Anyone kitted out a loft space as a study.

[misdee]

dh is starting an OU course, and in the bungalow we have no space for him to have a desk etc to study at. We do however have 2 lofts. The smaller one would probably be the better one to convert as a study for him. I dont know if i'd be allowed to put a window in (will have to ask council 1st), and cant put a proper staircase in, but was thinking of insulating it, boarding it, electrics etc, and good lighting so he can study in peace.

what do u think?

Sounds like a good idea, and if you are only planning to put a sky-light type velux window in I'm pretty sure that you won't need Planning Permission. However you will need Building Regs, speak to your local Planning Office at the Council for info on that.

In theory the room sounds like a great idea, I'd definitely look into it.

dh thinks i'm being silly, but atm he is going through all his course books on the sofa and bed in the evenings. i cant imagine him getting motivated with the distarction of the internet and tv about.

Also though the kids could use it in a few years time when they want quiet time as well.

Exactly, it is a multipurpose room. I'm sure DH will find it invaluable when things really get under way course-wise.

I have also been led to believe that you don't need planning permission to install vellux, loft windows. Briefly asked about this when we had our loft ladder installed a year or so ago. Each window would cost approx £500.
We have often contemplated the thought of a spare room, just somewhere for me to do my crafts, or work on dd speech & lang. program, or talk on MN,or DH to use the rowing machine, or ds to play with his train set.....it would really have to be multi purpose[grin}
To do it properly, I know H & S issues, fire regs..come into play, but it's still very much on our wish list too.
Do you know of many reliable tradesmen?

When we bought our Victorian house it already had a velux window and flooring and electricity in the loft.Apparently you only need planning permission to put in a proper staircase.

We had a velux window put in, insulation, electrics etc so that DH could use the loft in our old house as an office when he worked at home. The staircase was just one of those folding wooden ones, DH stuck a pulley thing on it so he could partially pull the ladder up whilst he was working. He loved it up there and was gutted when we ended up moving a few months later. It was put down as a "hobbies room " by the estate agent I think and didn't cause a problem with our buyer's surveyor.

well he has just yelled to me that he needs a desk. guess it looks like this could be a serious thing.

will have to have a better look at the loft space, ladders etc to see what needs doing.

FIl is very handy, i'm sure with a little persuadion from MIL on how it will benefit DH he'll do it, tho will need someone to fit the window.

I think it's a great idea Misdee.
Let me know if the council o.k it won't you.
Our loft is massive and although we don't really need the extra space at the mo, we certainly would consider doing ours if we were allowed to.

kitty can u recall the cost at all? thats basically the set up i am after. need to be kiddy safe during the day atm, so he wouldnt be able to leave the ladder down.

misdee, we've looked into it and depending what you want it could cost around 50k.

poppyh, the proper staircase is a building control issue too. If you put in a proper staircase then they will need to get involved and expect you to do all sorts of things to building regulations. However, if you just have a loft ladder and don't remove any walls and don't do any plumbing, I don't think you need to deal with building control. Whether or not you need planning depends also on whether it is a proper room or not and whether it's a house or a flat and whether you are in a conservation area or not.

All it would be is an electrical point, window, boarded and insulated with drop down ladder.

Biggest problem could be the floor. Joists in the loft are only strong enough for holding up the ceiling & occasional storage. If you were going to use the room regularly you should look at strengthening the floor (have to attach additional joists next to the current ones) also consider the head height as the new flooring joists will raise the floor height and you will need (I think) a minimim of 1.9 m. Having said that, we bought our huse with a 'partially converted' loft - velux windows & a pull up stair but no floor strengthened & used it quite happily for 10 years. We've now done the job properly, but cheaply as head room isn't great so would only use as playroom, not bedroom. If you have fixed stairs all sorts of different regulations re: fire come into play, but IIRC it's to do with converting a house from 2 to 3 stories - if youare a bungalow you prob. wouldn't need to bother with that. Why don't you give the building regs people a ring & enquire, they're quite helpful usually and most are genuinely just trying to ensure you don't have building problems (IE it's safe). BTW is your house detached? If not, and you decide to do the floor you willl prob. need a party wall agreement with your neighbours.
I think vekux windows dn't need planning permission as long as they don't face the front of the house.
Good luck, I'm very pleased with ours.

I had a loft conversion done 2 years ago. It cost about £20K.

For that, I got 1 large, light extra bedroom (extended roof and dormer window) and a small office with a sloping roof and velux window, which is not big enough to be considered a room, but does me very well as an office, and also doubles up as a spare room on the odd occasion. Also got a great staircase (much better than the original one between the ground and 1st floor) and people who come into the house don't realise it's a loft conversion until they go into the office.

Everything was done through building regulations, but they confirmed right at the beginning that I didn't need planning permission because it didn't take up more than x% (can't remember the exact figure) of the house. I'd doubt if you need planning permission.

I'd recommend it. If you do have more than £10K, then it's worth borrowing the extra five thousand-ish to do a proper conversion as it is a very good investment in your house. You'll have an extra room, and last figures I heard, it can add about 30% to the market value.

God Carla, that's very expensive ! We had a loft conversion quote about 8 months ago, for 2 bedrooms, a permanent staircase, a shower room and big dormer windows and it was £28k ! Ours is a new house too, so the internal framework of the loft made it more expensive. That was for everything, electrics, plastering, tiling etc. We're in Worcestershire.

In manchster there is a firm that will put up a ladder and board the floor of the loft and some electrics for about 400 quid - might be a bit basic but would start you off? Might be worth seeing if you have a similar thing?

MancMum - have you got the name of the company? Our lack of storage is getting out of hand now

it is in our local paper that we get at weekend - will look it out for you and post then - hope that is OK!

Ours was about 5 years ago and I can't totally remember how much it was but I think it was 1.8k - they had to remove a beam that was going across the loft and support the rest to compensate, resite the water tank, strengthen the floor, loft hatch with ladder, electics & plasterboard. They had various options you could do, ours was the most expensive as you ended up with a pretty much finished room. I'd definitely do it again, it looked really good when it was finished.

Generally if you plan to be in the house long term and are removing cross supports in the loft, you would want to strengthen the floor, but this will also generally involving raising the height of it and you may not necessarily have the roof height for it. If you are not planning to put much up there, then the load will not be any more than all the boxes and junk you probably have stuffed up there at the moment. The real risk is not so much that it's going to collapse, but that it will over a long period of time pull the roof out of shape and cause it to leak.

May be repeating stuff that other people have put in but I'm sure you won't need planning permission but will need building regulations. Strongly suggest you get verbal advice and then get written confirmation at a later date (May be useful when you come to sell you house as solicitors are getting very cautious about whether any alterations like this have been done 'through the proper channels'.
We had basic conversion done last year for around £5K - included strengthening the joists, new floor, insulation, plasterboarding boarding, lighting and new loft ladder. Then again, we are oop north and it may be a lot cheaper up here...