Tell me your loft conversion stories

[loftconversionyayornay]

Basically, we're debating whether to have a loft conversion done or to move. Both have pros and cons so the decision will pretty much rest on how much upheaval it causes.
We currently live in a 2 bed house but with the impending arrival of baby #3 (making 3 under 3 as well as 2 dogs) the thought of moving house as well as the extra cost of rent is scary to say the least! So trying to decide which is the lesser of 2 evils!

How long did your loft conversion take? And how much did it impact your day to day lives while it was being done? Could you stay in the house or did you have to move out while the work was done?

For me a loft conversion would be a last resort for several reasons.

Upheaval
loss of storage
too hot in summer and too cold in winter unless you sort this at build stage

However i can also see why you wouldn’t want to move right now, so in your circumstances I’d seriously consider it. Only thing is where are you? Wait times are epic so you might find yourself in a 2 bed house with 2 children, a dog, a newborn, rubble, dust and builders…

Had loft conversion. Looked fantastic and added £££ value to the property… but the upheaval was big- only had a hole in the roof for the shortest time though. maybe a week or two? Not so dramatic really.

I would do it again to get the extra space. With an extra room you will get more sleep and peace 🤓. Eventually…

It’s great if you love your area, etc…

Wasnt cold at all, but it was warm in the summer!

Thanks! We rent so the cost wouldn't fall on us as it's a suggestion from our landlords who know we're looking for something with another bedroom.
We've said no to it before but now we're still not having any luck finding a 3 bed in our price range, it's starting to look like a more appealing option 😅

I went from 2 bed to 3. Only issue I would say is with 3 under 3 then there is potentially alot of running up and down in the night. My youngest was 5 so not such an issue. Also depends on layout as to how much of second bedroom you will lose.

We are doing one right now. Going from 2 double + boxroom & 1 bath, to 3 double + boxroom + 2 bathrooms. Started in early July, supposed to take 6-8weeks and the roof is still not on. Probably looking at end of Oct for completion now. For building regs, we had to have 1st floor ceilings lowered so meant moving out for 3 weeks and emptying entire 1st floor of house. Also means every bedroom and 1st floor bathroom will need to be redecorated as a result. VERY STRESSFUL 😫🤣

We only went ahead, because we are in London and a house of the same size that we are creating will be another £150k + all moving fees / stamp duty etc in comparison to what we paid for ours, whereas the loft cost has been around half that.

It was very messy and stressful. No way I’d pay rent to live with that. Look for a bigger place. Your landlord is a cf to want rent while building work is going on.

Positive here. We went for a pull down ramsay ladder so technically not another room.
Cost 10k and we made the perimeter of the room storage under the eaves.
Love it.
Hoping to do a proper staircase at some point

Honestly not all that messy or disruptive. Most of the work done from outside. The messy disruptive bit was putting the new stairs in then the plastering. That was about a week.

But it depends on your layout I guess. Would you lose part of a bedroom to put the new stairs in? Have you got side / back access for the builders or will they need to come through the house?

Seems kind of odd that you are renting while work is done. I don’t think I would like the lack of control or ownership over the build but that probably depends a bit on what your landlord is like