About straighetening of the roof

AdrianC

pieroabcd said:

Anyway, it wouldn't be just a cosmetic difference: hitting the head against the roof every time that you try to move in the room is quite substantial, like not having enough hight for a cupboard or sweltering in summer because of the heat. Of course the walls would need raising, that goes without saying.

That has nothing to do with whether the roof is flat or pitched.

Also, PP will not be straightforward - the house will be very visually intrusive compared to the rest of the properties around it, especially with the wall height being increased.

It would be relatively easy to raise the upstairs ceilings without changing the roof - you might have a bit of eaves-slope towards the edges, but...

I don't know what height you are to find ceiling heights in most non-period properties to be problematic enough to want to spend tens of thousands rebuilding the entire top of the structure - I'm nearly 1m90, and have lived in a 16th century house in the past where I've had to duck the beams in the living room... In our current house, I've had to shorten Ikea bookcases to fit them in. I don't find the ceilings an issue at all.

Oh, and don't forget door heights - we have one that gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. Not ducking the frame - that's the reflex bit. I stand up too quickly afterwards, forgetting it's inset into a 60cm thick stone wall.

Proofread100

Go and buy in some of the housing estates and developments built in the 60s on the outskirts of Belfast. Plenty of flat roofed houses there. 

Anunnaki

pieroabcd said:

AdrianC said:

You want to buy a house with a pitch roof, and convert it to a flat roof.

Yes, it's possible.
Yes, you'll need planning permission and building regs.
Yes, it'll be bloody expensive.
No, it won't increase upstairs ceiling height unless you increase the height of the walls.

And all for a cosmetic difference that most people with experience of flat roofs would prefer to avoid...

Wouldn't it just be easier to buy a house that you like the look of?

AdrianC said:

You want to buy a house with a pitch roof, and convert it to a flat roof.

Yes, it's possible.
Yes, you'll need planning permission and building regs.
Yes, it'll be bloody expensive.
No, it won't increase upstairs ceiling height unless you increase the height of the walls.

And all for a cosmetic difference that most people with experience of flat roofs would prefer to avoid...

Wouldn't it just be easier to buy a house that you like the look of?

Of course, if I found it! :-)

There are new builds, yes, but they are so far away from where I work that the cost of the season ticket would defeat the advantage of owning a house, not to speak of the backpain and the tiredness of commuting every day for 2.5 hours.

Anyway, it wouldn't be just a cosmetic difference: hitting the head against the roof every time that you try to move in the room is quite substantial, like not having enough hight for a cupboard or sweltering in summer because of the heat. Of course the walls would need raising, that goes without saying.

Thanks everyone for answering.

Taking a perfectly good sloping roof off at considerable expense and putting on a flat roof at considerable expense, which will be prone to multiple problems is not really a well considered idea.

As you infer the walls/ceilings would need raising both downstairs and up stairs. So roof off. All floors ripped up. New joists, etc 

You will end up spending good money buying. To rip the house apart knocking off any value to the spend good money putting it back together? End result money spent immense, valuation of property same if not a lot less than when you started. LOL

But it will increase the height of the ceiling, not the roof that you appear to be hitting your head off?

Alan2020

pieroabcd said:

Hi,
being in search of a house to buy and having viewed many, I've always wondered  if it would be possible to straighten the roof, that in all my cases was sloping on one or  two sides. I've also noticed that it's always much lower than the ceiling in the lower floors (around 2-2.10 m).
Given a proper engineering plan, would the straightening be approved by the council and by the lender (for the mortgage)? Any idea of would much would it cost to make it totally flat and as high as the lower floors (at least 2.60m) assuming an area of 25 sqm?
Or maybe keeping it sloping, but with a much higher aperture, like 150-160 degrees in order to keep the side still high?

Thanks.

If you are talking about a chalet style house with the first floor in the roof, then yes under permitted development in many cases you can add dormers and make a flat roof.

This is a very common development in London where such houses exist in the outer zones and cost over £600k. The cost of conversion is about £16k to £20k if fairly normal size and roof construction.  This when finished up can be £25k to £30k as most people will fit an ensuite etc

eddddy

Are you talking about eaves rooms which currently have small dormer windows?

So maybe something like this:


And you want to change it to something like this:



or this:


If so, as you can see from the pictures, it's possible - but if it's on the front of the house, getting planning consent might be difficult, and it might not be cost effective.

Also, whilst those types of conversions provide more usable space, I think a lot of people would say they're less attractive

WoozieSioux_tse

Don't forget too, that when you come to insure your house, many insurers aren't keen on more that 10% flat roof, so you'll also be drastically reducing your options....Or paying a lot more....

Murphybear

We had a house with a flat roof once.  It developed a slight leak, not much fun.  We sold it and bought a bungalow.  I think the U.K. is too wet for flat roofs 

UnderOffer

“hitting the head against the roof every time that you try to move in the room is quite substantial,...”

How tall are you? 🤔

pieroabcd

Alan2020 said:

pieroabcd said:

Hi,
being in search of a house to buy and having viewed many, I've always wondered  if it would be possible to straighten the roof, that in all my cases was sloping on one or  two sides. I've also noticed that it's always much lower than the ceiling in the lower floors (around 2-2.10 m).
Given a proper engineering plan, would the straightening be approved by the council and by the lender (for the mortgage)? Any idea of would much would it cost to make it totally flat and as high as the lower floors (at least 2.60m) assuming an area of 25 sqm?
Or maybe keeping it sloping, but with a much higher aperture, like 150-160 degrees in order to keep the side still high?

Thanks.

If you are talking about a chalet style house with the first floor in the roof, then yes under permitted development in many cases you can add dormers and make a flat roof.

This is a very common development in London where such houses exist in the outer zones and cost over £600k. The cost of conversion is about £16k to £20k if fairly normal size and roof construction.  This when finished up can be £25k to £30k as most people will fit an ensuite etc

yes, this is one of the possible solutions. I realise that the cost is big, but it adds a lot of useable space to the house that would give a double advantage: much more pleasant living and much higher value to the house if/when sold.

pieroabcd

eddddy said:

Are you talking about eaves rooms which currently have small dormer windows?

So maybe something like this:


And you want to change it to something like this:



or this:


If so, as you can see from the pictures, it's possible - but if it's on the front of the house, getting planning consent might be difficult, and it might not be cost effective.

Also, whilst those types of conversions provide more usable space, I think a lot of people would say they're less attractive

Those pictures describe exactly what I had in mind when I started this thread.