How much £ should we allow for a loft conversion?? No idea currently.

[RanToTheHills]

wondering about approx cost of this.anyone done one, ifso, how much inc labour? TIA!

How many joists cross your loft Ruby? We are thinking about converting ours (have read past-threads and they seem to say that 25-30k is normal. Our loft has 2 places where joists cross the width of the house, but either side is big open space.

Thanks,it's about 50yrs old, so not sure on joists (we're not in there yet). Does that figure inc all costs, labour, VAT etc,do you know? are you planning to move out when it's being done?

I've had a few friends that have had theirs done and none of them moved out. Think the trick is that the builders use the scaffolding to go in and out for as long as possible and 'knock through' to the house as late as possible so most of the dirt stays out

oh right, imagine it's hideously messy! Worht it though.

oh and how long do they tend to take?

£40,000 and about 8 weeks.

Could do it for less though I would imagine... That included en suite and all fittings.

that's encouraging actually.though might need to allow more (not typical Victorian going into roof-scenario) but much more modern house (shame) so much wider, rectangular shape

They knock through the ceiling at the end and use scaffolding for access up to then.

Don't forget to factor in the redcoration of your hall, stairs and landing... Also we got cracks in our bedrooms by the cieling due to the steels being put in...

The messiest stage is the plastering. I was out all day the day they came through the ceiling so didn't see the mess!

fortunately the house is hideously decorated so no problem there,infact abit of dust would hide the most shameful wallpaper!

I dont know if this is still the case but we were told that if we were planning to use the 2nd floor rooms as bedrooms ALL the ceilings in the 1st floor needed to be replaced to make them more fire resistant.

no, you don't need to replace all ceilings. YOu would need new doors to all lliving/sleeping areas ( fire doors) but not ceilings

You need fire door closers on current doors on all floors (that go onto hall, stairs or landing) and new doors have to be fire doors but current doors will not need chnaging as long as they are solid wood.

The landing has to be boarded out with eatra layer to resist fire. Also an interlinked system of fire alarms. We didn't have to have anything done to our ceilings...

Ours cost £9,000 for two rooms in the loft, but that was 8 years ago. It was also cheaper because my husband and his dad did the electrics and plumbing. Took 5 weeks.

You don't need new doors, but have to have self-closing mechanisms put on all doors - these are a bit of a pain, and I know loads of people who took them out as soon as the buildings regs man had been to OK it.

It really depends on what sort of house/attic you have and what you want doing.
You really need a few quotes.

A friend has just had hers finished and when the building control inspector came round he said that new legislation would mean all doors will have to be changed to fire doors. He didn't give a date and it doesn't affect existing lofts.
Friends was about 35000 and it has a separate shower room.

Ours cost £25k last year. Big bedroom and bathroom. But we only paid the loft company to do the structural work and this meant we had to find people, plumbers, electricians and plasterers ourselves.

thanks we're hoping 2 do 2 beds, 1 en-suite and 1 bathroom

If you have some plans, why not get a few builders around to give you a quote and estimate on the time it will take?

We spent £50k last year, which included turning the loft into a bedroom with an ensuite and doing up the existing bathroom, all fixtures and fittings, decorating, carpeting and a new boiler and hot water system powerful enough to give us a good strong shower in the new loft bathroom. It took about 12 weeks.

Had mine done last summer. about 40K for one huge bedroom and a separate large bathroom, which included everything. Only new doors have to be fire doors, other doors need closers on but you can take those off the minute the building regs man leaves. You need fire alarms (which you would want anyway) but not new ceilings.

Ours took six weeks, which included decorating the rooms.

Just a thought...

If you take the closing mechanisms off your doors as soon as the Building Regs man has signed off the work, and you have a fire which takes hold quicker because the doors were open, will your insurance still pay out?

i was just thinking that,we did this in our last house, unknowingly!
Not at plan -drafting stage yet as still in slow processing of (hopefully) buying the place, so not yet got proper access to it etc. Handy to know rough figures though.

i had a quote last week (north west) and the builder is lowering the celings on the second floor to give more height in the loft (we live in a old victorian house) and he quoted me for everything 16k