Did you have to move out for a while during a loft conversion?

[Cinnabunbun]

Standard Victorian terrace, not altering ceiling heights, doing a new roof at the same time. I've been told that mostly they work from the outside and then there is a messy time when they knock through and do the staircase.

Do people generally stay living in the house throughout? How long did the messy bit last for?

Good question. This is on our long list and I was wondering the same thing.

Usually stay put, yes. If you're lucky, a week or so.

We didn't move out when we had ours done. Most of the work was done through the roof. The only really messy bit was when they broke through to put the stairs in.

Should add, the messy bit lasted about 3 days.

Right in the middle of a loft conversion now. Builders are workkng from the outside, no coming into ghe house except to get measurements for wall locations etc. We've stayed in the house and only had 1 mess to deal with, when one of the builders stepped on the loft hatch and knocked it onto the landing, but they aren't at the stage of konckkng through yet.

I'd be more concerned about how your builder is going keep the roof weather proof during the work than anything else.

About 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through here with a toddler and a young baby and haven’t moved out. Made sure I was out for the day when they knocked through and it was fine - they are brilliant at cleaning up at the end of each day.

On the whole it’s been reasonably painless - it is grating on me though the amount of mess everywhere else - everything from our loft and pictures are shoved in corners of bedrooms. We’ve kept on our weekly cleaner which may seem like madness but it’s helped me keep sane and keep on top of the dust. I also have nowhere to put the baby to sleep (he’s 5.5 months) due to the noise upstairs and lack of proper bedroom so he sleeps on me or in the buggy which is fine but a but restrictive. It’s also been cold with them constantly in and out and before the windows went in etc.

Plastering should start today so the end is hopefully in sight...

We didn't move out, we had a 2yr old and a 6 month old at the time.

Had to put them for naps in travel cots on the ground floor because of the noise from the loft but apart from that it was mainly fine.

Regarding the breaking through mess - our builders nailed a tarp to the ceiling so that when they cut through from above, it caught most of the debris. (pic attached - looking upwards to the ceiling from standing on the stairs to first floor)

They also accessed the loft from outside via the scaffolding, so they were only in the house when they were installing the stairs and doing electrics etc.

Was it a pain anyway - yes.
But off all the renovations we've done (and we've done the whole house) it was the least inconvenient.

This is all very reassuring. Thank you!