Would you have a space saver stair?

[Lemoncordial]

We're looking at putting a loft conversion on our house. It's a small house so the room is going to be small, so we need to make the most of the space. We're going to put a shower and toilet up there.

If we put a space saver stair in, then we can put the shower room at the top of the stairs so you don't have to go through the bedroom to get to the toilet and shower.

If we use a normal stair case, the shower and toilet will have to be ensuite. Which means that if anyone else in the house needs to use that toilet, they'll have to go through someone's bedroom, which will be annoying when our young kids are teens. However, I hate space saver stairs and worry about someone falling down them, especially young kids.

Our existing bathroom and toilet is on the ground floor.

Wwyd?

@MrsJamin No, you shouldn’t spend £40k. But you may need to accept that many buyers would want to and will offer accordingly or walk away and buy a house they don’t need to spend £40k on. I’ve lived in a house with crazy stairs and when we were looking recently I discounted houses with non standard stairs, unless they were priced accordingly.

It's up to them, of course. But I think it's a stupid reason not to buy a lovely house.

Well you might find there’s a lot of stupid people about then.

The poster above who thought investment shouldn’t trump what works for you is great advice until you want to sell. As MrsJamin is finding out, quirky things don’t appeal to everyone and there are perfectly good houses without quirks.

It’s always important to evaluate what someone will pay for your house with non standard fittings. For most people, a house is their biggest investment. It matters. If an extension seems expensive vs a loft conversation, it might be a better investment in the long run. Or even moving to get more space. It’s not a given that loft space should be used. In fact, we like storage in our loft. Ski gear, suitcase, spare duvets and pillows and winter coats all have a home up there. Plus Christmas tree and decorations. Some buyers might actually value this and prefer a standard layout in the rest of the house.

@Lemoncordial
It's a two up, two down, with the kitchen and bathroom sticking out at the back of the house single story.
Much would depend on whether the loft will be accessed via one of the 2 rooms.
The 2 up downs here are accessed via one of the bedrooms so the ladder space would be removing space from a bedroom. If you access via the space at the top of the stairs I imagine anything but space saver will be really tight.

@MrsJamin

We have alternate tread stairs to our loft room which is our room. They're not ideal but were literally the only way to put in stairs without sacrificing a bedroom. We have never fallen. We've put in griptape on the edges and an extra handrail. Able bodied adults shouldn't have an issue at all. If you've lost out on a house due to this that's up to you, but it's not a deal clincher. We are currently trying to sell and someone utterly loved the house but couldn't stand the stairs- its their loss but you really do get used to it and I'd rather have another bedroom than just a proper stairs. It's all above board with building regs too, thank you very much.

Must be a very small bedroom if you'd have lost the whole lot to fit in a proper staircase!

Regardless of whether you're happy with it, clearly your potential buyers aren't, and you may well have to drop your price to sell.

[quote SoloMummy]@Lemoncordial
It's a two up, two down, with the kitchen and bathroom sticking out at the back of the house single story.
Much would depend on whether the loft will be accessed via one of the 2 rooms.
The 2 up downs here are accessed via one of the bedrooms so the ladder space would be removing space from a bedroom. If you access via the space at the top of the stairs I imagine anything but space saver will be really tight.[/quote]
This would be the case with most 2 up 2 downs but not ours. There's a decent landing at the top of the stairs. Whether it's a space saver or a normal stair, it will start on the landing not a bedroom. But the normal stair eats up more space in the loft room.

We saw a few of 2 up 2 downs which had stairs straight up the middle when house hunting, but we rejected them and chose this one as it has the scope for a loft room.

I would but then I live alone and am not elderly yet.
They are not suitable for children or elderly people.

I think the conventional stairs would be better, or look for a different compromise Eg losing some height in one of the bedrooms and building a wardrobe into that space.

As PP said, what problem are you trying to solve by having the en suite accessible without going into DD's bedroom? With space saver stairs, I think in practice, 99% of the time everyone except DD will wait for the downstairs bathroom instead of going up into the loft. So you might as well make it an en suite that others need to go through her room to use. But I do think the best solution might lie in a third way.

Well @MrsJamin I’m not able-bodied and find regular stairs a struggle and fall over quite often just on the flat. You don’t have to spend £40k to appease people but no need to get snarky because someone doesn’t want something like that in their living space.

If it was a choice between having an extra room or not having an extra room, I would install the steep stairs.

If - as in your case - it was a choice between having an extra room or having a smaller extra room / different layout, I would install the normal stairs.

Thanks so much for all your comments. They have all been very helpful.

We are also weighing up whether to move house instead of doing the loft. I might start another thread on that.

But if we do stay put, we'll go with the ordinary stair. Thanks for all your input.

I bought a house very much like yours op which had these into the loft conversion. We had no problem with them. I wouldn't fancy an elderly person or a young child going up and down them though as they are steep. You get used to them though and it was worth it for the space it gave us.

We did a loft conversion with space saver stairs, it was DS1's room, I think he was around 6 at the time and we moved when he was 11. His younger brother wasn't allowed to go up by himself until he was around 4 which was a bonus for the older one! No problem when we wanted to sell, it was a beautiful light room and we got top dollar.

@Lemoncordial could you consider having a toilet put in under the stairs? Or some well thought out storage? As you've said, you'll lose some attic room space with normal stairs but you could use these to a further advantage too, other than just being more practical to walk up & down.

butterer that pic you posted made me shudder. I really wouldn't have a staircase like that op

Sorry, just seen you've said you're not going to