Anyone converted a Toblerone shaped roof area as an upper floor?

[Achingjoists874]

Sorry I do not know correct terms!

We are converting a long , high, roof space in an old farmhouse in to our upstairs in a two storey building.

It has original beams that are above head height and Dormer windows. We have two staircases roughly at each end.

We are at the very, very early stages of thinking about the overall design.

Very, very generally speaking, there seem to be three options:

1. Have long corridor on one side and all rooms off corridor OR
2. One long open space that you divide and walk through in order to get from room to room (our least favourite option) OR
3. A mix of 1&2.

Assuming I have this right; what is the best option and what have you done? Could someone kindly talk me through the pros and cons?

Bumping!

Hi @Achingjoists874
It very much depends on a number of variables. How high is 'above head height'? How high is the ceiling at the lowest point within the eaves? What do you want the rooms to be - bedrooms or just additional living/ study type spaces? The two staircases, are they real stairs or ladder types? Do both stairs start in the same general area, i.e. maybe each end of a lower floor corridor? Was the space subject to any sort of building control inspection at any stage? Converted atic spaces need careful consideration in terms of building control standards and fire escape & compartmentation.

In terms of your layout, a corridor would be preferable to rooms opening onto rooms, (see above re. fire compartments) but that corridor will need sufficient head height, minimum 2.1m high, so a long section of raised dormer roof may be required.

As there are two staircases, and assuming they are proper staircases that would pass building control, you could also have two approaches to the space, and have two shorter corridors with a dividing wall down the middle to create two larger rooms back to back in the centre .

Long story short, get an architect to have a look at it. They may be able to come up with something interesting that you haven't thought of.

We are building a 1.5 storey house, long and thin. Upstairs will be accessed by a staircase at one end with a bedroom/en suite as you turn right, and a very long gallery as you turn left. The gallery will overlook the sitting room below, with a large study area at the far end. Effectively a room at each gable end, but the study is open plan. High up veluxes over the gallery, two large veluxes in the bedroom. Hope I have described it properly. It suited us to have a massive study, with bookshelves along the back wall of the gallery, because we have loads of books. I'm sure we could have have had another bedroom instead of a study.

Wow TeaAndStrumpets thank you so much for your very comprehensive post! It’s raised some interesting questions and given me a lot to think about to start off the process. Yes we need to find a local architect but we’ve been in touch with three and none of them came through!

One of them who came highly recommended, seemed excited, made detailed drawings at his expense and then ghosted us! Last time we heard he was building a housing estate!

One came and seemed pleasant but then after the initial consultation wanted to charge us
£25,000 for drawings upfront which seemed odd.

And the third one turned up and seemed interested but then said he had too much work on. And it’s honestly not a big or particularly complex task.

I despair really!

Your project sounds amazing! It sounds like a very good idea to make the most of the gable ends! I would love a bright light study or sewing room upstairs. It would be nice to go double height at some point in to the roof with exposed beams. Wishing you every success with it!

Thanks, glad you got some ideas Aching . We were just so thrilled with what the architect came up with. There were planning constraints so we couldn't go too big, but having plenty of book/hobby space matters more to us than bedrooms. Since it is our retirement home we have a large cupboard in the downstairs hallway which could be turned into a lift to the hobby space if needed. The west gable end will have a window to watch the sunset - so we get a nice outlook.

Sorry you haven't found a decent architect. Ours works in West Lindsey and I'd be happy to PM her details if it would be of any use to you!