Loft conversion - Looking for great ideas.

[jitesh74]

I am going to be getting our 3 bed Mid Terrace house- loft converted into a dormer loft.

Have you had your loft converted? Is there anything in particular you'd recommend doing as part of the conversion, either that you did do or wish you had have done or regretted? Or any tips in general about what really works in the space you have?

Much appreciated for any useful tips :-)

Hopeful bump for you! We're hoping to do a bungalow lift conversion next year!

We've almost finished a loft conversion on our 2-bed terrace. If your house is L-shaped like ours, I would highly recommend going over the L at the back! It has cost us more as they had to build up the roofline and build an additional dormer but it is soo worth it for the amount of extra space!

My other suggestions are:

• Think hard about where your stairs will go. We had a bunch of loft conversion companies out to quote and really picked their brains on where the stairs should go. This made such a difference for us and we ended up with more space by putting our stairs in a different place to most of the other loft conversions around us.
• Make sure there is a contingency built into your contract and that it is limited. Ours had a limit of an additional 4% which, at the time, I felt was really expensive. However, it has saved us thousands because building costs have gone up way more than 4%. If we hadn't had this clause in our contract, we couldn't have afforded to do the conversion.
• If you have the money to do so, think about reconfiguring your first floor at the same time. We've moved a few doorways which has given us additional space and the costs have been minimal because the builders were already on site.

We haven't moved up there yet so I don't have any other suggestions but so far, we're really pleased with how much extra space we've gained!

Depends where you are but if in London or the SE go for air conditioning. Our loft is boiling in the summer- sometimes we moved down to the lounge in the summer!

Have a snoop on Rightmove sold to see what neighbours have done.

We had to choose between a window or Juliet balcony at the back, we went for for a window as was more practical for furniture, and we had small kids I worried about, but as the kids got older I wished we had gone for the Juliet balcony.

Also, if you can, go up and have a look at the views before you decide exactly where to put the windows- ours were unexpectedly spectacular (could see Canary Wharf tower blinking!).

If you can, ensure there's a bathroom up there. Also use the low eves for crawl space storage- great for Xmas decs, bags etc. Depending on your outlook you could also consider one of those velux that turn into a balcony on one side.

We did ours in 2021. Things we did:

• we didnt have the budget to install air conditioning at the time but we had all the electrics put in the place where it will go for future to avoid making a big mess of the walls again

• small velux above the stairs going up to the loft. Made a huge difference to the amount of light on the middle landing

• we had to have our ceilings lowered on the middle floor to get the head height in the loft so ended up basically redecorating the whole house. Factor that into the budget!!

• a bit like @Heronwatcher above, we also had a tricky decision about window vs juliet balcony. We went for the balcony as seems more common in our part of London so we thought it might help when we come to sell, but it does mean that we wont be able to use the room for our toddler. Currently its a guest room / my office but will probably be our master room instead, once our toddler is old enough that i would be more comfortable sleeping on a different floor to her.

But overall its made a massive difference to our house and space, so we are really pleased with it.

Air conditioning. Remember that heat rises! It's also a good time to install solar panels if you have scaffolding up.
I wouldn't necessarily have an en-suite but a bathroom accessible from the top landing so when you have a house full of guests they can access it and alleviate pressure on other facilities.

Watching with interest as hopefully doing one as the second stage of our house renovation…

friends have all said air con essential

I would second what previous posters have said, Op.
Also, remember that the walls will need to be quite thick for insulation purposes as they will be exterior walls unless your neighbours have already done loft conversions each side? That means the space might be a wee bit smaller than anticipated.
Gets lots of built in storage, getting furniture up stairs can be, interesting, and built in storage avoids a lot of the hassle!
Definitely have a bathroom / en suite included, no one wants to face the stairs when they wake up in the night for a wee :)
Consider if you’ll need boosters etc for wifi.
Make sure to have lots and lots of underfloor sound proofing if you have wooden floors. When I’m in the living room and DD is in the loft, I can hear her thumping around from two floors down!
You may want to look at the possibility of raising the roofline if there’s no conservation rules against it, unless you’ve got about 2.5m height in your loft, to allow for decent headroom otherwise you’ll need to drop the the ceilings below, which is messy and expensive.
Allow an extra 30% in your budget to allow for things the quote may not include, like: enough lights, enough sockets, tiling, plastering, decorating, bathroom fixtures etc; whatever your flooring choice is plus the fitting thereof etc.
You’ll need your first floor made good around the new stairwell, and may need to replace the doors with fire doors.
Paint! It costs a flipping fortune these days! I was genuinely shocked!
Buy a cheap hoover to deal with the dust. I ignored a friends advice to do this, and bitterly regret it as my lovely Dyson has bitten the dust as a result of dealing with the dust from my loft conversion.

