Informal loft room

[Hamouchi]

Hello all

I really need advice as am just going into a circle and think will go crazy.

We have 3 kids in 3 bedroom,but feel the space so small for us,luck of storage .

So planing to do Velux storage room, window, floor strengthening, electricity, plastering and pulldown ladder/staircase/permanent ladder.

We had a quote to 10k ,but I keep thinking about the going up and down,I may work some days up as I do remote job,I tried my neighbour ladder I couldn't go halfway it was a metallic one but very small steps.

My 2 neighbours had similar things done but with proper stairs, without building regulations,so it is not considered as an extra room

Please share your experience about this,and about going up and down the stairs.is it hard or it is my imagination.

We have this. Decent wooden ladder is hinged and fixed onto the hatch, so pulls down and opens out.

We had a glass 'banister' installed around the hatch, to allow something to hold on to when embarking / disembarking the ladder at the top. This makes it easy - before that I was a bit nervous of it. (It also helps to avoid the hazard of anyone falling down the hatch!)

Interested in any replies here, OP! We’re also thinking what to do next, garden office or loft conversion. Trouble is it’s a semi with a hipped roof so it would be a big job to make a proper room up there. But I like to think maybe a little office space would work… Would you get any insulation done for the 10K? We also need a new roof 😹

Thanks for your reply, @barabella do you use it often?and how did you find it first time? very anxious, trying to think of spiral staircase,9r anything else that is less dangerous.

So for 10k ,you have insulation,2 windows, electric, plastering,but doesn't include the price of the ladders as needed one with bigger steps,I am quite heavy 😅,for a proper conversion it will cost 34k including a new roof but will loose the small room because of the proper stairs

Probably not relevant but working for the ambulance service I can tell you it's a bloody nightmare having to carry someone down these!

I don't use it loads - kids use it as a kind of games room. But I'm happy to go up and down now as I need to, I would use it as a day to day office space if I could get. away with it!

I didn't like the metal ladders as I felt they were flimsy and very small steps, similar to what you've said. Ours now is more like this - not sure of the exact product, but they feel much sturdier.

Also, this isn't my loft! But this pic is the kind of thing we have at the top. It made a huge difference for me as I think when you get to the top, without something to hold onto you have to climb out on your knees - and that's worse coming back down! So I like that I can hold the posts now to get back on the ladder, I did avoid going up before that because I did it a couple of times and hated it as felt unsafe.

Have to say I think a spiral stair would stress me more though!

@AnotherVice DH is a firefighter... we've had the same conversation multiple times!! He refused to entertain us doing the informal loft room without an escape hatch sized window in the roof prior to any works getting done. Definitely worth some thought.

Good points about emergency access, hadn’t thought of that!

We won't sleep in it,mainly nice storage area ,or office.

We are doing 2 big windows up there,but I think what I need it for is that we can have a tidy house down and more space for us, but definitely against the Idea of using it as a bedroom

This is mine. The cross beam limits the use so without a full loft conversion it will never be much more than a storage area, but I'm up there most days.
I have storage/shoe cabinets for out of season stuff, boxes with spare duvets, Christmas stuff, I keep the heated clothes rail up there.
At the moment its full of Christmas presents and a fair amount of junk which I'm slowly sorting out.
When I have sorted the boxes out I'm planning on half the space for my yoga mat and the other half for the airer.
The cat likes to hang out up there as well.
Everything that's up there was previously either under beds, on top of wardrobes or down the sides. I've got my spare room
( aka room of doom) back, the rest of the house is a lot cleaner and tidier so for me it was well worth it
It was about £5k but its not plastered yet.

What side of the landing did you put your stairs please 😊

@Hamouchi

I live in a terrace didn't have many options.
The loft stairs rise from the stairwell towards the front of the house.
They run parallel to the horizontal beam, from left to right in the picture, so you come out diagonal to the window.
We have a bannister running round the opening so you can't fall out!

Difficult to visualise,I live in terraced as well small landing we thought about doing this kind of stairs,but it depends on the highest point of the stairs I think.

@Hamouchi

Using that picture, where the wall is, that's the front bedroom. Turn the stairs 90degrees so the open side is against the wall, they rise to the front of the house,in the opposite direction to the stairs in the picture.
The open side of my loft stairs run parallel to the landing.
My loft stairs are more or less the same as those. We did have to cut into the ceiling of the bedroom to fit them in but it doesn't affect the space in the room

Dear God, surely anyone could just plummet off those narrow stairs into the stairwell below!

Cut through the small bedroom ceiling?we thought of doing them in our bedroom like this picture , but they said it might be fire azardeous that the room will be open and I could invalidate the room.

Can I ask why you weren’t able to climb your neighbour’s ladder? I can understand that you might not have found it pleasant or something you would want to do several times a day, but you said you could only get half way up? Is this because of vertigo or mobility issues? I am not having a go, just asking as it would make a difference to what you do for your own plans.

My Mum had a pull-down ladder but it had rubber treads, a solid handrail and a rail at the top to hold on to, and the angle wasn’t hugely steep. The open/close mechanism was very smooth too. She was up and down it with no problem well into her sixties.

If it’s a storage room, make sure you can carry things you need to store up and down the ladder / stairs easily. With a loft ladder it was a two person job getting things up and down.

You should note that to use it for anything other than light storage is a contravention of the building regulations. Even using it as a home office or playroom. It could invalidate your insurance as well as make you vulnerable to prosecution by the council.

Installing velux is notifiable work and if the council becomes aware of this, they will be concerned regarding the use of the space.

@Hamouchi
No the bedroom is not open to the loft. It's only two treads which are boxed in.
Pic shows where it comes through the ceiling
@KingsleyBorder

That was my first thought. Mine have a proper bannister and are enclosed at the bottom

Stairs coming into bedroom

We just use our loft for storage only but we have a loft hatch with wooden ladders attached to them, very meaty things. They have a side handrail like this

https://www.fakro.co.uk/products/all-products/loft-ladders/wooden-folding-section-loft-ladder/

If you want to see loft conversions this chap on youtube is fantastic for explaining what they do.

I didn't feel safe,the ladder was small with narrow steps,and the Idea of falling down down the stairs terrified me,also I am not very active person,bit overweight,but telling me about your mum made me feel better, thanks

Another option for a permanent stair that you might find interesting to consider is a half-tread staircase - they essentially take about half the horizontal space of a normal staircase without feeling steep and are easier than you might think to use. My elderly mother was using one the other day, and can get up and down it despite a bad knee and a serious balance issue that are starting to restrict what she can do.