Lower ceilings for loft conversion

[Angryosaurus]

Has snyone done this? We are having a loft conversion company come out to inspect and quote soon, but it looks like our roof may be just too low . Is this either worth considering or a total nightmare? Thanks

it would be quite expensive. The ceiling timbers are part of the roof construction, they prevent the roof slopes pushing your walls apart and making the house fall down. There may be a way to remove the old and insert new while maintaining the triangular roof structure, but I don't know how.

We were quoted for it and it was going to add 15-20% to the price (for the construction work). Then you have to factor the cost in of decoration in every bedroom / bathroom / landing and potentially impact on bathroom tiling / fitted wardrobes etc. Was too much for us, plus we'd have only ended up with the recommended minimum height. We were considering single storey extension + loft conversion, or double storey extension. We went for the extension option instead.

Everything needs doing so redecoration etc isn’t an issue. We could do a double storey extension (rather than planned single) but I much prefer the external appearance of single plus loft conversion. So frustrating the roof isn’t slightly taller. Thanks for the tips though

We've done this twice. Just doing a loft conversion in a Victorian detached at the moment so will have 2 bedrooms a bathroom and large hall.

Lots of steels for support. Structural engineer report required and then obvs passed by building control. Perfectly feasible and safe

It is hugely messy but we are doing the whole house. I wouldn't do a loft conversion without. I like it to feel like a proper storey with good head height in the stairs and my husband is 6 foot 7 tall so don't want him ducking up there

The other point is that you might have to lower the ceilings as you need a certain head height for building regs

Here are some photos of ours

Not all lofts are suitable for loft conversion. Pre constructed roof trusses may well not have enough head height. With this amount of disruption to the building, it’s rarely worth it. You cannot cut through the roof trusses or you risk structural instability. Often houses with low head space in the loft have low ceilings as well.

We raised the roof of our garage to utilise the loft as a flat. You will need pp for this and it’s not cheap! The whole roof comes off, the walls are built up, and the roof is replaced.

The other problem with loft conversions is having sufficient space for the new staircase. It takes up a lot of existing space and has to meet building regs. It’s only really worth it where the loft construction works and you have space for a staircase without compromising the floor below.

Gobbolinothewitchscat can you upload the photos again please. We are planning something very similar in a victorian house. what sort of budget are we looking at? thank you :)

Will redo photos.

We are in north west and have a very reasonable builder. It is around £45k for the loft and to lower the ceilings in most of the rooms below under the conversion (we have an existing storage area over two en suites we are leaving as storage so not bothers do lowering the ceilings there.) however, we are renovating the whole house plus doing a cellar conversion. Total cost is low 3 figures so we have got a good price due to economies of scale.

SOrry - low 6 figures

You are also highly unlikely to have a preconstructed roof truss in any house built pre Second World War

If it is pre that, it will be purlins or a closed couple roof.

You are also highly unlikely to be given planning permission to raise the whole roof ridge if most of the other properties in the area are Victorian and of the same or similar height. Plus doing that is one of the most risky building jobs as there is an increased risk that the whole house could collapse. . If the builder takes the job, you will pay commensurately for the added risk

Can only upload 3 photos so one of the stairs, one of the landing and one bedroom. One other bedroom and a bathroom

Wow that looks great thanks. How noticeable are the lower ceilings on the first floor? Shame we don’t live in the north west so you could recommend your builder!! Sounds like our project will be similar to yours.

I think if the ceiling is too low you may still be able to convert but building regs will not allow you to call it a bedroom etc, only storage space.

We converted the loft in our Victorian mid terrace and had to drop the first floor ceiling height to make it work. You really could tell although we did have to get rid of our super tall Ikea Pax wardrobe. We couldn't have done the conversion without and it was still cheaper than moving.

Sorry, that should be really couldn't tell

That's good to hear pigeonpost. How much did you drop them by?

Our loft conversion is just being finished off at the moment. We didn't lower our ceilings in the end but we were originally going to.

First thing I would do is find out what height you can achieve without lowering the ceiling and whether you would be happy with that. For us, the cut off was 2m. We didn't want less than that. Some people would want more. We really didn't want to lower the ceilings if it could be avoided, not just because of the cost but because we don't have high ceilings through the 1st floor (2.5m) and we didn't want them to be lower. For me, I'm happy for the top floor to have lower ceilings. It seems normal for older houses that have rooms in the roof space.

So we were originally told that we'd end up with 1.8m so we had signed up to lower the ceilings. When the joiner turned up on site he said we could get 2m without lowering them. A key thing is the joist depth. We ended up with shallower joists than the original spec and that made all the difference.

Other things to think about: what height do you have above your first floor windows? Will the lowered ceiling drop below window level?

HiDBandSIL that's good to know. Did you get building regs? I thought you needed a minimum height for that?

We converted out loft - we have a 1960s house. The building control inspector was more concerned about head height up the stairs than in the room itself I think from memory we needed at least 2 metres. They came out with their tape measure to check ;-)

Our loft room has very sloping walls, and just the section in the middle is flat ceiling. I'm a short arse so it doesn't bother me, DH is taller and sometimes bangs his head if he sits up too quickly in bed.

Everything can be done building-wise, there are just cost implications to it. Another thing to consider is planning, your planning officer might not be happy with a proposal to raise a roof which then makes your house look a bit weird compared with all others in the street.

That's interesting. They will be kids rooms so not too bothered about ceiling height . Raising the roof won't be an option

We are 2.2m in loft and 2.4 meters in the bedrooms

Minimum head height for building regs for the stairs is 2m.

Buildings regs only specify 2m above stairs which we're comfortably over as we've got a dropped landing. There is also some flexibility in the context of roof slopes but I can't remember what it is!

I forgot that our back bedroom in the loft actually has much more headroom (2.5m?) because there's a step down from the main block of our house to the bit with the kitchen and bathroom in. Standard Victorian terrace layout.

Husband is 6'1" and is happy with the 2m in the main loft bedroom and bathroom.