Loft conversions ......

[failingmammalian]

We are looking to buy a house that we would want to extend via a loft. But it doesn't have a loft at the moment. So I'm wondering (don't laugh-- I've only ever lived in flats) if you can do a loft conversion to a house without a loft. Ie can u just plonk another floor on top of a lower floor flat roof? Are there some houses that just aren't extendable?
Thank u!!

You can subject to planning consent. There is at least one company that specialises in it, I think these are them Loft Pods.

It depends on the apex height, ie the highest point at the top of the roof, basically you need to be able to stand up and have a bit of head room. Lofts mostly come under permitted development and don't need planning permission unless you are in a conservation area. You are not usually allowed to build out at the front so usually you keep the slope at the front and put veluxes in and then have a box on the back with a flat roof.

Very occasionally terraces houses have a sort of inverted 'v' style roof which makes them a pain to convert.

Thansk for this. But what if instead of the slope to front and slope to back style roof your roof is like a child's drawing of a house. Ie the slopes are on the sides? Is it poss to throw out to the back?
Amazed by speed of response and expertise!

I think when you say inverted v you mean what I mean by child's drawing??? Does that mean hard to convert or impossible?

We have one of those and in our case at least, it means that we cannot put dormers in. Space gained is therefore a lot less.

Thank u! Sounds like a posh shed might be a better option for working then...

Do you mean a gable front house - so the roof slopes down either side of the house rather than front and back?

It might be convertable, but because the front view of the house would be changed, there might be planning restrictions. You could try speaking to the council planning dept.

"can u just plonk another floor on top of a lower floor flat roof?" I assume this means there a flat roofed single story part of the house? You might be able to build another on top of that, but it will depend on whether the existing structure is strong enough to support an extra storey. You'd need a structural engineer to be sure.

Oo yes if you're looking for office space, you can get some gorgeous options for garden rooms etc. That would be easier and (probably) cheaper, if you have the space.

Thanks strong and long. You can see I'm an amateur