Loft Conversions

[CAMRAMan]

It must be a loft day today!

The imminent move back to Blighty - or at least the house purchase - is progressing. I'll view some places next week when in the West Midlands & Warwickshire.

One place is very tempting, seeing as it falls within the catchment area of a very good school. It does lack one bedroom however. Having said that, it does have a nice high roof & at the price - with a bit of cash payment power - there could be enough to do a loft conversion.

What is the process for loft conversions? I assume no planning permission is involved - or is it?

Aside from the Velux window fitting, it doesn't seem that complicated, though an en-suite would be nice. What work is involved generally?

Are there any other points to consider? Is there a pound/square metre price guideline?

Any downsides?

TIA

[PaulF]

Planning permission is needed, at least here in London town. But that may depend on local regulations.

I think that it's a bit more complex than shoving in a Velux, to get in a staircase you'll need to cut a joist so I think an architect or at least a structural engineer should be involved. That may also involve moving an internal wall depending on teh layout of your first floor.

Ours also had the back of the house built up so we have normal eaves at the front and a flat roof with full height at the back if that makes sense.

Fire regs also require that there is a fire exit - we have 2 Veluxes, one at head height and the other at floor level.

Depending where your drain is that may dictate the position of the en-suite.

It's probably best to get in an architect or specialist converter, they may have some interesting ways of using the space. Failing that look at other examples to see what ideas you can steal.

As to cost when we were buying we reckoned #(lost my pound sign)30-40k again in London.

[little miss mac]

We have a loft conversion, and though it was already done when we bought the house, I can answer a couple of points:

-- yes, you do need planning permission - well ours did, anyway
-- it may affect the house's council tax band, but not until you sell the house - so it would be the next family who takes the hit (that's what happened to us!)
-- if you can build out the back of the roofspace, rather than keeping the original roofspace, you will get much more room, and should therefore get some storage space too. I've explained it badly but maybe someone else knows the terminology. I'll take a pic of our place if you want.  [edit - what PaulF said]
-- definitely get an ensuite.
-- other points: it will get boiling hot in the summer. Make sure you have enough ventilation!
-- and get built-in wardrobes/storage space if you can.

HTH

[PaulF]

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[CAMRAMan]

Thanks for the answerws so far.

Sort of found out about the planning permission bit: (http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/planningguidehouseholders.pdf)

Limits for roof extensions, loft conversions and dormer windows You do not normally need to apply for planning
permission to re-roof your house (see Section G) or to insert roof lights or skylights.
However, there are some special rules which govern extensions to the roof. You will need to apply for planning permission if you live in a Conservation Area, a National Park, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or the Broads and you want to build an extension to the roof of your house or any kind of addition which would materially alter the shape of the roof.
Outside those areas, you need to apply for planning
permission if any of the following is true:
• the work would make some part of the house
higher than the highest part of the existing roof.
• the dormer or other addition you want to build
would extend beyond the plane of any existing
roof slope facing a highway.
• a roof extension would add more than 40 cubic
metres to the volume of a terraced house or more
than 50 cubic metres to any other kind of house.
Note: additional volume created by any extension
– and that includes roof extensions – will count
against the total volume limit for your house. So
you will also need to apply for planning permission
before building a roof extension if:
• for a terrace house, the volume of the “original
house” would be increased by more than 10% or
50 cubic metres (whichever is the greater);
• for any other kind of house, the volume of the
“original house” would be increased by more
than 15% or 70 cubic metres (whichever is the
greater);
• the volume of the “original house” would be
increased by more than 115 cubic metres.

[urban_biker]

You will only need planning permission if you are adding dormers as part of the conversion. Addition of Velux windows does not need planing permission. You will however have to comply to the relevant building regs.

My understanding is that you only need to comply to full building regs if you are using the loft as an additional room. For example if you are just boarding out and insulating a loft - like Kathy's situation - then so long as you only have a loft ladder access and have not fitted full stairs you can get away with it as it is a temporary space and not part of the house per se.

Otherwise it counts as a full loft-conversion and you need to add RSJ's to strengthen the floor etc. You also need to plan for fire escapes.

As to costs - sorry, I have no idea.

Work required for full conversion - at a guess.

1) strengthen floors - add RSJs (steel beams used to support proper floor joists)

2) Move any water tanks that might be in the way. Re-plumb etc

3) Any electrical wiring required - lights and sockets plus any plumbing for ensuite?

4) Board out roof space

5) Insulate roof and plasterboard

6) Woodwork like doorframes, skirting etc.

oh yes and you need to add the Velux windows at some point and build in some stairs. Its there a room or landing below that has space to put in a full staircase without ruining it? If not then a loft conversion may not be a good option.

[Greenbank]

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[mike]

Is there a pound/square metre price guideline?

We were told to use a thousand pounds per square meter when we budgeted for our place, it cost slightly less but was a good guide.

[Woofage]

Use a Structural Engineer. Don't bother with a narchitect unless you are unsure of layout etc and need advice. Building Control will want to see calcs anyway.

The figure Mike gave of £1km^-2 is about right for most building work. Larger projects can work out a bit less, as can DIY. Projects such as ours where we have added 74m² of upper floor space ended up a lot less than £1km^-2, thankfully .

Bear in mind that BC will probably want a U value of 0.2 max for your roof insulation. In practice this means at least 150mm of Celotex so you will almost certainly have to add battening to your rafters to provide this space plus 25mm of air gap behind the insulation.

My advice: talk to BC first. They can't actually advise you, but they are full of very useful information, especially tricky stuff like fire regs. Also check with planning; you may or may not need Planning Permission (defo if in a conservation area) but it's best to make sure!

In case you were wondering, we turned this:



into this:

[CAMRAMan]

Thank you all for the helpful replies.

It's still an option, but more intricate than bunging down a few planks, sticking in a couple of Veluxes and adding a ladder 

[TimO]

My brother did something like you Woofage, although he added a double garage at the side as well, and extended to roof over that, it must have more than doubled the size of the house!  This did involve him underpinning the entire house, and took him over two years in total!  (I think he did the underpinning about 6 foot at a time, with the building inspector checking each bit!)

Personally I'll stick to doing the occasional bit of painting and wallpapering!

[Glosbiker]

I know that the Fire Regs for loft conversions have recently been substantially beefed up so talk to your local Building Regs officer before doing anything.

Structural engineer strongly seconded - I've seen too many disastrous loft conversions in my time.