Turning loft into storage room/games room. Is it possible with our loft?

funkywilson

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could help me with a loft query? We are havingsomeone come to look at it all in detail but I'm pretty sure what we want isn'tfeasible unless we're willing to pay hefty money (and would save a wastedvisit).

We're looking into boarding our loft and possibly decorating it a little(depending on what it will be capable of). Ideally I would like a sort of playroom/storage room, that would have some storage (most likely CDs and books), alarge space in the middle (for board games, scalextric etc) and to be able tohave at least two people up there at the same time. It'll be accessible viadrop down ladder.

We have no intention of it ever being classed as habitable or being fullyconverted, so no piping, no stairs, no radiator etc (a conversion is mostlikely out of the question anyways as the headroom isn't high enough withouthaving to lower the entire floor about a foot or so). Basically a posh, strongstorage room with a lot of floor space is what we want. If what we wantactually is classed as that though I'm not 100% sure.

Details:
-mid-terraced 1890s Victorian house.
-Roof is apex with old rafter and purlin construction (double purlin eachside of roof). Concrete interlocking tiles with breathable membrane underlay.
-Loft dimensions are roughly 5m x 7m.
-The current ceiling joists (this isn't 100% exact) are 60mm x 90mm withroughly 400mm spacing. The span goes about 3.5m I believe (there are twointernal walls in the middle of the house, brick construction and go into thecellar so look loadbearing).
-There is nothing in the loft (e.g no water tank etc), I also believe thereare no pipes and the only wiring is the ceiling light ring).
-The ceiling joists currently hold the old laft plaster ceilings rather themodren plasterboard.
-As far as I can tell (and I might be wrong), no planning permission will berequired as the work is internal only, building regs also wouldn't apply ifthere were no structural changes (I assume however that if extra joists are requiredor if we decided to have a velux window installed they will require regs).

I do have a rough quote from the builder already at 3k which he'll confirmor amend when he looks at the loft later this week (the price is for P5 18mmtongue and groove boarding, widened hatch with timber drop down ladder, lightswitch and double plug socket, velux window, dry lining and plasterboard whichI assume also would contain foil insulation over the rafters). I am expectingit'll be a little higher than this (I doubt those joists are strong enough ontheir own) but lots more and I'd rather put the money to paying the mortgageoff quicker .

Thank you!