Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 Apr 14, 2013 12:31 pm Hi folks. This is my first post here, so apologies if this is in the wrong spot. I am hoping someone can help me. My wife and I have been looking to buy a property for a while but haven't found anything quite right yet, so the idea of buying something smaller and extending it has been in the back of my mind. I went and saw a property yesterday that might fit the bill. The problem is I know very little about renovation and the feasibility and costs of what I have in mind. This is the property: http://www.realestate.com.au/property-h ... -113543987 It is a 60's house on a big block (900+) in a good area, and it looks very solid (which is a rarity in Adelaide's eastern suburbs). The house has big rooms and a nice feel to it, although it is a bit close to a main road. Previous owners have converted the garage into an extra room, and tacked on another bedroom behind it which doesn't look very inhabitable. There are numerous ways you could renovate the place but I was thinking if I bought it I would do the following: - convert the garage back to its original purpose and demolish the room behind it - build an extension behind the existing kitchen dining room and laundry and open it all up - build new open plan kitchen and possibly a small bathroom and laundry in the extension - potentially make the sitting room into two bedrooms by putting a wall down the middle - do a simple upgrade to the existing bathroom The back wall behind the kitchen is obviously a load bearing wall, so I don't know how feasible it is to remove it to make a large open plan back room with the extension. Another option would be to leave that wall and build a bigger extension behind it. The extension would preferrably be single brick ad I would want to have a flat ceiling of reasonable height. I would probably be looking at mid-range fittings for the kitchen and bathroom. Does this kind of renovation look reasonable and worth doing? My total budget would be about $200k, but I don't know if this is in the ballpark for what I would need to do. I would appreciate any suggestions that might help me make my decision. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 2Apr 14, 2013 1:17 pm I don't know much about Erindale but I think it does have heaps of opportunity to renovate, not sure of the budget, but the less you want done the more expensive it is etc. Is Erindale in Burnside Council? We are up at Auldana which is in the burnside council and all I can say is that the approval for our reno took months. But maybe they have turned a corner in the last year since our approval. With the back wall, you should be able to open it up you will just need either steel or lvl. This is our house that we are doing, which is very different to yours, however I am happy to share via pm about how much we are spending/have spent to get it changed etc. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60072 Re: Potential renovation - need advice 3Apr 14, 2013 1:52 pm Looks like the place is well looked after except for being a little dated. Are you aiming for 4 bedrooms in total? I have doubts about splitting the living room into two, especially when you will need to allow for wardrobe space. Better off making that room a master with ensuite. And is the current study/bed4 going to be wide enough as a functional garage? The less internal walls you have to knock down the better. But changing the internal layout will be tricky since you have over 6 meters either side of entry. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 4Apr 14, 2013 2:01 pm Pellana I don't know much about Erindale but I think it does have heaps of opportunity to renovate, not sure of the budget, but the less you want done the more expensive it is etc. Is Erindale in Burnside Council? We are up at Auldana which is in the burnside council and all I can say is that the approval for our reno took months. But maybe they have turned a corner in the last year since our approval. With the back wall, you should be able to open it up you will just need either steel or lvl. This is our house that we are doing, which is very different to yours, however I am happy to share via pm about how much we are spending/have spent to get it changed etc. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=60072 Hi Pellana, thanks for your reply. Your project looks great! Erindale is in Burnside council, so I could very well have the same problems you had. It is very good to know these things as if it is going to take that long I could rent the place out while we get everthing in place. I'll send you a PM. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 5Apr 14, 2013 2:19 pm d@n Looks like the place is well looked after except for being a little dated. Are you aiming for 4 bedrooms in total? I have doubts about splitting the living room into two, especially when you will need to allow for wardrobe space. Better off making that room a master with ensuite. And is the current study/bed4 going to be wide enough as a functional garage? The less internal walls you have to knock down the better. But changing the internal layout will be tricky since you have over 6 meters either side of entry. Hi D@N. I am after 4 bedrooms. I also have some reservations about splitting the front living room. If I split it it the rooms would be about 3 x 2.25m which I think it is just large enough but I am not sure about the aesthetics. The alternative would be to build a new room at the back, but I am worried that it would to take up too much back yard as well as increasing the cost. The Study/Bed4 looks like it was originally a garage that has been converted into a room so I had assumed it would be wide enough, but I would definitely need to check. I'm quite confused at the moment so your comments are much appreciated. I don't have enough building knowledge to know what is feasible and I am am not certain enough about the property yet to pay for professional advice, particulary as it is going for auction and I don't know how much it will go for. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 6Apr 14, 2013 4:30 pm Ripsnorta The Study/Bed4 looks like it was originally a garage that has been converted into a room so I had assumed it would be wide enough, but I would definitely need to check. Those old style garages can be quite narrow. I lived with one for many years. Was annoying to drive in, then have barely enough room to open the door and squeeze out. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 7Apr 15, 2013 1:04 pm d@n Ripsnorta The Study/Bed4 looks like it was originally a garage that has been converted into a room so I had assumed it would be wide enough, but I would definitely need to check. Those old style garages can be quite narrow. I lived with one for many years. Was annoying to drive in, then have barely enough room to open the door and squeeze out. I am living in a newly built rental property at the moment and the internal width of the garage is about 2.85m with a 2.4m door. I haven't tried putting the car in there (its full of boxes) but it looks quite small. The place I was looking at is 2.75 wide which does look a bit squeezy. You can see that the driveway has been cut off so there used to be car parking there, but it might be that there used to be a carport there rather than a garage which would allow a bit more room. It has a proper tiled roof and brick walls so I assumed it was the original garage and they had replaced the roller door with a window, but they might have added the whole thing. If I couldn't make that room a garage I would need to build one in the back yard which would be more expensive and would eat up the back yard. Might be a show stopper. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 9Apr 15, 2013 2:40 pm d@n Is there no space to the right of study/bed4 to make a wider garage? It's hard to tell from the photos. There might be a foot between the structure and the fence but I would need to have a better look. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 10Apr 15, 2013 3:23 pm Ripsnorta d@n Is there no space to the right of study/bed4 to make a wider garage? It's hard to tell from the photos. There might be a foot between the structure and the fence but I would need to have a better look. I thought you'd already done an onsite inspection. Strangely, I put that address into google maps and the block is empty. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=58+Godfr ... a&t=h&z=18 Re: Potential renovation - need advice 11Apr 15, 2013 3:51 pm d@n Ripsnorta d@n Is there no space to the right of study/bed4 to make a wider garage? It's hard to tell from the photos. There might be a foot between the structure and the fence but I would need to have a better look. I thought you'd already done an onsite inspection. Strangely, I put that address into google maps and the block is empty. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=58+Godfr ... a&t=h&z=18 For some reason Google maps comes up with the vacant block next door. It is the house to the right of that one (edit: to the right in street view, to the left in satelite view). I did do an inspection but I had so many things to look at that I didn't pay a lot of attention to the garage. My recollection was that it was on the boundary, but after looking at street view there may be a bit of gap. I will inspect the place again next weekend and check it out. Re: Potential renovation - need advice 13Apr 15, 2013 5:28 pm d@n Looking at the overhead and street view it appears that room is built right along the boundary. I don't know adelaide that well, but the location looks really good. Close to the city. Yeah I think your right. It is the location that is the biggest attraction - good school zones, wide leafy streets, close to the city and mostly $1m+ houses. All 3 items listed are defects and are of concern. Please seek qualified independent inspector and/or legal advice for your state. 1 8198 Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 13817 Levelling compound Ardit is the best but buy a bag of sand and make sand dam to protect your wood floor 2 15244 |