Rough cost of a roof raise loft conversion....?

[icravecheese]

We live in a detached victorian house, and we'd like to convert the loft at some point to make a big ensuite bedroom up in the roof (for me & husband to escape our 3 noisy children!).
Only problem is, our roof pitch isn't quite high enough for a straightforward conversion, so we'd need to do a roof raise conversion.
I saw recently on a Sarah Beeny programme a company called 'moduloft' (or something similar) that has a patented system whereby they build you an entire new roof in their factory, finish it all (eg plumb bathroom etc) at their factory site and then crane the new roof onto your house (after removing old roof). Not sure how much this costs....probably hideously expensive?

Wonder if anyone has had a roof raise conversion & knows how much it might cost approximately?
Thanks

[Wolfiefan]

Do not have a similar house. Looked at getting walls built up and new roof. Initial very rough quotation suggested about £50,000. Eek! Still cheaper than moving tho.

[icravecheese]

yep....just done online quote with the moduloft company I mentioned above - came back at £63k. eek!
Wonder how much a local roof conversion company might cost to do it.....just liked the idea of moduloft because its minimal disruption to your life whilst they build it all offsite. But I guess you pay for it!
Right, better go dig out yellow pages and get some builders round for more 'traditional' quotes!

[Endymion]

You'd most likely need planning permission as well as the usual building regulations approval. Normal loft conversions are generally permitted development, but raising the height of the roof would need planning permission. Whether you'd get it would depend upon the impact the development would have on the appearance and character of the area, so if you're not detached or are detached but surrounded by similar original height houses, it would be more problematic.

[Fuchi]

We are looking into loft conversion of our top floor flat and have similar issues with pitch. sadly as we're a flat we have a lot more restrictions, but we're considering a mansard roof - it builds out the back while keeping the front the same. if you google it you'll see. maybe a bit cheaper (though still more than a dormer).

[icravecheese]

thanks all...

Looked up Mansard roof, not sure if it would work on our victorian house? I'll investigate further.
The house is detached, and lots of houses up our road (all built around 1900 to 1930) have done roof conversions, so presumably planning would be ok. Although I think we're unlucky as our house & our neighbours were both built in 1910, and for some reason don't have high enough pitches for straight forward conversions, but the houses further up the street (built 1915 onwards) did have high enough pitches....NOT FAIR!

[Fuchi]

Not fair indeed. Currently fuming that despite already being at the disadvantage of not having a house, we have lots of crap to deal with - that will cost lots - just for a little bit more room. Still, worse things happen at sea.

[Endymion]

It's usually the other way round - in terms of roof construction, older properties (i.e. victorian or edwardian) generally cheaper to convert because they had open construction rather than multiple trusses. But yes, lots depends on the depth of the roof slope.

We have edwardian house (1904) and had a loft conversion with rear dormer and hip to gable roof extension. The loft was massive. We didn't need planning permission because the height of the roof extensions didn't exceed the height of the original house.

Our local planning authority is particularly strict when it comes to roof extensions - we wouldn't have got planning permission for the full hip to gable that we built as permitted development (I am a planner )

House opposite us had permission refused for a loft extension including increased ridge height because it would result in a top heavy appearance and would be detrimental to visual amenities of the area.

[wonkylegs]

If it's Victorian and presumably has good ceiling heights could you look at reducing the ceiling height on the upper floor to gain the roof height which is more likely to be welcomed at planning too as it'll have less impact on the exterior appearance.
Tbh to need to get various people into quote for your situation as it will be very individual.

[Fuchi]

Endymion, could I ask for advice? Only a couple of houses on our road have a side dormer / hip to gable extension. I think both done a while ago. None of the houses have anything on the front. Is it possible to give an idea of our chances or getting side dormer / mansard? We of course wouldn't ask for anything on the front. Thank you!

[Endymion]

It really depends on your local authority's attitude to hip to gable extensions. Are you detached, terrace or semi?

With mine, side dormers are generally seen as being OK depending on their bulk. More likely to be acceptable in detached houses or end of terraces.

Hip to gable extensions are seen as OK to end of terrace houses and most detached houses (depending on the pattern of development in locality). But no-no with semis because they can have the impact of unbalancing the pair of semi detached houses. But where they are permitted development (as was the case with us) there is nothing that the LPA can do about it. Actually, I think ours looks great!

Raising the ridge height can be viewed negatively by LPA if your house is a terrace or a semi, or in a row of similar proportioned detached houses where the raised ridge would be a jarring feature.

So much depends on the general approach of your LPA. Mine encourages pre-application discussion. Maybe if you sent a photo with covering letter, perhaps mocking up an "after" photo by drawing on a copy? Some LPAs charge for this advice. We don't.

[Endymion]

Being a flat, you would need PP though. But as an example, the attached house to our semi is converted to 2 flats. My neighbours (next door, upstairs) were pleased that we did our hip to gable because they now have much more likelihood of getting planning permission because their hip to gable will re-balance the pair of semis.

[Fuchi]

Thank you, that's very helpful. Unfortunately we are a semi, so perhaps we'd run into difficulties. I called the council and finally got through to someone who said as long as we don't touch the front we should be OK, but I wasn't very convinced. As you say, good idea to go in to discuss. Not quite sure of my terms, but I wonder if we could have a mansard at the back that doesn't extend out at the side - ie keep the side pitch the same, which would just mean missing the corner inside.
thanks again!