LOFT CONVERSION-Builder or specialist ?

lyla

we're thinking about getting a loft conversion done, ive read conflicting advice about whether to use a specialist or just a general building firm. Does anyone have any experience ? we are in the gloucester area. also how disruptive is the work? and how long does it normally take?

many thanks

jackieb

We did it ourselves. When I say that I mean that we organised builders and plumbers and architects and we didn't get a specialist company in.

We did ours about 5 years ago so prices may have went up. We got an architect to draw up plans, then we had to submit them to the council for a building warrant ( I don't think we needed planning permission - different areas may have different rules). It cost us £1000 in fees and plans before we started.

Fortunately, my father-in-law was a joiner so he could do a lot of the work. We got a local joinery firm to make a staircase. It cost £400 but my father-in-law put it together and fitted it.

We got builders in to put the vents in the roof and 2 velux windows. We had to have smoke alarms on all 3 floors (wired through the electric so if one went off they all went off). We also had to fit fire doors with self closers on all the bedroom and living room doors. These cost about £100 each. The self closers are not the big kind you see in a public buildings. They're quite discreet and fit inside the middle of the door where the hinges are.

We got professional plumbers and electricians in too.

All in all it cost us about £8000. We got our building warrant at the end of it. It would be hard to sell your house if you didn't have this. There was a lot of red tape and quite a few inspections as the work went on. We had to have certain headroom. The stairs had to be a certain width and depth, etc.

I do recommend that if you get it done to get Kingspan insulation for the loft. It comes in boards instead of the rolls of insulation. It's more expensive (cost us about £700) but it is great stuff. We rarely need any heating up there and I live in the north of Scotland!

It's the best thing we've done to our house.

It took us about 6 months but that was only because we were paying it as we could afford it.

jackieb

Oh, and we had to have a fire escape velux window too. I've watched home imrovement shows on the TV and I sometimes wonder how they get away with their loft extensions. Our local authority was quite strict when it came to all the fire regulations.

mrsmoneyspender

we would like to have extra loft insulaion,also a floored loft and a larger hatch with ladders
there are companies out their who will do this for about £999, is it much cheaper to do this yourself but hiring a joiner to re-fit the loft hatch?
mrs ms

Nile

Hello jackieb


Welcome to the MSE site.:wave:

frugglewump

mrsmoneyspender wrote:

we would like to have extra loft insulaion,also a floored loft and a larger hatch with ladders
there are companies out their who will do this for about £999, is it much cheaper to do this yourself but hiring a joiner to re-fit the loft hatch?
mrs ms

I've been looking for loft hatch & ladder installation and the price seems to be around £100-150 for enlargement and installation of an aluminium ladder and £200-250 for a wooden ladder.

Busybody

:j We had ours done about 3 years ago, we got loads of quotes ( some of which were as far apart as double) and went with one of the cheaper ones, after I had knocked on the door of someone up the road he had been working on and asked them if they were satisfied!

They started the work on 3 December I visualised being in a mess all over Christmas but no they had finished within 16 days!! Its a big loft with a big dormer window and I had an en-suite put in, also floor boards instead of the usual chipboard floor. I was amazed at how much wood/insulation and equipment they used.

The price was very reasonable but I believe he has now put his prices up.

Good luck Im sure it will be great. :T

Busybody

mrsmoneyspender wrote:

we would like to have extra loft insulaion,also a floored loft and a larger hatch with ladders
there are companies out their who will do this for about £999, is it much cheaper to do this yourself but hiring a joiner to re-fit the loft hatch?
mrs ms

In our area there are ads in thev paper for this type of work done for under £400 my sister had hers done.