Did you have a dining room in your house?

The fashion for open plan living, and family-sized space, has meant that almost three million houses had walls knocked through, over the past five years, to increase floor space, but to reduce the number of overall rooms, a report issued by Halifax has found.

This trend is likely to continue into 2008, with the most likely room to be converted being the second reception room, or dining area.

Insurance companies have found, though, that during the last five years, only 49 per cent of homeowners told their insurers about the work which had been undertaken.

David Rochester, head of underwriting at Halifax Home Insurance, said: "Britons have clearly fallen for open plan living and are looking at ways in which they can make better use of the space inside their homes.

"In many ways it's sad to see the decline of the formal dining room, but it appears that they may have become superfluous to modern living where people are perhaps less likely to eat together.

"Not only do we urge homeowners to make sure a qualified person carries out any structural work to their home, we also recommend seeking the advice of a qualified structural engineer before progressing work to knock down any walls. Any damage to a weight-bearing wall that results in ceiling collapse or other damage could also invalidate a buildings insurance policy."

A quarter of home conversions are estimated to have been DIY projects, the report found.

29/01/2008 11:36:54