Loft conversion- lowering ceilings

[peonylover22]

Hi, we are considering going ahead with a loft conversion which will involve a slight ceiling lower (10cm).

Can anyone comment on the practicalities of a ceiling lower? The loft company have said 2 weeks for that phase of the build, so could we go on holiday for 2 weeks? Will the upstairs bedrooms be liveable in following that 2 week period?! We don’t really want the extra cost and upheaval of moving out into a short term let and don’t have any nearby family we could live with.
What else should we budget for? Obviously the new ceilings will need replastering and painting but what about the walls - will they need repainting too? Carpets? Would they steam clean? Would we need to move all furniture and belongings out of the bedrooms too?
Many thanks for your help

ive not had ceilings lowered but Ive had/having plastering done and it makes a hell of a mess. You would need to take everything out of the room I would say yes.

You would need to clear everything out, yes. Of course it will make a mess at the top of the walls. It's inevitable. I would cover all carpets with heavy duty plastic.

I would be loath to leave the builders to it without monitoring progress. Can you camp out downstairs whilst the work is done and put the downstairs furniture into storage? How many of you are there? Or go away for one week but not two. Get the builders to send you pictures of progress?

Hi,

Im an Architectural Professional that produces plans for extensions and lofts. Lowering ceilings is typically done when you don’t have enough headroom in the loftspace. Its not ideal but it is a solution. The downside is that you lose a bit of headroom in the bedrooms below.

It’s a messy job, they are effectively taking your ceiling out. I wouldn’t want to be living in the space while its done.

We did this for our loft conversion. Typical Victorian 3-bed terrace where the bathroom and rear bedroom are a couple of steps lower down, so it was only the front two rooms and the landing that had the ceilings done. We stayed put and camped out in the back room (DH, me and 2yo). It was pretty grim, I've got to say - we had to leave furniture in the affected rooms (builders said it would be OK but we're talking rubbish) and even well covered in plastic everything was FILTHY afterwards. Carpets pretty much wrecked although they put down sticky-backed plastic (like some enormous Blue Peter craft project...) because the dust and grot just gets everywhere. Those rooms had to be completely redecorated and weren't usable until near the end of the whole build. I'm probably making it sound awful but it was doable (I just wouldn't want to do it again!).

Thanks everyone, that’s really helpful. This is pretty much what I suspected.
There’s 3 of us - me, husband and a toddler. We have one small double downstairs so not sure we can realistically camp downstairs for the duration of the project. Back to the drawing board...

Hi! We did it a couple of years ago in our Victorian terrace. Similar scenario to Piglet - the dust got everywhere despite us covering stuff up and the rooms also needed redecorating afterwards. We stayed in the house for the whole conversion (6 weeks in total) and whilst it was manageable it was tough at times (we were a family of 4 and I was pregnant with baby three!) Saying that we have an amazing conversion and you don't really notice the lowered ceilings so it was definitely worth it!

We've just done it.. just finished.
It is indeed very messy, our family bathroom is downstairs so we have been able to camp out downstairs for the duration (7 weeks building work all in, although we redecorated the three beds on the 1st floor during weeks 4-5 so they were liveable in).

You will have to redecorate everything in the end as it is very disruptive. It may be possible to scrub things down and live with it but you probably won't want to!