Creating an extra room/space in the loft

[nappydaysagain]

We live in a 3 bed semi (1940s) which has 2 double bedrooms and a tiny box room. With 3 children we are trying to think of ways to gain extra space but we are on a quite tight budget. Oldest DS will be starting senior school this year so would be nice if we could create an area where he can have a bit of extra space and an area to study. He currently shares with DS2 which they are happy to do at the moment.

We are considering using the loft as an extra room but not having a loft conversion. A local company which installs loft hatches/velux windows etc has quoted just over £5'000 to fit a new loft hatch with a 3 stage timber pull down ladder, safety balustrade, insulate and board loft, fit light and wall sockets and board over the gable.

Has anyone done this/any experience of this? I'm not sure who we could also contact for quotes (would a builder undertake this sort of work?). Also we were advised we wouldn't need heating in the loft as it would be warm up there with the heat from the house rising. He also advised that we wouldnt need any planning permision to undertake this work. Does this sound right?

My DH and I aren't that handy and the idea of all the work being completed in less that a week was really appealing. We were thinking of maybe having a sofa bed and desk up there so it would be a nice area for the boys to also chill out in when they have friends round.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

I think the problem with doing an 'unofficial ' loft conversion like this is that when you come to sell, the loft room cannot be counted as a bedroom and the lack of building regs would put some buyers off.

I don't think you need planning permission for a lift conversion if you are using flat velux windows, you might need pp if you wanted dormer windows depending on the size.

Would it be worth getting a quote for a full conversion inc building regs for comparison ?

I think a full loft conversion would be out of our budget unfortunately. It would also mean losing the little box room as the stairs would need to go in there as the layout of the upstairs doesn't allow for them to go elsewhere.
We aren't planning on moving from this house but would it really put buyers off? I know we couldn't officially say it's another room but would we be doing anything wrong in using it as one?
Sorry for all the questions.

i really dont think that it would put buyers off. we have a similar thing with our loft which is huge. we have boarded, insulated, powered and veluxed it. it can never be anything other than a bit of extra space due to the lack of fixed stair case and its about half an inch too short to do it properly without altering the roof.

as long as you dont get grand ideas about it adding value, it certainly won't devalue it in my opinion. When we come to sell, my plan is not to highlight it until they have seen the rest of the house, and then reveal the loft space, if they have kids/hobbies, it could make the difference in selling it!

either way- if you are planning on staying put for a bit, it sounds like £5k well spent!

We did our loft officially. It's fab! We have flat velux Windows. We had it all insulated, plastered,electrics etc. We also had a staircase put in to get to the loft. We have our building regs cert. We had to replace the doors of the other main doors in house with fire doors. We have no heating up there. We have an electric heater that we put on for 10mins before bed, its lovely up there and central heating was not a justifiable expense for us. I would say you should have it done officially,and get building regs.you should not need planning permission but for your own piece of mind, check with your planning office. My tips to keep costs down-

List all your friends, family, friends of friends who have a trade which could be used (sparky, carpenter, builder, glazer etc)

It may take longer, but organise work yourself, it will save £££££

Have a look at homes similar to yours that have had loft conversions for ideas.

Make sure you add some built in storage in the eves for all the junk stuff you normally store in a loft!

Good luck! :)

I should add, our stairs went up over our existing stairs. The stairs to the loft are very narrow with a turn in them so we didn't have to loose ant existing bedroom space. Building regs passed them though :)

Thanks for the responses so far, I'll definitely give both options more thought.

The problem you have if you dont convert properly is that the joists in your loft space were not designed to hold as much weight as the floor joists. I beleive The expense involved in converting is mostly attributed to strengthening the floor so that it takes the extra weight. Having said that there's so much crap in our loft, I reckon if we don't get rid of some of it we may be in danger of losing our roof :)

We're looking into the same thing - similar position, 3 DC, 3 bedrooms, need to get extra space. However, from my limited knowledge, I do think you need building regs aproval (although you don't need planning permission) so yes, if you didn't get that, you would in theory be doing something wrong. The concern I think comes from the joists not being able to support the weight. I think it comes down to whether you'd class it as liveable space, albeit that you wouldn't be using it as a bedroom and whether it would be safe. I know the COuncil can order you to remove any works for which planning permission hasn't been obtained, although not sure how it works for development without building regs approval.

As you say, if you're not moving then its a question for you I suppose. Having said that, I do disagree with the previous poster - whilst it might not de-value your house per se, I think a would-be loft conversion without permission (so its not storage but nor is it real liveable space) would put off a large proportion of potential buyers.

I'm sorry but a loft that isn't properly converted would put me off. We saw several properties that weren't properly converted and I spoke to a loft company that basically said don't touch with a barge pole as sometimes trying to fix a blotched conversion is more expensive than doing it from scratch! There was one house that did it the way you described and one of the kids actually lived up there, it had bed and everything but boy, it was off-putting! Mind you, might seem quite 'glam' for a teenage boy to live up there...

I wouldn't buy a house where the loft had not been properly converted either (if you do go on to sell). IMO you either do it properly and seek planning permission to make it a 4th bedroom, or just don't bother doing it all. Where are you planning to put all your stuff that's up the loft once it was converted into a bedroom anyway?

If I was in your situation I'd be moving house to a not-so-nice area to get more space. We have and the not-so-nice area has turned out to be really nice.

Have other people in your road converted?
I'd see a tarted up loft space as a bonus if a proper loft conversion wasn't on the cards, and DH and DS would have Lego train layouts designed in their minds the instant they saw it, but if it was the sort of house where the possibility to convert was part of the offer then I'd see a half-arsed job as a downside.

if you look in your loft, are the timbers holding the roof up "W" shaped or "A" shaped?

If "W" shaped it will be difficult to clamber around, and if you cut them out, the roof will tend to collapse.