Extension woes

[Jen210]

Hi everyone

I was hoping you might be able to give me your opinions and thoughts on some trouble I'm having with my extension.

I have an 1820s stone cottage with a single storey brick extension, built in the 1950s, which houses the (awful) kitchen. It's rendered with some sort of concrete to make it look like the rest of the house (it fails miserably!) and it also has an asbestos roof. It was built on a garage-style concrete base, i.e. has no foundations.

We've had some quotes to demolish it and replace it with stone/old brick so it matches the rest of the house. One of the things we're particularly keen to do is replace the roof with clay pantiles, which the main house has. Although the quotes we've had are fair, they're way out of our price range, even if we do some of the work ourselves.

Does anyone have any thoughts or experience on any of the following:

- underpinning the extension so it can take the weight of clay pantiles
- using lightweight tiles (are these any good & will they look right?)
- removing the concrete render and facing it off with stone
- moving to a modern house and never having to do any work on it ever again??!!!

Any thoughts / opinions / word of encouragement are very welcome as my dream of a kitchen that wasn't cobbled together by the previous owner from bits of wood and old tiles is getting more & more distant!

Thanks very much!

Jen

 

[Penners]

How sure are you that the concrete raft won't support the weight of a tiled or slated roof? Have you dug any exploratory holes down the sides, to see how thick it is? It may have a "toe" around it that could be OK with a bit more weight. Have you had any expert advice on this?

And is it really essential for the extension to match the main building? They often don't, and this doesn't necessarily make the building look terrible. And I certainly think a tiled or slated roof will make the extension look much nicer.

If funds are really tight, have you considered the possibility of painting the concrete render - at least in the short term until you can afford to do something more permanent?

 

[Jen210]

Thanks for replying!

We have dug holes - the concrete slab is about 2 -3 inches thick & whilst we haven't had it inspected by a structural engineer, we had a full structural survey before we moved in last year & the surveyor said we were unlikely to be able to replace the asbestos sheeting with tiles because of the weight. Our builder has said the same (but I guess he would!!).

The render is already painted and it looks truly awful – it just looks like someone’s trying (and failing) to make a modern extension look like it’s part of the original house! I’m not so much bothered about it ‘matching’, I just want it to look right. For example, we’ve just had the chimney rebuilt using new bricks which look old and it looks as though it’s always been there.

However, I’d be happy to chip off the old render providing I can have the roof looking nice! Do you have any experience of the lightweight roof tiles?

Jen

 

[Penners]

2 - 3 inches? Hmmm - should have kept my mouth shut! Have you banned jumping in there?

Sorry, no experience of lightweight tiles.

 

[CHRIS]

Sorry but underpinning will be a waste of money as you have nothing to underpin.

Removing render will take time and probaly open up a can of worms as the brick faces will break off whilst knocking off the cement.

I cant imagine light weight tiles being a good idea as the cost of getting them laid is the same as regular ones so you still waste money on a weak stucture.

Why not save your money and give it a lick of paint (£60 for exterior paint) and save up for a proper extension as throwing good money after bad is heart breaking, also buy a nice freestanding kitchen that you can easily move when you rebuild and will last 100 years this at least will feel like you are on the way to a nice building.

What about a picture?

 

[NT]

usually the sticking point with retiling is the roof stucture strength rather than the foundations.


NT

 

[Penners]

Why not save your money and give it a lick of paint (£60 for exterior paint) and save up for a proper extension as throwing good money after bad is heart breaking, also buy a nice freestanding kitchen that you can easily move when you rebuild and will last 100 years this at least will feel like you are on the way to a nice building.

I think Chris has a point.

 

[Nemesis]

Have you thought about re-roofing in something traditional like corrugated tin? Laid on board and insulated of course. That would look better, be cheap, and then give the exterior a coat of paint. Limewash is cheap! Mineral paint either - not modern plastic stuff though. Consider too boarding the exterior, if it really is horrid.

I too inherited a cobbled together kitchen and know what it's like. In fact our first house kitchen extension sounds juat like yours. Grim. We lived with it for years until we saved up to have something better.

