Dormer house

[Sunnymeadow8886]

Hello,

I had viewed a detachrd house that seems to have been converted from a bungalow years ago. There is no loft and the bedrooms on the first floor all have sloping ceilings ( with some full height ones). To be honest, not sure if it was a bungalow conversion or was built that way. No flat roof though. Would you offer on such a property? I am worried about the noise and sound insulation, and resale value because of the sloping ceilings.

What sort of age is it? There were a lot of that style built in the 60s.

I used to have one and the sloping ceilings were annoying - mainly because of having one in the bathroom and not able to put in a shower. Insulation not as good as a 'regular' house either.

No. The ceiling heights can cause a lot of problems with furniture placement, showers as a PP said, but the main offputting point for me is that the upstairs is usually unbearably hot in summer (depends which way bedrooms face and how big they are, to an extent).

It's such a personal choice. It's like asking; would you buy a north facing garden? A house with no ensuite, a house with small windows, a house with laminate flooring....

They're all tastes and we all make compromises. Is the house good value for money, to you? Do you love it?

Personally I wouldn't move for any house I didn't love. I personally like airy, light spaces so wouldn't like sloped ceilings but many people don't mind. I often look at the dark old world houses with beams and small windows and wonder where could live in them but plenty do and pay lots for it.

I have one of these and love it!

Loft converted into 2 rooms, downstairs bathroom, all good size rooms.

We had our Bungalow converted! Personally I love the layout - our bedroom downstairs, have french doors to the garden which is lovely (we have 3 back doors so no trusging through our bedroom!
I'd say check the wall space for upstairs bedrooms as you'll need to add a wardrobe, our rooms upstairs are big so plenty of space, beds under one sloped side and desks on the other
Loft room is converted into a cinema/study/guest bedroom (it's huge), and we had loft space added to the eaves, so four small cubby holes in either side of the loft room. We also had a boiler room put in the loft room, with a door, so
Larger items can fit in there when necessary.
We have a vaulted
Ceiling in the hallway over stairs so loads of airiness along with plenty of velux windows. Bit warm in the summer, but not that bad to be honest, winter is fine upstairs but it was done 4 years ago and had very good insulation
I love my house, really quirky and just not a boring square 🥱 house

I viewed a house with sloping ceilings in all the bedrooms a few years ago. The sloping ceilings and very narrow upstairs hallway stopped me from making an offer.

We live in one of these it’s not converted though was built like it so we don’t have sloping ceilings. Every room is full height and square.
It does get hot upstairs in summer but that’s the only negative. It’s not cold in winter. I love our house so would buy one again

We live in a dormer bungalow, but can get all the furniture we brought with us in there. DD has a large single and her bed goes under the slope with everything else against full height walls. We are very lucky as we have two areas for storage - one you can stand in at it's highest, the other is a crawl area all along the front of the house, but easily do-able.

Thanks All, it's 1920s/1930s I believe. All the bedrooms are upstairs and there are 3 reception/ dining room downstairs so it's spacious enough for us. I'm not sure if it's originally built like that or have been extended over time. I am worried about the insulation, I don't really want a house where the bedrooms are unbearable in the summer and freezing in the winter! How would you add insulation in the roof for such houses anyway?

Oh, yes, forgot to say that in the winter the two upstairs bedrooms and bathroom are little heat pods.

It's a risk you take with the insulation. We recently had a new roof and the roofer confirmed ours had been very well insulated. Obviously everyone heats their house to a different temperature, but you could ask how much their gas bills are - that might give you a feel for if it's excessive.

House buying usually involves some compromises so it might be that the positives of this place outweigh the potential negatives of bedrooms with sloping ceilings.
Two of our rooms have sloping ceilings. Absolutely not a problem when we bought it and allocated those to 2yo DC1 and 20 week bump and all they needed was a cot bed and a mini wardrobe or chest of drawers. Now they're teenagers, it's more of a hassle. The benefits of this house still outweigh that though.

I removed the plywood on the ceilings and there was the roof! Added new insulation and hey presto, all sorted!

