questions about attic extension/dormer windows

spaghetti_monster

Hi there,

I wanted to ask a few questions as I'm trying to organise our attic extension, have very little experience and my head is swimming with questions.
Added to that, I live in the Netherlands and although my Dutch is quite good, it makes it even harder to wade through the quotes and info I already have.

Basically we live in a 1980's terrace. The attic is already a lived-in space and we'll put a dormer window on either side. Just simple flat ones (shed?).

My main question at the mo is that most of the quotes are for a flat roof.
One company sent someone over and this is our only in-depth discussion/quote to date - he was all for a flat roof. He said that properly done and with good materials there was no reason it should leak more than a sloping roof.
It was also clear to see that with 2 flat roofed dormers we would get more loft storage space, which would be extremely useful.

However, looking round the local area (of identical houses), pretty much all those who've extended have sloping roofs.

I googled a bit and it seems that the leaking/maintenance issue might be the only thing.
I realise a sloping roof is more expensive, but we wouldn't mind this if there were big advantages.
I also think that a sloping roof looks better from the outside, but maybe that's an issue for when we eventually sell - for living in the house I really don't mind.

Any more learned opinions?
Thanks!

joinaman

It is really about personal choice and how much you want to spend
I put 3 dormers on my last house, all with tiles, pitched roofs,french doors with juliet balconies.
They look so much better than a bog standard "flat top" and will last much much longer without maintenance, I went for pitched because I thought the style enhanced the building, but a flat top would have and usually does, spoil the building.
But
you will not get anywere near the amount of space/headroom as you would with a "flat top".
It also depends on the amount of headroom you have on the loft area, the hight the space the more space/headroom you will get with pitched roofs
I would always go for a pitch werever possible, but it is more expensive, less room, but will add value to the house, not take it away
Can you not compromise? Have a pitched roof at the front where it is seen more and a flat top at the back?

southcoastrgi

they will have different life spans flat roof 10-20 yrs tiled roof 50-100 yrs

spaghetti_monster

Thanks for your replies.
Wow, didn't know there was such a difference in life spans!

Also didn't realise that a sloping roof would give less space - the ones I've seen round here seem to give more space above the window IYSWIM than the flat roof.

For us, space inside is the main priority - we can make one large-ish room into an office, small bedroom and wash/utility space.

The guy who gave us the more detailed quote (with flat roofs) said we'd get 2.20m ceiling height and a reasonable loft space.

The house is surrounded by other houses, so I suppose I was thinking we'd put the same kind of windows on both sides. But that's something to think about, putting different ones on the "back".

Thanks again!