Is that worth to convert the offshoot loft into a bathroom?

917700

Hi all

I am looking for some advice please. I recently purchased a Victorian terrace house. The layout is very typical, the main building plus a offshoot building. 

The main loft area was converted into a room many years ago, but the offshoot part was left as a void space. I need to replace the roof covering and strength some roof structure now, so will that be worth to convert the off shoot loft at the same time? The offshoot building is 5.3m X 3.7m, however, the finished bathroom size will be 2.4m X 1.6m, and this can hopefully increase house value by £7,500 to £10,000. 

I am not sure what sort of structure alteration will be required? how much would be will that cost? Is the insulation U-Value very difficult to achieve for this old house? 

Thanks

Doozergirl

Because it's a conversion plus bathroom, if you're saying it will add £7-10k to the house value, I'd say that it wouldn't pay for itself.  We did one last year for a family and the initial part of the conversion cost nearly that much, just  getting it structurally sound with a room with a rooflight covered in solid insulation, not finished walls or starting the bathroom element of it.  

Unless this is a forever house or you want to stay for a while and this will add the value to your lives, rather than the house, I wouldn't bother unless you choose to DIY the whole thing.  

rach_k

We had our loft done last year, with the bedrooms above the main part of the house and a bathroom over the back rooms.  No specific difficulties were mentioned about insulation by the architect or builders, although the whole house is a lot warmer now so they must've done something fairly hefty.

I know that we paid more than £10k extra for the bathroom 'pod' compared to other houses locally who did the conversion without the extra bit and I assume there is some cost saving due to doing it all at the same time.  I'm not sure you'd get your money back.  You could easily spend a few thousand on a nice bathroom suite!

FreeBear

917700 said: Is the insulation U-Value very difficult to achieve for this old house?

By the sounds of it, the proposed shower room is only a small fraction of the available space, so insulating it to the required standard shouldn't be an issue. There are some very high performance insulation (Aerogel) available for those tight/difficult spaces - Also expensive... For the most part, Celotex/Kingspan boards will do the job, and fibreglass/rockwool can be used were space is not an issue. Just don't waste your money on stuff like MultiQuilt.

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi BigNumber.

I can't visualise what the layout is. But you are saying that this 'offshoot void' roof needs stripping, strengthening and recovering in any case? What extra would be required to 'convert' it? Would the roof shape need changing?

If there are some basic things you can do that really won't impact greatly on the cost of the roof work - say sistering some joists to leave a space in between them ready for a skylight to be slotted in in the future - I'd say 'go for it'. Ie, even if you don't have the work done at the moment, anything you can easily and cheaply do to future-proof the area would be worth considering; that alone would be a selling point.

917700

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Hi BigNumber.

I can't visualise what the layout is. But you are saying that this 'offshoot void' roof needs stripping, strengthening and recovering in any case? What extra would be required to 'convert' it? Would the roof shape need changing?

Hi Jeepers_Creepers

Thanks for your advice. Basically, the rear slope of the main roof has sag issues and this part need to be structurally strengthen. 

I don't understand how the main roof rafter and offshoot roof rafter joins together. Does the main roof's rafters need to be rebuilt?

Jeepers_Creepers

You won't know until it's exposed.

It's most likely a 'cut' roof, even the area that was converted (this isn't the saggy bit, is it?!). Ie it was all bespoke cut to suit and didn't use pre-built trusses (certainly the Victorian bits won't have!). It's likely to look quite complex and interlinked when exposed, so I don't know the chances of getting a nice free usable space in there will be without extensive changes.

I still can't visualise the space, tho'...

Is there another loo upstairs? If not, I would certainly suggest it would be very desirable to have it done. Our loft-conversion en-suite is fully within the sloping part of the roof, but works absolutely fine.

Is the void usable as anything at the moment - even storage?!