A kitchen renovation can be the point where the structure gets touched, because the wall you want gone, or the chimney breast in the corner, may be doing a job. We survey first, appoint a structural engineer where the design needs one, and build to their calculations. We also run the trades that follow: drainage, electrics, plastering, tiling and the fitting itself. This page covers what that means in Berkhamsted's older housing.
The two up two down plan behind the Berkhamsted terraces
The Berkhamsted Conservation Area Character Appraisal records that the mid 19th century terraces here were built of brick to a two up two down floor plan, with a single sash window to each room and the main door on the front elevation. It records that after 1851 Bridge Street, Manor Street, Chapel Street and Holliday Street were planned and developed with rows of terraced housing for local workers, together with development along an older road, Ravens Lane.
A kitchen in a house of that plan works with a small footprint and a single window. The layout question and the structural question therefore get answered together rather than one after the other. We establish what each wall is doing before a single unit is specified, so the design you approve is the design that can be built.
The chimney breast in the corner
The Berkhamsted Conservation Area Character Appraisal records that properties throughout the conservation area are commonly two storey or two and a half storeys with tiled or slate covered roofs, and that old chimney stacks survive as common features. A kitchen refit is one of the points where people ask whether the breast can come out.
It often can, but not by assumption. What remains above has to be supported, on gallows brackets where the structure allows it or on a steel beam, and that is the structural engineer's decision. If the stack is coming down as well, the roof and the elevation change too, and the conservation area position has to be checked before that is agreed.
Where the kitchen needs more floor than the house has
A side return or a rear infill is the answer, and Dacorum's design guidance for Berkhamsted names several successful recent rear and side yard extensions using a contemporary glazed approach at Shrublands Avenue, and one at Boxwell Road. That is the council's own reference point for what works here.
The same guidance states that because of the topography of the area and views onto the backs of some streets, the form, materials and detailing of rear and side yard extensions affect the conservation area as well as the appearance of the individual house. We build to that standard, and we tell you where a planning application is needed before the kitchen is specified rather than after it is ordered.
- Sink, tap and filter installation with full leak testing
- Floor levelling and screeding before the flooring goes down
- New circuits, sockets and dedicated appliance supplies
- Old kitchen strip-out, disposal and making good
- Supply and fitting of units, worktops and splashbacks
The GS Renovation Difference in Berkhamsted
A kitchen in a small brick terrace is a structural job wearing a kitchen's clothes. We settle what the walls are doing before the layout is fixed, and where a beam is needed we appoint the structural engineer and build to the calculations issued. Then we run the drainage, the electrics, the plastering, the tiling and the fitting on one programme, so you are not coordinating five trades yourself or waiting on the one who has not turned up. Quotations are free and without obligation, and GS Renovation Ltd is fully insured and rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder.
- Site left safe and secure at the end of every day
- Structural engineer instructed and coordinated on your behalf
- The kitchen laid out on plan before a single unit is ordered
- Materials priced at options, so you choose the finish
- Services moved and tested before the units go in, not after
- Suppliers used across every budget, with options priced