"Owain" wrote in message
...



People often forget that bungalows have foundations intended for single
storey houses and conversion to a two storey might mean improving the
foundations. Costly and disruptive.

I wonder if building regs inspectors thoroughly consider the foundation
aspect when allowing vertical extensions.

The houses on our estate (built 1936/7) have no foundations, just about four
courses of bricks below ground. all the houses are on a hill.

A house behind us is at this moment having its roof removed and a two
bedroom extension built at the rear, it might be extended to the front too
but there's no evidence of that at the moment.

Two adjoined houses at the bottom of our street have also extended upwards
but outwards, to the rear, too. There are good foundations on the new
extension so the whole unit will be more stable than it has been for almost
70 years. But the one behind us is a different story, the houses are all
showing some signs of movement as it is, I can see that one partially
toppling over and taking its neighbour with it.

Surely, if the foundation aspect had thoroughly been investigated there
would have been objections?

Mary

| All very tentative at the moment - weighing up potential and future
costs
| in buying a detached 2 bedroom bungalow compared to buying a 3 bedroom
semi.

Remember you might lose one of those 2 ground floor bedrooms when you put
the staircase in. But a det bung probably has more ground floor extension
potential than a semi, and with an ageing population ground floor
accessible
bedrooms might be in more demand in future.

Owain