Please help - loft being converted with v low head height

[cunningplan101]

I need your help as I am having a bit of a panic. Does anyone here have a loft conversion with a top head height of only 6 feet?

I'm in the process of having our loft converted. On the plans, it does make clear that the height at the apex will be 6 feet. I guess I had just never really taken on board what this meant. This morning I climbed up into the loft via the scaffolding and could see it for the first time with the new beams in and the builders indicated where the new floor height will be. I'm now rather in a panic that this room will be totally un-usable.

One thing that has been giving me confidence all this while is that I visited a property with a loft conversion on the same terrace as mine when it was up for sale. That conversion didn't have a dormer and somehow its ceiling didn't feel oppressively low. It felt like a decent height for a bedroom to me. And we will be having a dormer, so in theory our room will feel bigger. But that was quite some time ago. I'm now panicking that maybe their end of the terraced street somehow has higher loft heights than our end!!

Can anyone reassure me that you can have a usable loft bedroom with a ceiling height of 6 feet? Or do you think this is a v bad idea?

Is your calculated Max height at the apex allowing for flooring and ceiling insulation? I'd definitely lower the ceiling - as long as that won't materially compromise the ceiling height of the rooms below. We have a room a reasonable amount higher at the apex and we are looking at lowering the ceiling before to make it usable.

No longer a minimum height but 2.1 is recommended as minimum:
www.homebuilding.co.uk/advice/existing-homes/extending/20-things-you-need-know-extending-your-home

Gobbolinothewitchscat that'd be fantastic if you could - thanks so much

RCheshire Yes it's including the raised floor height and insulation. So 1.9m after those are installed.

Thanks for the link titchy

I've measured the ceilings tonight. If we lowered the ceiling by 20cm, giving 2.1m in the room above, that'd leave a downstairs ceiling height of 2.5m. While I think that might feel a little bit low if they were ground floor rooms in a period property, I think as it's a first floor maisonette it may feel ok?

So now just waiting nervously to see what the costs come back as.

I'm due to make the largest payment towards the loft work tomorrow, as it's now one week since the start.

The only estimate I've found online for lowering ceilings is £1,550-£2,550 per m². If that's the case, it's going to be out of the question

The dormer may make more difference to the feel of space than you are expecting.
Our loft conversion has three bedrooms.
One to the front of the house with no dormer and 2 to the rear of the house sharing a dormer. The two rear bedrooms even though they are tiny feel much more roomee than the front bedroom because of the height of the windows.

My relative was quoted around £5k as part of a loft conversion. Not sure about neighbours, they said only that it was such a small amount compared to the overall building works and the end effect/value of house.

As for disruption, don't believe that without dropping the ceilings there's no disruption to the rooms below! We had a loft converted; I went to the loo once leaving my then 1yo DD playing in her room only to hear her scream. I rushed back and she was surrounded by large chunks of plaster which had fallen out of her ceiling. All of the rooms in the floor below needed redecorating and ceilings repairing. Obviously the disruption to the rooms below will be greater with lowering the ceilings, but we're talking about extra disruption rather than some versus no disruption! For my relative, it was all done within half-term, so just a few days, and definitely worth it.

If you can lower the ceilings in the floor below then I would definitely do that.

If you are planning on staying in your home forever, then hanging a really low loft ceiling isn't a problem. But it would be an issue if you came to sell.

when our dc were small, we looked at a lovely cottage but the third bedroom was in the roof and the ceiling was only 6' 2". Dh is 6'1" and we suspected ds would reach about that height, so ruled it out. Ds1 is now 6ft and ds2 is 6'1" and still growing.

I would never buy a property where most of my family couldn't stand up in one room.

It wouldn't put me off buying a house with a loft conversion that low and Id be happy having a bedroom with a ceiling that low. I am short though and Dh is only 5ft9".

But even if he was a bit taller I figure as long as you can stand up it would be ok. You'd spend 99% of the time in that room laid down in bed anyway.

Would be different if it was a downstairs room.

Thanks VivaLeBeaver - that was just the post I needed to read after the news I've just had!

So the cost came back of lowering the ceilings and it was £11.5k , which we cannot afford. If we spent that, we basically wouldn't be able afford to do any other of the jobs we have to - decorate any of the other rooms, buy curtains, put fitted units into the living room, etc. And on top of that, we'd have to go £5k into an overdraft, and that's on top of the pretty hefty re-mortgage we've already had to do. So unfortunately this means that we're going to have to go ahead with the loft as planned, and a ceiling height of 6.3ft or 1.9m.

