Near completion for a front porch with shower room

Transforming a Cheetham Hill Home: The Ultimate Front Porch Extension

We are absolutely thrilled with how the front porch extension on our recent Cheetham Hill project has turned out. To maximize the home's daily functionality, the new entrance cleverly incorporates a ground-floor shower room, dedicated entrance storage, and a neatly integrated bin store. Because the house originally only featured an upstairs bathroom and WC, this addition brings a massive boost in everyday convenience for the homeowners.

Here is a behind-the-scenes look at how this small but mighty build came together.

Navigating Planning and Building Regs

When it comes to extensions, the paperwork can sometimes feel more daunting than the build itself! For this project, we managed the planning application and the Building Regulations.

Usually, we love diving into intricate detail drawings to map out every millimeter of a build. However, because this was a relatively small extension, we were able to take a more streamlined approach. Rather than submitting full structural drawings for Building Control, we utilized a Building Notice application. This meant the building inspector simply carried out routine site visits to ensure everything was up to standard as we built it. It’s a great, efficient route for smaller, straightforward projects.

Maximizing the Interior Space

The main goal was to pack as much utility into this new footprint as possible without making it feel cramped. The interior is essentially split into two highly functional zones:

• The Entrance Hub: As soon as you step inside, there is a purpose-built area for coat storage and a shoe store, keeping the clutter of daily life neatly tucked away.

• The Ground-Floor Shower Room: We fully kitted out the new bathroom space with a modern shower, WC, vanity unit, and a radiator to ensure the space stays warm and comfortable year-round.

Exterior Upgrades and Problem Solving

Curb appeal was just as important as interior function. We installed a striking new, extra-wide front door complete with a side window panel. This not only looks highly contemporary but also floods the new entrance with natural light during the day.

To give the extension a premium feel after dark, we added sleek downlights to the underside of the fascias. It looks absolutely fantastic at night and provides a warm, welcoming glow to the front of the property.

Overcoming On-Site Challenges No build is complete without a little on-site problem solving! During construction, the new roofline ended up blocking the existing kitchen vent. Instead of compromising the kitchen's airflow, we quickly adjusted our strategy and rerouted the ducting to ventilate safely above the new roof. It’s exactly why having an experienced team on site is so important—we can adapt to these challenges on the fly.