Raising the roof for loft conversion

[inchoccyheaven]

We are desperate to add a 4th bedroom to our house but haven't got room to do a side extension and our idea to do a 2 storey extension at the rear has been vetoed by pre planning advice person.

Our loft is shallow with not enough height to stand up but I have read you could raise the roof to do a loft conversion. Has anyone done this? Are the council likely to allow it? How much space would we need to have steps to go up to the loft?

[herhonesty]

Looked into it but hideously expensive and often structurally impossible.

Why did Preplanner say no?

[inchoccyheaven]

Pre planner said that it would be too close to next door and restrict their light etc.

[BlueChampagne]

Have any of your neighbours been allowed/able to change their roof height recently? Otherwise you may have to lower ceilings on 1st floor.

[Mandy21]

We had a loft company out yesterday. Are you detached? I think if you're detached, you can often do it, subject to the budget etc. If you're semi detached or terraced, you won't be able to do it as it obviously affects the ridge height of adjoining property. We're semi detached and have been advised that we'd have to lower the ceilings of the bedrooms / bathroom etc in order to get enough height.

We're in a very similar position - need 4th bedroom. Have been told we're unlikely to get permission for a double storey at the side, but will be able to go out at the back (although you have to be at least 2m in from any boundary including in our case the house we're joined to so can only have double storey for part of the back of the house).

[putthehamsterbackinitscage]

We did something like this a while back as we wanted more space without moving due to schools.

Had to extend the front of the house at one side to create a square shape that was easier to extend upwards as originally the house was set back above the garage.

Took the roof off completely, and added new roof plus about 10 courses of brickwork to creat the extra height. We now have 2 large bedrooms plus a shower room in the loft - but we lost a small bedroom in the conversion so as to create space for new stairs to the loft and a bigger bathroom...

Our planning application was advertised and shown to neighbours either side but I don't think it was entirely obvious exactly what would be involved though we had no objections- the description on the planning app send bedroom extension and loft conversion! (Houses opposite - ie with road between use and them weren't too happy but had no input into planning process).

Overall our house is now a few feet higher than our neighbours but is not a true 3 storey, but it has given us a lot of extra space and forced us to get rid of all the junk we used to store in the loft.

We also swapped the boiler as it wasnt large enough for a bigger house, and switched to a combi so no need for water tanks.

Overall cost was about £45k but that was 8 years ago.... probably cost more like £70 - £80k now I suspect....

[titchy]

We did this 2 years ago. Raised roof by a metre and a half. Detached house though with little 'height' relationship to neighbours (both are different sizes and styles to ours). No objections.

Gained 2 beds, 2 baths and dressing room (and playroom as did single storey extension out back too). Didn't lose any space as stairs went above existing.

Took 6 months and cost £100k.

[titchy]

Should say ours is pretty large! Probably getting on for a thousand square feet.

[Thinkingof4]

Ha that's funny i have just been looking into this on google to see if it's possible. Our house is mostly 2 stories but the part with kitchen is lower and so just single story at the moment. We are part of steading conversion so not detached but the neighbours house is higher than kitchen bit/ same as rest if house so that wouldn't be a problem.
Just to make it more complicated the lower part of the house is an L shape so doing anything to roof would be that bit more complicated.
I estimate we could raise lower part by at least a metre so it would make a huge difference.
We'd need to remortgage to do it though which would be a bit scary given what interest rates are likely to do in he future!!

[inchoccyheaven]

Hmm you have all given me food for thought. We are semi detached so I guess we couldn't do it then which is a shame as our neighbours were happy for us to do a 2 storey extension out the back even though pre planning said no without even coming out to look :(

Could do single storey extension but wouldn't really look with rest of the downstairs layout for what we need.

[noddyholder]

It is a HUGE job and mega complicated even if you are detached.What about a single storey g/f with ensuite?

[inchoccyheaven]

Hi Noddy there is only one area on ground floor that we could do single storey extension as there is already a part extension ( done before we moved here) to make front room into an L shape so we could square that up, but it wouldn't be practical to make the new extension part into a bedroom because of the existing layout.

It is very frustrating because we can't afford to buy a 4 bedhouse and really like where we are but don't seem to be able to extend this one properly :(

[Woodyapexlofts]

Plotter goose
They got zapped . I was only trying to help ? And of cause promote my business . Better to be a bit proactive especially if I think I can help a mn user direct . As if you don't know where to look they might not find it . Cheers

[aredorange]

Dear inchoccyheaven, have you managed to do it at the end? We are interested in doing the same...

[Terriblefreckles]

Got planning to do this after two years, many changes to design and initial refusal. Went to committee and we got approval. However, quotes from builders are rangeing in the £150K mark 😖

[charlestonchaplin]

Terriblefreckles, can you clarify if you were one of the original posters on this thread, and if so, which one. If not, what work did you have done exactly, as posters have discussed getting different types of work done. Thanks.

[HairyAl]

We're looking to convert our loft into bedroom and bathroom. 4 quotes, and of the 3 back, 2 say ceiling would need to be dropped, other one says new system so no need to drop ceiling...

[lalalonglegs]

What's the new system HairyAl as I have a property with a roof just a tiny bit to shallow to convert and I don't want to drop the ceilings. Is there any information you can point me towards?

TIA

[HairyAl]

Hi Lalalonglegs,
I am waiting for the company to confirm back what it is, and how it will work. From the top of the joists to the bottom of the central beam is 2.1m so about 10cm too little for the standard conversion. It may be they are using Telebeams, which can mean a smaller space needed. When it's confirmed, I'll let you know!
Don't really want to drop the ceilings either - massive amount of mess, more cost, and smaller rooms on the floor below...

[lalalonglegs]

Please do, Hairy. I'm really interested.