Loft Extension Minimum Height?

kenzie123

Hello

We are in the process of getting a loft extension and had our initial drawings back from the architect. They've shown that the only way to get a 2m height for a new loft bedroom is to lower the ceiling on the first floor, or potentially raise the roof ridge height which then becomes a high risk planning application.

We definitely don't want to lower the ceiling height in our current rooms, this defeats the object of renovating, when we are wanting to create more space. Although the lowering of the ceiling only takes away 100mm, we still don't want to.

Is a 1.9m height of a new loft very low on average?

We think 2m is also quite low for all of the work it will take?

If you've had a loft extension please let us know how high it is and whether it feels workable for a bedroom.

Are there any workable solutions to making more height under Permitted Development e.g using less insulation?

Thank you 

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6681466/loft-extension-minimum-height

Either follow one of the legal routes to get a worthwhile loft extension, or else save the money towards moving house.

Bodging a loft extension - and especially if it means avoiding building control approval - risks devaluing your home. Potential buyers are likely to knock an amount off what they are willing to pay for a property if it has problems, and your pool of buyers could be smaller if mortgage companies are unwilling to lend.

In particular, reducing the amount of insulation to get more headroom is a really bad idea. A common complaint about loft extensions/conversions is they get too hot in the summer, and too cold in the winter. Having adequate insulation is important to keep the heat in, and often more importantly, keeping heat out.

You will probably get people telling you that 1.5m or something is more than enough for a bedroom… but they are unlikely to be the next buyer of your property, and it is them you need to think about.

kenzie123

Thanks, to confirm we are definitely not looking to bodge anything, more that we want legal, creative solutions on finding more space.

Insulation was an example but sounds like this won't work, thank you.

What height meterage would you consider workable for a loft bedroom? We think 1.9m is too small but not sure what the UK average is, Google provides differing answers, as do some of the builders we've spoken to.

From what we can see, our designer can provide 2m loft extension height by lowering the first floor ceiling.

Grumpy_chap

AIUI, minimum height is 2m to comply with building regulations.

FWIW, it might not be worth doing the project. Our loft conversion is minimum height and it is awful - we are only short as well.

It is not just the ceiling height, but the even lower where the support beam is.

If I knew beforehand how low the minimum height would be in practice, I would not have done the loft conversion

Baldytyke88

I had a quote for a loft conversion, and they also wanted to lower the ceiling if I wanted it to be compliant as a living space. They quoted £25k for livable or £5k non-compliant; this was 5/6 years ago. I didn't have a pressing need for more space, so I did not proceed.

stuart45

There's no specific ceiling height in the regs, just a recommended one.

You could get a bit more space using Posi joists. Another option is a steel under the joists.

Albermarle

Luckily we had a reasonably big roof space to work with.

Ours is 2.3 M in the middle part, and in the dormer part so about 50% of the roof area. I am 1.8M and I can stand up fully in about 75% of the room and dormer.

Although a good loft extension is often a good addition to a house, you have to think about cost vs space created if you are in a tighter space. I think this previous comment offers an alternative worth thinking about.

save the money towards moving house

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82119702#Comment_82119702

Agreed, although Part K gives a minimum headroom of 2m over stairs - which is a safety (means of escape) issue so BCO's might dig their heels in. There's a relaxation for loft conversions which allows a minimum of 1.9m measured above the middle of the width of the stair, and 1.8m minimum on the lowest side.

Although this applies to headroom over the stairs only, in practice in most cases it would likely impose a minimum of 1.9m for the room as a whole, unless the ceiling height is locally raised above the top of the stairs.

rach_k

The ceiling height in our loft rooms is 215cm and that is as low as I would want to go. Anything lower and I would feel that they were only suitable as children's bedrooms, or for storage/offices.

Our first floor rooms have a ceiling height of about 260cm so you do feel the difference, but once you've been up there a minute it feels fine. For selling the house, I actually think in our area lower ceilings would have been ok because we're in an area full of families wanting extra bedrooms but not able to buy much bigger houses. The loft is nicely done so I think they'd accept the compromise. You would have to figure out what people want/need in your area, if selling in the future is a concern.

Lowering the ceilings for only 10cm does seem like a lot. I saw all the gunk that fell out when they cut through for our loft stairs! I would be very reluctant to do all that for such a small gain, but I also wouldn't be happy with 190cm ceilings. I'm not sure of any other options though.

Bigphil1474

The house we bought 2 years ago has the loft converted but as the ceiling is gable shaped and only 1.8m in the middle, is only really usable for storage. We did look at getting a dorma in and making it a bed room, but our roofer said it would be pretty much impossible. Pretty sure he said that it needed to be at least 2.2m for a loft conversion, and I'm also pretty sure I checked that was correct at the time. Might be a planning requirement.

stuart45

The 2.2m is a guideline measurement from top of joist to the ridge before conversion is to allow for flooring and insulation. The old regs of a 7ft 6inches minimum ceiling height were relaxed sometime after the 70's. As Section62 said the only reg is the staircase height, which obviously affects the ceiling height.