* This post is a collaborative post
There’s no denying that extending a house offers homeowners more room in their abodes and an opportunity for creating one or more new living spaces. It’s often more affordable than moving to a larger home, and you get to design and plan the layout of your new rooms
The trouble is, some homeowners aren’t fully aware of potential issues they might have to contend with during their extension projects. If you’re going to extend your home soon, it’s worth checking out the following points to bear in mind so that you’re fully prepared:
Excavation and Associated Costs
Are you going to extend your house outwards by perhaps creating a downstairs extension to your kitchen or dining room? If so, you’ll need to consider the process and associated cost of excavating the area
You need to go down to a specific depth so that you’ve got a solid foundation for your extension. After all, the last thing you want is subsidence issues caused by a poorly planned foundation!
Even a minuscule excavation area will generate a lot of waste and dirt that needs to get shifted. You may find it easier to pay for a grab hire lorry to remove all your waste rather than several skips filled with soil and other debris.
Asbestos
When you extend your home, you’ll undoubtedly need to take down some brickwork or other structural items. Before you get stuck into knocking down some walls and using scaffolding to prop up your ceiling temporarily, you need to check for asbestos
Asbestos is a fibre used in building materials that is now banned from sale or use in construction work in many countries. That’s because asbestos causes mesothelioma – a type of lung cancer and other respiratory problems.
If your home was built before 1999, it might contain asbestos fibres in some of the building materials used in its construction. If tests confirm that the building material you need to remove contains asbestos, you’ll need to contact an asbestos removal company.
Once they’ve safely removed any waste items that contain asbestos, you can then safely continue with your extension.
Planning Permission
Depending on some factors, such as where you live or your property type, you may need to seek planning permission before commencing your extension project. Whether you think you need it or not, you must always check with your local authority first before starting any work
Doing so will save you a lot of financial and legal nightmares if it transpires you’ve extended your home without getting local authority approval beforehand. In some cases, they could force you to knock it down if you’ve built it without permission!
Building Contractors
One final point to consider is who you use to construct your home’s extension. You won’t find it hard to contract a builder for your extension project, but you may find it challenging to seek one that is honest, trustworthy, and offers fair pricing
Be sure to do plenty of online (and offline) research into prospective builders before hiring anyone.
Good luck!
Thank you for reading. I hope you can embark on the journey of an extended home. Good luck.
Stay wonderful!
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