Cost of reinforcing floor in loft

[jmcglynn]

This could be a LONG message so to cut a story short: we are looking to buy a house with a loft conversion for one of the rooms. Survey has come back suggesting room doesn't comply with building regs in terms of the floor being reinforced (apparently it was 'too springy'). We are obviously now waiting to see whether building regs can be produced but in the meantime, we love the house, and don't really want to walk away from it if we can help it so are considering the cost of fixing the loft conversion. I can't find any info on the cost of getting just the floor reinforced so does anyone have any ballpark figures they could share?

If the loft conversion wasn't done to code then you are essentially will need to pay for e.g. a 3 bed house with useful boarded out loft space than a 4 bed house and adjust offer price accordingly.

It will be expensive to bring it up to current building regs, as you won't just be bale to reinforce the floor you'll have to comply with everything.

It will depend on the size of the loft. The builders will need to pull up (and probably ruin) all the flooring that is in situ and place however many steels a structural engineer specifies. If there is pipework under the floor, then that may need to be re-routed. Potentially, the staircase may be compromised by the steels and, if the house is terraced/semi- then you could end up having to get party wall consent from your neighbours if the steels need to be tied into the party walls.

So structural engineer fees, building regs fees, builders fees, cost of the steels and associated work, possibly party wall surveyors fees, new flooring and some decoration. If you're looking to get the cost knocked off the asking price, I would want about £10k off assuming an average three-bed semi/terrace but the size and number of steels will be the most expensive element.

Kokusai is right - did the surveyor have any views on whether the loft met current fire regs etc?

A non-compliant conversion or extension adds negative value to a house, because you have to allow for the cost of ripping it all out, then doing it all again properly.

You can have a look at the council website to see if they had BR approval.

If not, you must assume it is a non-compliant bodge. Anyone doing a proper job would want it done officially.

@lalalonglegs - surveyor assumed not as the staircase didn't meet with current standards, there is no fire door and no other means if escape. However don't think anything has been done to the house in the last 30 years so perhaps regs have changed?!

And thank you for answers. It is as I feared. We would need the room and would want to use it as a master bedroom so need to know it's been done properly.