Loft conversion

Andrew_Ryan_89

Hey guys, moved into my first property last year and loving it so far. 2 bedroom house with a garden. My fiance and I are getting married soon and planning a family immediately after. Both bedrooms, especially our bedroom. are of really good size. The second bedroom, most of the space is current taking up by a wardrobe and computer desk as I work from home. Still, there is plenty of space.

However, if/when we have children (ideally 2), space will be quite testing. Small living room so my desk will have to be moved somewhere, girlfriends will have to give up a lot of her clothes to make room and it's not somewhere we see moving from to be honest unless the area was going to take a turn for the worst.

We are considering a loft extension and assuming everything is okay, we will get it done within the next 5-7 years. I wanted to know whether there was a reasonably certain and inexpensive way to find out -

1. Whether we would get planning permission
2. Whether it can be done (doesn't seem there is enough space to add another staircase)
3. The cost

For those who have had their loft extended, would be good to hear also about how much you paid and how it worked out.

Edit - Hey guys, I am aware that you may not be architects and have a floor plan of my house. This thread is mainly to know your experiences of a loft conversion and whether there is anything I can do to get a rough idea of whether it is feasible or not.

Silver-Surfer_2

No point discussing or doing anything now as your planning permission will expire before you intent to start work.

Furts

I think you are having a laugh at our expense here!

We have no drawings to give the layout of the house, nor the direction of the roof timbers, nor the ceiling timbers, nor the roof construction, nor the floor joist details. We do not know the room layout but you need to create another room for the stairs - think of a landing area or lobby.

What we do have is your admission that it does not possible to fit another staircase. However, were you to fit a proper staircase this would take up space in one of your existing bedrooms. Headroom becomes important, as does the floor and the joist direction. None of this is known by any of us.

On top of all that you expect forum members to anticipate build costs for 5-7 years in the future.

Forget your comment on Planning Permission. You need sound technical advice which will have to be paid for and an assurance that Buildings Regulations can be achieved. If so, and when done, Planning is likely to be a minor matter here in relation to the other issues.

Well at least the post has brightened up my afternoon and raised a chuckle!

Detroit

We are looking into this at the moment. We asked a loft conversion company to provide a quote and they came out, looked at the loft, advised that it was possible, gave options for stairs and explained about planning permission (not needed in our case) and requirements for building regs. They then provided a quote for the work. There was no obligation to engage them, and they didn't charge to visit and quote. You should be able to get answers to the questions you posted by doing the same.

Hoploz

Currently it's possible to convert the loft under Permitted Development, which is what you're allowed to do without applying for Planning Permission. Assuming the law stays the same, you can have velux windows on any side, and dormers in certain places, I think not the front. Have a look at the gov website Planning Portal which has all the regs.

You would need to comply with building regulations and these are entirely separate to planning permission. There are rules householders must follow in order to have a sound and safe home.

If you're already sure the house will be too small, don't rule out moving. If you have more bedrooms (and some space, possibly even a whole room, will be taken up by a new staircase) you will also want more living space, perhaps bigger garden, near the right school, garage for storage etc.

DRP

Unless there are really important reasons for you to stay in his house, I would consider moving to a bigger house.

The downstairs living space in a 2-bed house is likely to feel very small with 2 children in it, without even considering loft conversions.

That said, can you envisage a ground-floor extension (or 2-storey) in your garden without destroying the outside space? - have neighbours done similar?

IF you can increase the living space *and* convert upstairs, then perhaps that would make the house proportionally larger, rather than having a small house with a bolted-on loft conversion.

27col

It sounds to me as if a little more forethought before you bought the house might have been a good idea. It is obviously not suitable for your future needs.

cyantist

We are currently getting plans drawn up for a loft conversion. No planning permission needed as we are not extending the front plane of the roof in any way and it comes under the volume you're allowed to add.

We have had several quotes and it will be about 55-65k, but we are near London. If we sold and bought a bigger house it would cost about 230k more than we paid for this one last year so it's worth us spending the money on converting. If you have a smaller 2 bedroom house it will be a lot less than 55-65k depending on what you'd want, so it depends on how much your house cost and how much more it would cost for a 3/4 bed house.

We are in a bungalow so it doesn't feel weird putting a second storey in, but I would be reluctant to buy a normal house with loft conversion as sometimes the living space isn't balanced with the bedroom space so this is something else to consider.

Andrew_Ryan_89

27col wrote: »

It sounds to me as if a little more forethought before you bought the house might have been a good idea. It is obviously not suitable for your future needs.

It's a good size and to be honest, we weren't getting anything bigger with our budget unless we moved further out. It's funny though, we purchased the property for £285k and saw the property the previous owner purchased for £230k. She moved an hour drive out and basically lives in a mansion.

Gastines3

Easy option. Anyone else in the road already have a loft conversion? Should be fairly easy to see with a walk up and down the road. Might pay to ask who,how and cost with a gift of a bottle of wine,providing the occupiers are not Muslims,no alchohol.

SplanK

We lived in a 3 bed house (read: 2 doubles and 1 *just about* single) and then had 2 kids. The house quickly became too small despite having the kids in their own rooms. We were always on top of each other.


I appreciate there are budget constraints, and that you work with what you have.


We often thought about our options for our last house. Loft conversion, or a single/double side extension was considered. Up and downsides to all aspects.


We opted to simply move into a much larger house. It was 'easier', and more effective than simply extending and attempting to make something work on a tight floor plan.


You need to think about how much space will you actually gain from going upwards, and what space you will ultimately sacrifice for the staircase, often in small houses this means loosing a room (which was true in our case if we pushed ahead).


Then there is the cost. Depends on what work is needed the costs can vary. I have seen figures of 10k upwards floating around though for most conversions. Around here that amount would get you a decent way towards your next house, but depending on your location your mileage may vary.


Even once extended, you may find that other spaces may be too limiting such as the living areas, kitchen/dining and feel that once the kids are starting to get older they will need more and more room.


You also need to consider what affect your 'investment' in the house will return (assuming you are bothered about that!). Will the house price increase matching or beating your spend, or will it be less?


As somebody else pointed out, is it even possible to squeeze in extra floor space within the loft? You may find that the cost of alterations is just far greater than you will get back. In this case, one size does not fit all, even if your neighbours have had it done, yours might not be the same, so you are best getting in touch with a couple of builders and ask for some initial costs before progressing onto next stages