On the split level
Digging down a storey would help a Yorkshire couple gain space and a link to the garden from their hillside home, says Greg Toon
137 Digging down a storey helped one couple gain additional space
It’s a dilemma faced by many. Karen and Steve Fox, in their late fifties, are semi-retired and have lived in their three-bedroom detached home since 1978. They’ve been happy with the house, which they bought as a new build, and love the village of Oughtibridge, on the outskirts of She eld. Now that they’re spending most days at home, they want more space for the living/dining area and kitchen.
The Foxes looked at larger properties outside the area, but decided they don’t want to leave family, friends and neighbours in Oughtibridge. They’re looking for inspiration to help them make their current house work better.
THE SET-UP
Sitting on a steeply sloping site, this property is unusual. Although the front door is at ground level, most of the rear garden, which has wonderful views across a wooded valley, is a 9ft drop. Access to the back garden is via external steps at the end of the carport, so the living areas have no link with the outside. Three modest rooms make up the ground floor: a living room to the front, with a kitchen and dining room at the rear. The carport runs alongside the house and covers a side door accessing the kitchen. Direct access to the garden plus maximising the amazing views are on the couple’s wishlist.
THE SOLUTION
To create the additional living space, Karen and Steve could reconfigure the rooms by moving the dining area to the front, now the site of the living room, and expanding the kitchen across the rear of the property into the old dining space, effectively doubling its size.
If a new rear extension were built at a lower level it could house a living room. Installing an internal staircase at the end of the carport and off the kitchen area would link to this new living room. The lower-ground floor would have direct access to the garden’s main grassed area, and
as it’s one storey below the ground floor, it would be possible to retain the existing kitchen window with its fabulous views across the valley.
If the couple wanted a more dramatic solution, they could put a sloping roof on the extension, creating an impressive living space with a maximum height of 16ft. The existing kitchen windowsill could be dropped to floor level and a glazed balustrade added to look over the living room. Installing glass in the sloping roof in line with the kitchen window would give the most wonderful woodland views.
Then the kitchen could be made bigger by knocking down the internal wall and inserting an island and a return leg into what was the dining space.
The original dining room’s rear window would be replaced with a sliding/folding door that leads out to a newly formed balcony with enough space for a table to seat four.
Making the lower-level living space into an L-shaped room with a large glazed corner would maximise the views. The glass in my sketches is structural glazing, which is expensive, but allows for large pane sizes, and can be frameless or have thin aluminium mullions. If the Foxes opted for timber-framed glass or uPVC conventional glazing, they could cut costs considerably, but would lose a lot of the wow factor.
Cladding the 16ft-high wall in an interesting textured finish would turn it into a feature. They could then install a log-burning stove, with the flue running up through the sloping ceiling, and have bifold doors opening onto the main lawn garden area.
The existing rockery would be adjacent to the glass doors, and alpine plants could be grown up towards the underside of the new kitchen balcony.
Structurally, the couple would need to check whether the existing kitchen/dining room wall is loadbearing. Sloping sites require extra attention to the foundations, as they may have to go down deeper or be stepped.
In terms of planning, the balcony and the fact that the extension is within 7ft of a boundary means the work couldn’t be done under permitted development rules.
But planning consent should be relatively easy to get – the balcony is screened to the side and the neighbours’ gardens are already overlooked. As the site slopes, the extension wouldn’t block the views or daylight of nearby houses.