For some reason the rooms upstairs are always much warmer than downstairs.

Hi Bunny sorry but what do you mean you just removed the plywood?? The ceiling looks like a plasterboard ceiling I can't just remove it. There is access to the eaves, I guess si could just climb in and try to lay some insulation on the sloping portions?!

Yes you can!
Mine was like that, some plasterboard, some just plywood.
I removed it all and it was just shit insulation and then the roof batons and tiles.
I put new insulation in, board it all back up with plasterboard and then plastered over the top.

In the photo below you can see. (there was no insulation on the far wall, just brick so I put wooden batons on the wall, filled them with insulation and boarded them too.

Whilst I did the sloping bits as the top, I didn't bother insulating the sloping bits at the bottom as I built cupboards there. You can kind of see the frame I built here. I basically put in ikea cabinets, but there are loads of tutorials online about how to make bespoke cupboards that fit perfectly.
Hope that explains things!

My bungalow was built in 1954 and the loft space converted in the 1980s, one large oblong room with a small en-suite - bath with shower hose as it is tucked in under the eaves.

The bedroom had no wardrobes but I was able to add one together with loads of shelves for storage in the nooks and crannies around the edges. It’s a large room but not the master bedroom due mainly to its narrowish oblong shape.

It has a velux window and I replaced it a couple of years ago with one that opens and closes using a remote control which I keep downstairs - it closes automatically when it rains! I use that on hot days to get fresh air flowing through my house and reduce the heat upstairs. It does get hot in that room if the window is not open and the blind closed but my visitors say it is not unbearable.

The initial survey pointed out the lack of insulation around the four walls although there is some in the roof. I paid for insulation to be added as soon as I moved in to reduce heat loss.

I do have an issue with sound insulation though as when anyone walks around upstairs, I can hear everything in my bedroom below so do ask visitors to be aware and tiptoe around! It’s not used that often, only by family when they visit, I also have another bedroom downstairs as well as my room.

If your plan is for the dormer to be used all the time, I would go back for a second visit and get someone else to walk around upstairs! Also be aware of the stairs, mine are slightly narrower than regular stairs but are not steep like some attic stairs as the original bungalow had a high roof and a decent hallway.

Thanks @Bunnyasmyname @Ihateslugs, that's helpful. I think a second visit is warranted. The house is done up already so I'm keen not to rip off the ceiling so really hope they have good insulation there!

Tbh I wouldn't both @Sunnymeadow8886@Sunnymeadow8886.
If you decide to go ahead with the purchase, I'd see how it goes. It def gets warm up there in my house!

My FIL lives in a purpose built house like this, 1970’s.
It’s in a close, so can’t comment on noise, but heat wise, it’s freezing in the winter (near immediate heat loss) and baking in summer.
Insulating the eaves won’t achieve anything.
Make more inquiries about insulation and renovations.

If you can see into the eaves, is there evidence of insulation there. We have upright insulation boards (which can be removed, but others should have them behind plasterboard) - if we move them, we can see insulation.

Thanks @OneForTheToad, if insulating doesn't help, then where else can I do something when it comes to insulation?

Insulation certainly helped reduce heat loss in my dormer room. I think I had 6 or 8 inches attached to the four walls in the loft. I can’t remember the statistics but the work was done in February and the installer took temperature readings before the work was done and again a couple of hours after he had finished and there was a difference in the temperature in the bedroom. The only minor issue is that now the access to the remaining part of the loft where the cold water tank is ( no longer in use as I installed a combi boiler) is greatly restructured so the plumber had to be rather slim to squeeze past the walls!

Cost me £1,500 to have the installation work done, over 12 years ago so probably a lot more now.

My mistake, I thought the OP was only talking about insulating the accessible eaves.
OP, the problem with trying to poke insulation up the rafters is any noggins will stop you. Also Fibre/wool will give no sound insulation.
Ask them about insulation first. It might not be an issue.
Alternatives are rip the ceilings down as per PP, anything else would be very expensive (like stripping the tiles off). Also bear in mind ventilation.