Loft Conversion Cost....

chambta

I'm considering having my loft converted to give us more space should we choose to have another child.

My house is a traditional mid-terraced house which originally would have been a 'two up two down' but has the typical rear extension for the bathroom and kitchen from the 40s.

When I had it re-roofed I had a velux window put in on the south facing side. What sort of price should I be expected to pay to have the loft completely renovated into a 3rd bedroom?

I will need the staircase, floor boarded in most places, the roof space insulated, water tank hidden away, a radiator and electrical points put in and the new room left ready to carpet and decorate.

Oddly no houses on my road seem to have had any loft conversions done but on other streets most have.

chambta

Anyone please?!

sujman

chambta wrote: »

Anyone please?!

£10,000 - £20,000... I'm guessing. A loft conversion can be as expensive as a single storey extension.

The best way to approach this, I think, it to first claify with your local planning authority that you can get your loft converted.

You should be able to do something like a "Planning Permission" enquiry. A starightforward one page form, where you can get a response within 2 weeks and the authority will say either permission is required or not.

Once this is sorted, find a number of local and national firms and get then to quote. At least you'll get some real numbers as opposed to guesstimates from anyone here.

Post your quotes here and then I would guess people are better placed to comment, as you will be able to share the specifica of what you want.

planning_officer

You don't need planning permission for purely internal works - the only parts that may need it are dormer windows or velux windows. Velux don't normally require permission as they are not generally held to be development, unless there are conditions on previous planning permissions which state no additional windows can be inserted. A front dormer will need permission (if the front faces a road or footpath) and a rear dormer will need permission if you are in a conservation area, AONB or National Park.

roses

You'll need to comply with building regs now & get steel supports put in if you want it to be used as a room. Expect to pay about £35,000 inc decoration for that.

chambta

roses wrote: »

You'll need to comply with building regs now & get steel supports put in if you want it to be used as a room. Expect to pay about £35,000 inc decoration for that.

If that's the case it's certainly not cost effective. Would be far cheaper to move to a slightly bigger house in locality for an extra £15-20k and have all the bedrooms on one floor too.

Out of interest how do you know steel supports are required? Is that a new building reg?

beaker141

I think 35k is high for a mid terrace conversion - assuming no dormer. The main concern is always getting sufficient height above a staircase into the loft to make it viable.

You need 2 big I beam steels going accross your house I guess between the 2 party walls - this is then used to hang the new floor joists from - you cant just use the existing ceiling joists as is.

chambta

beaker141 wrote: »

I think 35k is high for a mid terrace conversion - assuming no dormer. The main concern is always getting sufficient height above a staircase into the loft to make it viable.

You need 2 big I beam steels going accross your house I guess between the 2 party walls - this is then used to hang the new floor joists from - you cant just use the existing ceiling joists as is.

No dormer required. There is already a velux window that I had fitted 'just in case' when the roof was done as it added little to the cost of that.

Sorry for sounding dim but why would there not be sufficient height above the staircase as the staircase would open up into the middle of the house, the highest part? Perhaps I've answered the point!

bride_on_a_budget

our lost conversion cost £28,000 last year, this included all building regs, steels x 3, fire doors, wired smoke alarms all ready for us to decorate.

regarding building regs and steels, the steels are to support the floor as the existing ceiling joists are not strong enough for regular walking on, and building regs will want to see the steels just after they have been put in, if you ever wanted to sell your house and didnt get building regs to sign off the steels, your would not be able to state th loft as a room.
this is what happpened to a friend, thought they were doing it right and spent about £15k and now they just use the loft for storage.
bride

covlass

We are hoping to do a loft conversion soon we have had the plans done and got building regs in place. We live in a 1930 mid terrece house so not a big house at all. We have been quoted from £36,500 for a full build (with dormer) to £18,500 for a part build. Our plans had to be redone as not enough steel beams we now have 6 steel beams in all. We need a dormer to get the head hight for the stairs, the only way to get the new stairs in was to have them dog legged over the exsisting stair case which also means knocking down and moving the badroom wall.

jamtart6

A friend of mine in Scotland had their 3bed traditional semi converted for about £5000. This was no dormer, just literally putting plasterboard up, plastering, flooring, stairs etc. They had their stairs going off their study rather than in a cupboard or anything which I think made it a lot cheaper, as they essentially access it through a 'loft hatch' (but grander and bigger!)