I kind of disagree about a/c, we have a juliet balcony and with that open and the 2 velux windows, even in the hottest night we still get a lovely through breeze (in London).

As others have said factor in storage. We love the velux above stairs for light and our ensuite is a godsend for me in house of boys. It's my sanctuary.

Agree with velux over stairs - great for letting heat out. Wish I had maybe got an electric opener on it or even electric blinds as it lets alot of light in on summer mornings and it's a pain to open.

Dont forget you can do a cupboard under the stairs upstairs as well. Ours is behind a bed so not used for day to day storage but great for long term.

Think about where you will have stuff for plug sockets.

Agree about the staircase.

I find a lot of loft extensions run the master bedroom across the back of the house so you essentially have a long rectangle with low ceiling…. it’s not very “masterful” IMO
and then there’s a load of slopey unusable space that’s a skinny “walk in wardrobe”

We viewed 5 or 6 houses across 3 roads(all same style houses) and our loft is why we bought the house.
The owners architects designed the master as a “rectangle” from front to back of the house using the full height of the eaves which makes the room feel very airy and grand… the ensuite then tucks in behind the staircase on one side and a small “dressing room” fits the other side.
i have a vanity and use it as an office.

in the eaves along an entire wall we have those pull out units like the ones you get in hallways under staircases
sort of like this
https://images.app.goo.gl/2sbvctxEM4w3ohsQ8
but ours are push touch and look nicer 😬

We had our loft converted about a year ago.
Definitely think about where your stairs are going, we had to reconfigure a room downstairs. We went for juliet balcony, currently questioning that choice with a toddler so good to see a later perspective. (Keys hidden!)

We did ours few years ago. Don’t forget buildings regs require a lot of insulation so the top of the house can get very hot.

Main room was the full depth of the house. Velux in front roof and Juliet balcony at back to allow air flow. Plus we installed a fan in the ceiling.

Short Storage cupboards under the sloping ceiling along the wall facing the road.

We put a bubble Perspex roof light at the top of the stairs. Allowed a lot of light into the stairs.

Finally we pushed out over the dog-leg at the back and installed a shower and loo. The bathroom was originally going to be en-suite, but we decided to make it separate so it could be used if the other bathroom was in use.

We also ended up with a small bit of floor space between the top of the stairs and the bathroom door (about a meter square). The bedroom door was at an angle to the right.

This little space was just the right size to put my collapsible clothes drying rack in. It was great because it kept the washing out of sight. We could have put shelves or cupboards in if we’d wanted too.

Just wanted to add that we installed a railing in front of the Juliet balcony to keep it extra safe.

1. Velux windows are very noisy when it rains so don’t position over the bed. They also add to the heat, particularly if you face south.
2. French windows with balcony is divine. (You can have both Velux and French windows - it’s not one or t’other).
3. Try and make the bathroom as space-efficient as possible, so you take the smallest chunk out of the bedroom you can without making the bathroom cramped.
4. As much built in storage as possible.
5. A big dormer across the back really opens up the space.

Short Storage cupboards under the sloping ceiling along the wall facing the road.

Yes and the other thing you can do is built in drawers.

Factor built in cupboards into the cost, they are expensive.

electric blinds on velux.

Velux roof lights can have blinds fitted. Definitely worth it. Building regs compliance is vital for fire safety - staircase and fire doors in particular. Do ensure the loft can be ventilated in summer and is warm enough in winter. Definitely make sure the position of the stairs on the floor below is as optimal as possible.

And worth getting blackout/thermal blinds as well.

Thank you this is very helpful

Having a juliet balcony as some of you mentioned but wouldn't that give me less room when the balcany doors are opened?

Not particularly. Depends how big the room is, you can have doors that go flat back, sliding or bifold if you’re worried.

Mirabi can you DM me please.

Not thinking about doing a loft conversion but last year stepdad had 3 containers (larger than tins) of Matt white paint which was taking up room in their lean to and was either barely used or only one slightly used. They put it on their street WhatsApp group and a man down the street snapped it up and mentioned paint was expensive now, was painting the lounge I think.

Love the double Dormer look, did it for ours and was great, used it as a office though. Not sure valuewise if it's worth going for another bedroom. Needed an office, so went with that option. Very bright and feels spacious.