Bungalow loft conversion - come share your experiences and wisdom pleasem

[LoopyLoopyLoo]

Am very seriously considering going up in my 1960s semi detached bungalow.
I absolutely love my home. Previous owners extended out the back and side with flat roof extensions but my loft on the original foot print is huge and has a very high pitch.

Im thinking Master bedroom, bathroom storage/wardrobes and a smaller 2nd bedtoom/office to up there.

The street is a mix of originally built dormer bungalows, bungalows and 3 bed detached houses. There are a few like mine in the street that have conversions.

I want to start looking into this. I've never done such a big project before so would love it if anyone can share their experiences of loft conversions. Is there anything you regret doing/not doing? Would deffo recommend/advise against. Stuff you wish you'd known before starting etc etc.

I'm on top of a hill with amazing views - well will have if I go up. I know there is so much to know about planning and building regs. Do I need to support my foundations for a loft conversion? Will I need planning to make a flat roof a balcony? What do i need to do to the flat roof to make it safe etc to become a balcony? Can I have stairs against the wall attaching my house to the neighbours?

I know I can ask the planners/builder/architect all this, but would like some idea before I start.

Any websites, good you tube channels etc anyone can recommend?

I'm off work after an accident at the moment so trying to make good use of my time planning in my head something positive.

Please come and talk to me all things loft conversions 😀

Locate staircase carefully, if you want straight stairs it might be a squeeze to fit.
Visit neighbours to see how they fitted theirs.
Look at the past planning applications on your local planning hub to see similar plans which you can copy.

It's also worth looking at similar properties which have been converted on Rightmove to see what they have done. Our home sounds similar to what you want. Our stairs are actually on the footprint of the old bathroom in a U shape, with downstairs toilet and storage underneath. We've got our bedroom and a reasonable size single bedroom on the back. No dormers on front. There's a bathroom between our main bedroom and then a good amount of crawl space in eaves. We have another storage area on front where I can stand at highest point.

I know its a bit cheeky, but the architect we did end up going with home tales offered a free call when we first looked into getting work done and they were really upfront with what they thought we'd be able to do with planning and building control - gave us a lot to reconsider but i'm glad we knew before committing.