Extension Types

One of the most important decisions when you are considering having a house extension is, what type of extension would suit you best? There are pluses and minuses to each so it really depends on exactly what you’re looking for and the individual characteristics of the house you’re currently living in.

Here is a brief description of the usual types of extension that we build for our customers. If what you would like to do doesn’t seem to be covered here or you want to discuss your project in more depth, please give us a call on (is there a different telephone number for Absolute Extensions?)

There are specific building regulations and planning permissions for each type of house extension. All extensions will need to meet stringent building regulations but whether you need planning permission will depend on if your plans are covered by the rules for permitted development or not. The rules for permitted development are quite complex and we advise you to contact Absolute Extensions or your local authority to find out the particular legislation that applies to your area and your house.

Conservatory

A conservatory extension can be a great way to add extra leisure space to your house with an area that abounds in natural light and greatly increases the pleasures of living in your house year-round. However, many people build conservatories and then find that they don’t use them as much as they thought they would. This can be because of any number of factors but is mostly due to faults in the design and planning process. At Absolute Extensions we can help you decide whether a conservatory is truly the best option for your needs.

Rear Extensions

If you have sufficient space, a rear extension has enormous potential to change the very nature of your house. This type of extension can be combined with internal alterations to open your kitchen up to your back garden and create a light, airy, open-plan area that can be used as a combined kitchen, dining, living and entertaining area.

Turning your kitchen and back area into more of a focal point can have immense advantages but costs also escalate quickly so it’s necessary to have a thorough, well-costed plan in place.

Side extensions

A side extension is usually used to create extra space in existing rooms or to re-arrange your house to create extra bedrooms, bathrooms or living areas. Side extensions can also be combined with rear extensions to form a wrap-around extension. Although wrap-around extensions are often quite time-consuming and cause a significant amount of disturbance, they offer you the maximum amount of flexibility to re-order the layout of your house to exactly suit your needs.

Basement extension

As you don’t have to disturb the main building structure, a cellar conversion is often cheaper than extending your home outwards and has the added advantage of not reducing your garden space. It’s more straightforward to convert if there’s an existing cellar or other structure, but you can often build an extra room below even if there is no existing basement. Older style properties are often more suitable for this type of extension as they usually have suspended timber floors.

The drawback of basement extensions is that they often have very little natural light or ventilation.

Loft Conversions

Please see our loft conversions for more information