ALTERATIONS INFORMATION GUIDE
Our Guide to Alterations
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We undertake, and have completed a lot of alterations over the years, they are generally part of a bigger job but from time to time they are just smaller jobs such as removing a wall or chimney which is just a little too much for the home owner to handle.
One of the most popular alterations is knocking through to a dining room from a kitchen to create a much more useable space. I say that because a lot of the housing stock built in the eighties and nineties were marketed as having three receptions rooms, but a lot of these design dimensions never really allowed for any furniture, good old Christmas family reunions or the occasional dinner party. It’s been a trick for years by building companies to furnish their show homes with furniture that is smaller than standard to promote a feeling of space, this only becomes apparent when you move in with your own furniture and find it doesn’t fit. Another old ploy was the removal of doors in the show homes, this again gives the feeling of space, but when you actually look at the room again with the door on its hinges, you will find that the amount of wall space is smaller as the door needs to be able to open. |
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Their was a popular item of furniture by servicemen years ago called Shrank’s, brought back from Germany, these large items of furniture were massive in height and width, most now reside in that great furniture store up in the sky, as they were never built and intended for UK houses, but the principle of them should not be forgotten and is now widely used everywhere in modular form.
A lot of the walls between kitchens and dining rooms are just timber studs and have no bearing or support to the floors above, but the same can be said for some brick and block walls. Generally, if in doubt contact us or another builder in your area to get this confirmed. If the wall is load bearing, then some form of lintel or steel I beam will need to be installed. Also if the building is listed then planning permission will more than likely be needed, with a building control inspection carried out while the job is being done.
Once any wall has been removed, there is also the need to repair any damage which can be a little harder than you may think, as the ceiling, floor and walls may all be at slightly different heights and planes, and would be hard to judge until the wall is out. I would recommend that even if you don’t use a builder get the whole room re plastered as patches are hard to achieve and affect the final quality of the job, sometimes you can be lucky with the new units hiding the join.
With the wall removed it then vital to get the design of the kitchen bang on so when it is finished the whole thing has a degree of flexibility built in that accounts for the big Christmas family knees up and any special occasion that spring up in the future. I say that as a warning, because there may be enough room between the units for the table and chairs, but at Christmas when granny and every man and his dog turns up, getting in and out from the table can be a nightmare and also damage your units.
So on narrow kitchens we would recommend keeping units down one wall, yes I know you need more cupboard space than that, but by using shallow depth wall units floor to ceiling at one end you would still have plenty of cupboard space but also create a bigger working space in the design.
Other things to contemplate when removing a wall are any plumbing and electrics located there. Electrics may need to be moved to another wall nearby which may result in a series of vertical channels being made that require making good, and the floor may need to be broken up to move gas, heating or hot and cold water supplies may also need amendment.
The kitchen featured was knocked through into the old dinning room, and was a fairly easy job to accomplish. The lady of the house had been waiting nearly 20 years to do it and was glad she finally did and actually brought tears to her eyes when it was finally completed. The house was originally built by Barrats, who still build the same house design but the new version has the same kitchen layout as we have produced here.
If you need a wall or any alterations done, please contact us to arrange a free quote and survey.
So on narrow kitchens we would recommend keeping units down one wall, yes I know you need more cupboard space than that, but by using shallow depth wall units floor to ceiling at one end you would still have plenty of cupboard space but also create a bigger working space in the design.
Other things to contemplate when removing a wall are any plumbing and electrics located there. Electrics may need to be moved to another wall nearby which may result in a series of vertical channels being made that require making good, and the floor may need to be broken up to move gas, heating or hot and cold water supplies may also need amendment.
The kitchen featured was knocked through into the old dinning room, and was a fairly easy job to accomplish. The lady of the house had been waiting nearly 20 years to do it and was glad she finally did and actually brought tears to her eyes when it was finally completed. The house was originally built by Barrats, who still build the same house design but the new version has the same kitchen layout as we have produced here.
If you need a wall or any alterations done, please contact us to arrange a free quote and survey.