-detached home’s loft may be converted into a bedroom, office, or study by adding a loft addition. Dormer, hip-to-gable, and mansard loft conversions are the three primary forms. But, you should think about a roof light loft conversion if you have a limited budget or would like not to make any structural adjustments to your roof.
How Much Can You Extend a Semi-detached House?
Permitted development rights allow for a 3m back extension on your semi-detached house. But, you can go as far back as 6m with prior authorisation.
Front Porch Extensions – Permitted Development Rules
In addition, the front of a house nearly always needs planning permission. Consider expanding your home to the side or back, where permissible building rights are laxer, if you want to avoid the requirement for a planning application.
- Additions cannot be built higher than the current roof’s highest point or higher at the eaves than the home’s existing eaves.
- Extensions to be built within two metres of the house’s perimeter are allowed to have eaves at most three metres.
- Additions cannot be constructed in front of the “main elevation” or the “side elevation” if it faces a roadway.
- Any exterior building materials must resemble those on the current home’s façade in appearance.
Extension Ideas for Semi-detached Houses
Dig Deep for a Basement Extension
Entering the basement may add a new level without changing the outside. However, keep in mind the labour required.
Although the excavation procedure is a lengthy and steady part of the development, a conventional house expansion takes between 8 and 12 weeks to complete. Still, a basement conversion takes about five months.
Extend Up and Out
There are still several semi-detached homes that allow for expansion to the back. But, you could be fortunate enough to have land adjacent to the property you can construct, as demonstrated here.
The brickwork and other elements, such as windows and roof tiles, must match if the expansion is seen from the front of the home. Local planners will be more challenging and more likely to want changes to align with current changes regarding changes that can be viewed from the front.
Pop on a Porch
If the entrance door to your semi-detached house is on the side, it could go directly into the primary living space, generally the living room.
The entryway becomes a separate area when a porch expansion is added. The neighbouring room will feel less like a corridor or dumping ground, giving you additional alternatives for furniture placement.
Create a Viewing Room
You can open the back of the house with an intelligent addition that employs big glass windows to create a viewing room. The main living area gains tremendous additional space due to this expansion, and the glass panel walls inside the corrugated steel-box extension also welcome light volumes.
Think About Access
Access is a factor to consider while expanding a semi-detached or terraced house. Losing a side door may result from building out to the side. But, having to open bi-folds to reach your yard constantly is not practical.
Extend the Aesthetic
Use salvaged bricks to match the existing property to create a unified exterior with an addition. Maintaining a consistent style can help the new area fit in with the rest of the house and keep the local planning office pleased, even if it may be more expensive.
Although in contrast to the sash windows above, the steel-framed bifold doors blend in with the roof tiles and guttering and don’t feel out of place.
Go Full Width With Your Extension
If your perimeters permit, going full-width with your addition can provide a significant amount of new floor space without taking away from the garden if you have one big enough.
With a semi this size, using the whole area you have available will quadruple your ground floor square footage and provide a pleasing contrast in architectural styles.
In addition, adding a porch to the back of your expansion gives you a fantastic summertime gathering place and enlarges your home even further.
Stretch Across Into the Garden
It’s optional for a sympathetic extension to match your current property merely. It may express how to combine the ancient and new harmoniously. This modern addition’s earthy panelled façade and charming living roof allow it to blend in seamlessly with the back of this vintage semi-detached brick home.
Retractable glass doors are included on the side of the addition to enable a seamless transition from inside to outdoor space.
Is It Worth Extending a Semi-detached House?
Each property type can benefit from a house addition since it can considerably raise its value. Naturally, this also applies to semi-detached homes. You can say that adding a semi-detached extension not only increases the value of your house, but its space as well.
Next time if someone asks you this question, make sure to answer with the perks!
Conclusion
The semi-detached dwelling type is formed when two bungalows share a wall but have separate private gardens. They were initially used in a London setting in the nineteenth century. Because of the housing need following World War II, they became recognisable dwellings and are still used today.
Semi-detached houses are built in rows and have comparable proportions and styles to traditional residences, which is a great option. Even though you share a wall with another house, semi-detached homes reflect one another and offer sufficient solitude. Semi-detached houses of similar sizes and styles share a wall. Your semi-detached house offers a lot of potential, as you can see. Like any other residence, you have a wide range of possibilities. Your loft may be converted if you need more room.
Remember that the design will determine the extension type that is best for you. Most straightforward building projects don’t need a planning permit. Yet, it could restrict the style and functionality you want for your house. So, if you still want planning clearance, we advise beginning as soon as you plan the project.
