Building regs for an old loft conversion

takay9

Hi - we are buying a house as a 3 bed detached which has a loft room. The loft room was built sometime pre 1981 and I’m told therefore may not have been subject to building regs and certainly wouldn’t have a certificate in any case. Therefore, I am just wondering why it couldn’t be classed as a bedroom if it was built within the remit of the time?

I don’t know about this area so probably missing something very obvious, but would be interested to know. As an aside, would anyone know how tricky it might be to get certification as a bedroom space? I understand it would need the correct fire doors, linked fire alarm system and a means of escape in the case of a fire - is there more to it than that? It is a good size with proper stairs so would have the required space and access, but not sure what else would be required?

grumbler

I am no expert, but AFAIK it's the permission that is no longer required after certain amount of time if something needed the permission, but was done without it.

This doesn't apply to the regulations.

For the loft it's, among other things, reinforced joists and, possibly, rafters. Also, insulation.

FreeBear

takay9 said: but not sure what else would be required?

Pre 1981, the insulation levels will be poor to non-existent. Bringing it up to an acceptable level is not going to particularly cheap - Plasterboard will need to be stripped off the walls & ceilings. Depending on the size of studwork, you may need to be creative in application to get enough insulation in to meet current building regs. Fortunately, this would be classed as a refurbishment, so the requirements are a little more relaxed than if it was a new conversion.

Doozergirl

There's no such thing as 'certification as a bedroom space'.  There's no reason why it cannot be classified as a bedroom.  

If it was built pre-1986 and you put a bed in it, then it is a bedroom.  Same with all the other bedrooms in your house.  There's no rule in existence that makes any of your rooms a bedroom.  It's estate agent talk.

Of course you can upgrade it and ask
building control to sign off certain elements of that.  It will make estate agents happier to call it a room, but it doesn't change the fact that it already is because of when it was built, not because of the quality of it. 

Nothing wrong with improving quality, however! 

takay9

This is really interesting! There is currently about 100mm of insulation lay flat but we will look to either increase this or insulate the pitched roof - as well as the other improvements I mentioned. It will be an office/guest bedroom but it’s just interesting the house has only been sold as a 3 bed with a loft room - perhaps just estate agents being cautious? 

DRP

When we purchased our previous house in 2013 we asked the vendors to regularise (obtain a sign off from building control) for the c.1990s loft conversion of the 1880s terraced house. They had to carry out the following:

·         Put a hand rail down the staircase leading from the loft

·         Move the spindles of the loft staircase closer together

·         Install 3 linked mains smoke alarms

·         Paint all doors (except the bathroom door) with white intumescent fire retardant paint (looks just like normal paint). This gives 30 minutes protection against fire (certificate given)

·         Add 8 roof vent tiles to the roof and fascia vents to improve the circulation.

In addition there was some invasive inspection which involved a few holes in the plasterboard and chipboard floor, but this was within the eaves storage areas.

The room had minimal insulation in the roof (impossible to go larger due to joist size and head height) and we subsequently added lots in the eaves, and updated the heating in the room.

it wasn’t snug compared to a modern loft conversion, but it was certainly inhabitable!

FreeBear

takay9 said: There is currently about 100mm of insulation lay flat but we will look to either increase this or insulate the pitched roof

Depends on the type of insulation. Some materials are better than others. e.g. Aerogel is about the best you can get, but darned expensive. PIR/PUR (Celotex being one brand) is very good. Polystyrene isn't as good as PIR/PUR, but marginally better than fibreglass. Fibreglass/rockwool is the default material for insulating lofts. You need twice as much to get the same level of performance as PIR/PUR, but it is cheap and easy to handle - In a flat loft space, it is ideal.

There are other insulating materials available (sheep wool, cork, wood fibre boards), each with their own attractions - Cork & sheep wool is popular with the eco-green crowd, but it is expensive and not quite as good as some of the other materials. Then there are a couple of products I would never recommend.. Multifoil space blanket types such as the YBS SuperQuilt. Outside the lab in real world applications, it doesn't come close to meeting the manufacturer's claims. Spray foam - Just don't. It will devalue your property and there is a growing number of mortgage providers refusing to lend if the stuff has been put in the loft.