RE Loft Conversion

PierremontQuaker03

Hi,
I am doing a loft conversion next year, going the full hog, en suite et. Is there anything that I should be putting in - I know a wired fire alarm will be going in - and points for a TV - the usual stuff. Any modern technology?
Any ideas?
Thanks

Doozergirl

It's pretty personal stuff. My usual stance with clients is that if you don't know about it, you're probably not that interested in having it

Nest smoke alarms though. I keep banging on about them.

rach_k

We've just had ours done. Nest Protect alarms are pretty awesome.

We asked for plenty of sockets - our old terrace only has one or two double sockets in some of the rooms so we have made sure the bedrooms up there have plenty.

We thought about wired internet but I checked wifi signal up there and it was fine (actually better than some original parts of the house) so we decided against it. If we were planning to have work computers up there though, I'd have wanted that.

I didn't even think about TV points; we don't use them anywhere else in the house.

We needed to change other bedroom doors along the escape route for fire doors so we took the opportunity to swap every door in the house while it was already a mess and full of people/dust.

We have a little bit of storage space up there still under the edge of the roof. Our usual electrician (who visited during the build but wasn't working on it) advised us to have a light put in there as he's often called in to add them later.

If you like smart lighting, maybe have a think about that. I know you can replace individual bulbs with smart lights but it can be pretty expensive. One of the electricians said there are smarter and cheaper ways to do it... but we didn't discuss it further so I can't say how!

ANDY597

Doing a self build loft conversion just now

Things to think about

Fire doors
Smoke alarms
Adequate roof ventilation, adequate bathroom steam extraction
Adequate light for habitable rooms
Appropriately speccd u values for insulation
Adequate services electric, gas, water, radiators, wastes etc
Where the new waste will go on with vented to roof pipes
New roof covering if having dormers, I'd recommend epdm for flat roofs
Correctly speced plasterboard and flooring
Recommend caber board water resistant flooring especially if the roof will be open for a short while.
Storage required when finished
Where the internal walls will go

Biggest expense so far I'd say has been construction grade timber.

Joists and rafters will likely need doubled or trebled for new openings, potential for steel work surprisingly not that expensive in relation to timber costs.

Appropriate building warrants and planning permissions an absolute must do

Velux windows surprisingly easy to fit, see you tube for installation videos and all done from inside now.

Overall a massive undertaking but worth the effort.

Hope this helps