Extending Your Home

Extending your Home

When you make the decision to extend your home, it's not always easy to cover all your bases. We're here to help you get an idea of what you want before you bring your plan to the building contractor/ architect.

The first thing you'll need to cover before deciding whether or not you want to extend your home is, do you need planning permission? If you click the link here you'll be re-directed to the Citizens Information page that tells you everything you need to know

Why are you Extending

Consider firstly the purpose you want your extension to be built for. Of course, it sounds like an obvious question to be asking but there is a genuine reason behind it. You will need to take into consideration the effect the extension will have on the existing property.

 

What type of Extension?

If you decide to extend onto the side of your home or even convert the garage into part of the home, there won't be any real difficulties in allowing natural light to flow through the rooms. However, if you make the decision to extend onto the back of the house you will need to be careful of creating dark spaces between where the old room ends and the extension begins. To counteract this issue, we recommend inserting a velux window nearby or even turning your extension into a sunroom. With these two options there will be no limit on the light that can enter your home and certainly no dead spaces. Along with the help of your architect or building surveyor, you can design and create openings specifically for your home. If you decide to discuss the sunroom idea with your surveyor, choose a combination of windows and doors that you feel will be practical but also fit into the feel of your home.

Trends:

In the current market, open plan living is very popular. Requests to knock down internal walls and open up two rooms into one are a standard renovation when it comes to home remodelling and if you take a look at the picture to the right, you can see why! However, if you don't like the idea of spaciousness and would prefer each room to do its own thing, there is an option of introducing internal french doors or a sliding door to keep the divide. By introducing this concept to your home, you have the option of open plan for entertaining guests but also you can close the doors over and close a room off from the whole house when you're in search of a little "me" time.

Before asking for a consultation with your surveyor or architect, ensure you have a solid idea of what you're looking for. The meeting with the surveyor can be used to enhance ideas and provide a wider range of possibilities for you. A well constructed and engineered extension will add value to your property and will provide for all your needs that you were in the beginning of the process.

If you're thinking about extending or renovating your home, why not contact us on (01) 8021800 or email us as info@harvestenergy.ie to arrange a meeting