Loft conversion practicalities

[Baycitystroller]

We’re thinking about this. Looking at some examples online I note the stairs to the lofts tend to be narrower than the main stairs and have a turn. How the hell do you get furniture up there? Beds in particular. Or do you just have to build it in the room?

Zip link mattresses up narrow staircases, built in carpentry for wardrobes. Carpet rolls can be put in through windows if very large.

thanks. I’m guessing I won’t get a king size divan up there?? Maybe a framed bed.

Totally depends on the design of the stairs though. What's your house like?

Also think about ventilation, aircon and plumbing at the layout stage. Ceiling height too, and what to place in the reduced headroom areas. There are a lot of poorly designed lofts out there.

We've just done a loft conversion and are about to buy furniture. We are looking at mattresses that come rolled and bed frames rather than divans.

Velux windows placed strategically can help with head height in key areas.

Victorian terrace here and we got a roll up mattress, and flat pack or solid wood narrow furniture.
Removal people are always much better at getting furniture up narrow spaces I find!

We have one really big Velux in the middle of the pitched roof and have had wardrobes/cupboards built in along one side.
built in is the way to go as the carpenter can make best use of the space.

Our bed is a slatted bed so we had to build it up there,divan might be ok,I’m not sure!

our bed - emperor sized! - went in through the balcony doors. The wardrobes were flat pack. the bathroom cabinet - a vintage dresser - went up before the stairway wall was built.

You have to think ahead and be super prepared but it is possible. We also kept our loft staircase as wide as the other to avoid that poky feeling.

If it helps we got a king size divan up the stairs to our loft conversion (stairs are indeed narrower with a turn at the top).
We have a small landing outside the bedroom door with a banister around it - we carried the base half way up the stairs and then passed it over the top of the bannister into the bedroom

Other furniture that arrived flat-packed we took out of the box and carried up the stairs I pieces, and then assembled in the bedroom.

Best thing we ever done was get a loft conversion. All I will say is make sure you go with a reputable company, and that it's done correctly. We had building regs and a chap from the council come out and inspect work at every stage to ensure it stayed within building regs - the biggie was the steel girders put in place to keep the floor safe x

I'd echo air con and ventilation as huge things to get right from the off. I'm researching it now. Don't think we would do it (multiple reasons) but it's a subject I find interesting. My sister has loft rooms that are unbearably hot in summer (rental) and there is nowhere to put Christmas trees and luggage and all that.

We find we have more useful storage space after doing the conversion than we did before. We have a bank of built in cupboards at the triangular end.

Yes it gets hot in summer, but opening all the windows gives a good updraft.

I might need to start my own thread, but we're thinking of doing a loft conversion and would want a type of velux window that turns into a balcony, but there's a large beam running the length of the loft that the window would need to cut through . Presumably it must be possible to cut out a section otherwise dormers wouldn't be possible. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Also, do you think aircon would really be necessary in the North of England if all window's were North facing?

We had a dormer bedroom and separate bathroom loft conversion.

We compromised on bedroom size to have stairs up through the middle that turned with a landing rather than the usual loft winder most people have. We also had them the same width as the main stairs.

We checked out friends lofts and looked online at photos of hundreds of lofts. I have a fear of stairs especially narrow, steep spirally loft ones so it was really important to prioritise stairs.

I’m glad we did - what would be the point of having a loft I was too terrified to go up(or down) to?
The builder thought I was bonkers but as I told him dozens of times, “my house, my choice”.

The added benefit was that we weren’t so restricted with getting furniture up there.

I also had a triple top pivot velux put in the bathroom. Roof height was tight and this velux has made a big difference to the head height.

We've replaced stairs to a loft conversion and taken them up from what was a box room on first floor - it's now part of the landing and will have built-in wardrobes in it too eventually. Makes the landing a lot bigger and airier and the ex box room space could also be used as a study area.

The old stairs were narrow, incredibly steep and went round two corners so not at all practical. The new stairs are wider then our stairs between ground and first floor! It wasn't just getting furniture up there we were worried about - I had visions of DD's friends having an accident on the old stairs and they'd have been a total pain for getting a hoover up and down each week.

@Heje your structural engineer would do those calculations.

We're hoping that the removals guys will get a small sofa up into ours next week - I plan on standing there optimistically shouting "pivot!" to spur things along. This one seems to be done well though - 6 foot 7 DH is happy to be up there as a home office

I don't suppose you could share a photo of the cupboards in the triangular bank please?

Cupboards a bit link the first few pictures on this link www.jvcarpentry.com/fitted-wardrobes-in-loft-conversion/

We have 5 doors,: Sloping left, double cupboard with an overhead that hinges upward, then sloping right.

I got a door put in the upstairs hall wall so I have a cupboard under the stairs as you do downstairs. It's into a bedroom and my daughters bed is in front of it so it's not for day to day storage but stuff you don't need to access all the time.

Thanks!

We moved in to a house with a loft conversion and I bloody hate it!
Mainly because it is freezing due to only having one tiny radiator. It's poorly insulated so all of the heat just disappears through the roof, this makes the rest of the house freezing too! Haven't had a problem getting stuff up there though. The removals men managed to get an ikea sofa bed up there without dismantling it

Love our loft conversion. I think the stairs are the same width as the other stairs, but there’s a bit more height restriction at one corner point (not restricted for people but makes a slightly tricky corner turn with large furniture). We have a king size bed but the base comes in two parts (it’s an ottoman one) and we needed to bring it up in separate pieces. The thinner ottoman “lid” piece is full sized but thinner and that went up ok, as did the mattress which was of course bendy.

@Heje i'm not entirely certain, but I'm pretty sure for those type of windows you need planning permission as it changes the structure of the roof as opposed to just a big standard velux window x

@Oopsididitagaintomorrow it's permitted development under Class C

We also have top hung velux so you can open it right out as opposed to just tilted (we can do both).
Also, a duo blackout blind so we have a thin pale layer if we want for daytime privacy.