'Loft room' not to current regs

DilbertJones

Anything I should be wary of?

The house is in a fantastic area, close to city but still very quiet, large garden and on the face of it seems in very good condition.

Loft room is not advertised as a bedroom, but the pic has a bed in it, access to the loft room is via a staircase, however head height is very low on the stair case. Once up it is very roomy. I have seen a crack in the plaster coming off the corner of the velux roof window.

We would not use the room as a bedroom, but would be used as a playroom for the kids.

Wife wants it and I am worried about the potential problems..

gardner1

DilbertJones wrote: »

Anything I should be wary of?

The house is in a fantastic area, close to city but still very quiet, large garden and on the face of it seems in very good condition.

Loft room is not advertised as a bedroom, but the pic has a bed in it, access to the loft room is via a staircase, however head height is very low on the stair case. Once up it is very roomy. I have seen a crack in the plaster coming off the corner of the velux roof window.

We would not use the room as a bedroom, but would be used as a playroom for the kids.

Wife wants it and I am worried about the potential problems..

if its not advertised as bedroom/playroom.....then its a bodge job so be warned

DilbertJones

That's my concern, I can just see it falling down one day!

The very least I would have to get a full survey, but I could be spending £1k on nothing.

I thinki will steer clear

PierremontQuaker03

If the head height is low then it would not pass building regs so it cannot be classified as a bed room, I converted my loft into a bedroom but did not go thru building regs cause of the height issue, nowt to worry about in my opinion but I would advise a survey
, I know its a lot of money but could save u a fortune in the future

Yorkie1

Nobody on here can say "nowt to worry about". They cannot tell whether, for example, the floor joists have been strengthened to actually take the weight of a person and furniture.

Neither will a surveyor be able to tell whether the conversion is structurally sound. To ascertain this will require invasive work, which a surveyor won't do.

jc808

As long as you dont stick concert pianos and pallets of breezeblocks up there youll be ok

lol at the scaremongerers out of the woodwork again

BobQ

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Nobody on here can say "nowt to worry about". They cannot tell whether, for example, the floor joists have been strengthened to actually take the weight of a person and furniture.

Neither will a surveyor be able to tell whether the conversion is structurally sound. To ascertain this will require invasive work, which a surveyor won't do.

I agree, you could be buying all sorts of trouble if you plan to use it as a bedroom. If the conversion was done properly for a bedroom it would have had to be inspected for compliance to building regulations. Often this requires strengthening of joists and may need steel girders to support the additional weight. There is also the suitability of the stairs as a fire exit or whether the windows provide an adequate exit and this has minimum heights and widths associated.

Other issues include the installation of fire resistant doors on all bedrooms and door closers.

BobQ

jc808 wrote: »

As long as you dont stick concert pianos and pallets of breezeblocks up there youll be ok

lol at the scaremongerers out of the woodwork again

Yeah, who cares if your children, friends and relatives burn to death in a fire because you were sensible to ignore the scaremongers.

bitsandpieces

jc808 wrote: »

As long as you dont stick concert pianos and pallets of breezeblocks up there youll be ok

Or jump up and down on the floor, throw things about etc. Finding a new hole in the floor would seem harsh punishment for rough play in a playroom

It may well be fine, but if it looks and sounds like a bodge job I'd be reluctant to test it in a way that'll hurt if it doesn't stand up to usage! You could get a surveyor or builder to take a look and judge how much work is needed to make it safe. If you would still like the house even without it, you could also make an offer based on what you think it's worth without any loft conversion (in case it's too expensive to bring up to scratch).

JoolzS

We had a loft room built a few years ago - no planning permission, no building regs - we have simply used it as storage. I would have no worries about sleeping or playing up there - it was a cheap job, but we've had tons of stuff stored up there for years without a problem.

If the loft room bothers you, then simply act as though it doesn't exist and consider the property without it. I doubt it has had any structural impact on the property.

Dan-Dan

JoolzS wrote: »

We had a loft room built a few years ago - no planning permission, no building regs - we have simply used it as storage. I would have no worries about sleeping or playing up there - it was a cheap job, but we've had tons of stuff stored up there for years without a problem.

If the loft room bothers you, then simply act as though it doesn't exist and consider the property without it. I doubt it has had any structural impact on the property.

Well , the house will cost more to heat , for a start