Browse Forums Renovation + Home Improvement 1 May 05, 2014 4:35 pm Hi, We live in L shaped house with the short arm of the L running most of the width of the block and the long arm towards the front. We are thinking through options for extending as our family grows. It's a hip and gable roof, so extending the "long" arm of the L would seem relatively straight forward. However, I'm failing to see how you could extend the short arm of the L (essentially converting the L to a rectangle) without ending up with twin gables and a box gutter, or replacing the whole thing. Any ideas or options here? Extending to the rear (fattening the base of the L) isn't really an option as there's already a 3m extension with a skillion roof and we'd not want to sacrifice any more of the back yard. Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Extending an L Shape House 3May 06, 2014 1:21 am Is there a reason why you won't want to extend the long arm of the L? Recently moved to a 60's home in need of some improvement! http://s797.photobucket.com/user/leenii ... ch%20House Old house: http://s797.photobucket.com/albums/yy25 ... loo/House/ Re: Extending an L Shape House 4May 06, 2014 8:43 am A C blocks the steps up to the house which we'd have to put elsewhere. A U is maybe an option, although I was also contemplating having a double garage where the current deck/stair space is (there's currently a car port under the deck), but given the width there and the current foundations it would probably be prohibitively expensive. Also, it would make for a pretty skinny room. Going up may be a problem with planning due to the slope of the block - I expect we'd hit maximum height before a second story ceiling, let alone the roof. Regarding the long arm of the L, we were thinking of extending it as well so we'd have an ensuite/WIR where the main bedroom is. Re: Extending an L Shape House 5May 06, 2014 11:12 am It's extremely hard to offer advice without knowing your brief. What do you want? More bedrooms? More living areas? Rooms enlarged? Additional bathrooms? Garage? Asking where to extend to is entirely dependent on use of the existing space and proposed requirements of the additional space. It's also dependent on slope of your land, existing floor heights, required setbacks and existing elevations of your house. Saying "my house is L shaped, where can I extend to" is an impossible question to answer if we don't know what you hope to achieve with that extension. There are a multitude of options available but we don't know if you just want an extra ensuite and a workshop, or whether you want five more bedrooms, a three car garage, a library and formal lounge. Completed a knock down and rebuild in northern Melbourne. Handover completed 27/09/2013 and now moved in. Re: Extending an L Shape House 6May 06, 2014 1:38 pm Depending also on your local council, you may be surprised with your option for extending up. I drew plans for a client about five years ago and we ended up getting the plans approved despite being 2.5 m above the normal max roof height ( 8.2m ). They did give us quite a bit of freeway though as there were two recent houses in the street that were 1 - 1.5m above and also that my clients property had a 20% slope across the building footprint. Stewie Re: Extending an L Shape House 7May 06, 2014 2:33 pm Hi, Sorry for the lack of detail. Hopefully this helps: Use of the existing space is pretty much as shown on the diagram. We're looking to ideally add 1 or 2 bedrooms and hopefully a second bathroom or ensuite. That and have a larger living area - the current space is a little awkward. Nice to haves would also be a study and a garage, although these aren't essential. There is a slope towards the road - you can comfortably walk under the living/dining area and main bedroom, as it slopes to the kitchen there's probably only 600mm clearance. The rear addition is a suspended slab with around 600mm clearance where it meets the house, and meets the ground at the rear. Under the deck (built on a concrete slab) is a carport with around 2.2m clearance. The driveway drops away toward the road and there is a retaining wall on the Southern (top of the drawing) side - the grassy patch shown on the diagram is flat, and on the Eastern extent is roughly 1.6 metres above the driveway. The setback rules are for 7.5 metres with max height of 9 metres - the slope to the front is what worried me about height. Re: Extending an L Shape House 8May 07, 2014 2:05 pm Then I'd extend out the front. Downstairs you could end up with a double garage with maybe storage/study beside it and above it another 1 or 2 bedrooms and extend the existing lounge out to where your main bed wall is at the front. Stewie Re: Extending an L Shape House 12May 07, 2014 6:44 pm It's not quite like that Stewie - both ends of the L are gables, and the laundry/family/B3 are under a skillion. The roof is terracotta tile by the way and on a 30% pitch. I think this means the roof would end up being about a metre higher, but that would still be well under 9m. This was the sort of idea I was looking for though, so thanks, you've got me on the right track! If your patio is going to be 35 sqm then that's going to need Council Approval. The fact that they previously approved your 25sqm patio will be irelevant 1 5503 Ask for some kickplate to be added and also for tradies to be requested to use lanyards on tools on that side of the building. Be respectful and have the discussion… 1 1689 There is insufficient information to give a meaningful answer. You should talk to council planning. Apart from building construction issues, if you are adding floor area… 1 7981 |