This does mean we keep our 2.6m ceilings in the living room and downstairs bedroom, which I do love and I guess will be a selling point in themselves to other people who like a 'period feel'.

I've spoken to three estate agents and they all thought that it was still worth doing at 6ft 3 and it will add value, so that's something. Tryng to make myself feel better remain optimistic.

[A side note: I actually spoke to four estate agents - the fourth was Foxtons. The overly cheerful guy who answered the phone wouldn't put me through to anyone to ask advice - they just kept asking, "Can we send someone around to your house? Yes I know it's just a hypothetical question, but can we send someone around to your house?" Just thought I'd share that excellent piece of customer service]

Oh god, I just typed the dreadful estate agent-ism 'add value'. It's not that I view my home as an investment. I just want to reassure myself that doing this to it isn't going to make it totally un-sellable.

Is there any way you can shave that cost? Maybe do some of the decorating yourselves? Is there anything in the budget as a whole that you can change so that the overall cost isn't so much extra? Is there any way part of the ceilings could be lowered (i.e. where the "walking / standing up" space will be). I know its not ideal, but I think the feedback you've had is that most people would think it is low head height. I think as an investment, you'd be better off spending the money on this, than on fitted units or whatever in the lounge and decorating - you can do that in the future as and when you can save again.

Totally agree with mandy

Builder sending the quote over the weekend so I'll check for costings

fwiw, I think you've been poorly served by your builders. We had an issue with a person (now resolved) but both the builder and architect advised us not to do the conversion of that couldn't be resolved and we were looking at a head height of the same as yours.

Thanks mandy but no, they reckon £11.5k is with them knocking £1k off.

And that doesn't include any sort of decorating or floor covering - it's to get it to a plasterboard finish. If we were to go with it, we'd have a loft room with chipboard flooring, plasterboard walls and no curtains/blinds.

I think it'll be too much stress to put ourselves that much in debt.

I'd get a second opinion if i were you. They aren't the best builders in the world if they've let you get this far without being absolutely certain you're ok with the loft height. I wouldn't trust them.

Do you desperately need the use of that room right away?

If not, I'd spend the money in lowering the ceilings and decorate later

Separately, get some more builders out to quote on the lowering and then haggle more with them.

I think that arguably they should have done more to make it clear to you the implications of proceedings. As I said above, our builder and architect said in their opinion it wasn't worth doing if we couldn't get the 2.1 head height

Sorry - in my earlier post, it should say we had an issue with a "perlin". Not a person!!

My loft looked like it was going yo be bit low, and halfway through the work I said it was really very important to me that it was just a bit higher. It went from 1.90 to 2.1, which made all the difference! We had to move the watertank yo a cupboard though.

A room where you cannot really stand up is a bit useless.

Go through the drawings with them and ask is there any leaway. They will always choose the easiest route for them, but often some modification is possible

Good luck!

Tell the builders you need to discuss this with them urgently otherwise you cannot make the big payment.

Right I've had to delay the payment until tomorrow anyway, for various unrelated reasons, and now the company have turned a bit nasty and are saying they're going to charge me interest and come and shut down the job unless I make the payment today.

Not great, definitely starting to regret my choice of company

They're probably panicking that you're getting cold feet when they've actually started and have you booked in for the next few weeks.

I would ask them to come to the house now so that you can discuss the way forward. I would also get some builders out ASAP for additional quotes on lowering the ceiling and/or finishing the job.

They can't charge you interest unless that is specifically set out and agreed in the agreement

I've reassured them that I do intend to pay them, and we've agreed to meet on Monday.

I also went through the costs with them and have asked them to remove plastering the downstairs ceiling, as we can do that as part of other decoration. So that reduces the cost by £2k. I will talk through all the other expenses with them on Monday to see if there's anything else we could remove to make lowering the ceilings affordable.

I called around quite a few loft companies and all except one said they'd advise their clients not to proceed at 1.9m, so I am a bit upset that my company didn't advise that. But we are where we are now.

Thanks to you all for your support and advice. It's really great being able to sound things out here and have this kind and helpful feedback.

They were going to charge 2k to plaster a ceiling is that right?

If so then these people are ripping you off!

If you are uncertain about them why not cancel them completely .....

I live in a 1980s house with what I feel are low ceilings. They are mostly 2m30. Upstairs, the bottom slope of the ceiling is 1m90 and the top of the dormer 2m20.

1m90 is ok for the edges, but you definitely need some of the ceiling to be over.

Definitely need a few other opinions. They should have been more upfront on ceiling heights.

I think most caravans are 1.9mtr head height. Do you know anyone with one or a local dealer and you can go sit/stand inside to get an idea of how it is for you.