Have a look at what your local Freecycle has to offer, look in the classified pages of the local press - see what better kitchen furniture you can find to replace yours with. Even if it's not great, you can always replace the doors, or paint them. It's surprising what people do throw out - new home, therefore new kitchen seem to be what some people automatically do. Get a nice tap, new budget priced sink from one of the sheds (I found a brand new boxed ss one in a laybye) or a ceramic one if you can afford it, simple white tiles, or some matchboarding, new work surfaces, which don't have to be imported expensive ones, and it will seem a whole lot better. Look on eBay for a few period accessories, or haunt the local car boot - shabby chic is IN!


Then save up for something nicer I agree!

 

[Penners]

Limewash is cheap! Mineral paint either - not modern plastic stuff though.

Jen says the existing is concrete render and has already been painted. So I question whether it's worth being too fussy about what type of paint she puts on top.

The boarding idea is a good one, though. Our kitchen is an extension to the house that used to be the old village shop. It's built of concrete blocks, but is clad in back featheredge boarding that looks attractively traditional.

 

[Nemesis]

A nicer texture paint might cheer her up! Lime can be made to stick, although I haven't tried it. The problem is most people paint in that rather shiny surface plastic stuff which is horrid.

Others have posted pics here in the past of extensions clad in board, too, and as long as there isn't a massive overlap at the sides (depends how it's joined to the original building) can look great. Insulation can be added too.

Andrew Gayton roofed his extension in tin, with a trad rooflight in and it looks wonderful.

Tin is something people tend not to consider, but in Suffolk I gather it's accepted by local authorities as a traditional roofing material. Used with care and poss cast iron gutters it can look very good indeed.

 

[Penners]

Back in my yoof, Woodbridge cinema was roofed in tin. When it rained hard you couldn't hear the sound track.

The cinema also stood right beside the railway track, and when a train went past the picture wobbled all over the place.

Mind you, those of us in the back row didn't really care.

 

[Nemesis]

Yes, in many a tin tabernacle the preacher was drowned out!

Decent insulation helps.

 

[Penners]

insulation

Oooh - we didn hev modern stuff loik that, gel.

 

[Nemesis]

No - which is why I think people don't consider tin!

But in modern times it can be put on top of board and insulated. Looks a treat. Dead trad. Painted red or black...

 

[CHRIS]

The idea of wriggly tin is a nice one on the roof, you could use some 18mm OSb on the existing roof structure to give it some rigidity and fix with the correct fixing (dont know how but I am sure some one knows) and overlap (how is the edge detail done?) and also use some kingspan etc for insulation.

http://www.celotex.co.uk/downloads/Between&OverRafters.pdf

The cladding could be fitted onto some 2inch battens but if you are in a conservation area you will run into needing permission as it changes the external appearance of the building (I did anyway and cost it me £135).

You could use external insulation like this

http://www.celotex.co.uk/downloads/SolidMasonryWalls.pdf

The mineral paint such as

http://www.womersleys.co.uk/pdfs/beeckosil.pdf is nice but quite expensive (I used some and looks and smells good)

 

[Nemesis]

Even if in a conservation area, you might not require permission - depends on how visible it is and how good the local authority is!

Sounds like it would be an enhancement anyhow.


http://www.corrugated-iron-club.info/tech.html

Here's EH's Peter Beacham on the history of corrugated iron:

http://www.corrugated-iron-club.info/ironess2.html

 

[CHRIS]

Any form of cladding or re roofing or change of appearance in our area warrants the £135 form!

I liked that site from before on here, some great places on it.

 

[Nemesis]

I love corrugated buildings. They have such charm.

I hope to roof a new large shed in it, but I suspect I'll not be allowed to even though there's a Dutch Barn in the next field.


http://www.tintabernacles.co.uk/site_page.php?page=1

 

[Nemesis]

Sad about these - 'demolition'...


http://www.primelocation.com/uk-property-for-sale/browse/all/uk/england/suffolk/sisb999000412/

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Some of (possibly, think EH, the) earliest sinusoidal profiled metal sheet roofing in the country:

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/519051