Loft conversion
- Thread starter mani
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Madhatter said:
i should imagine it'll be used for walking on
thats where you're wrong madhatter, unless you are putting in a dormer it is only building regs that you need,. I have recently just had my loft converted, with full new staircase, full new floor and skylight and it is now a bedroom. It was done completely above board with HBC and in fact the building inspector there was great!
well according to that site you can even have a dormer if its not facing the public highway.
I must be thinking of building regs on the staircase and habitable room thing. which would make sense, you have to have a stair case not a ladder.
It says you may need pp if its a conservation area(your rights may be removed) or a listed building.
All irrelevant of course cos you still need building regs n it's got to be done all propa like, not bodgit n scarper
I must be thinking of building regs on the staircase and habitable room thing. which would make sense, you have to have a stair case not a ladder.
It says you may need pp if its a conservation area(your rights may be removed) or a listed building.
All irrelevant of course cos you still need building regs n it's got to be done all propa like, not bodgit n scarper
well as long as any maintainence doesnt affect the outside visability of the building nor affect the structural integrity u can do as u please - hence we dont need to get permission to refit a whole room etc *though with some people's tastes...*
if the outside look is affected then u need plannin permission
if the structural integrity is affected u need the building regs
i guess the fact if ur having a skylight or a dormer affects who u need.
harwood - if u dont mind who did u have it done off? how much did it approx cost?
if the outside look is affected then u need plannin permission
if the structural integrity is affected u need the building regs
i guess the fact if ur having a skylight or a dormer affects who u need.
harwood - if u dont mind who did u have it done off? how much did it approx cost?
You may need to re-inforce the floor because it's only a ceiling at the moment. By that I mean that the ceiling of your downstairs rooms which is also the floor of your bedrooms will have stronger beams in it because it was designed to be a floor and to support furniture but the beams in your upstairs ceilings were not designed to be a floor and may not be strong enough to support furniture despite the fact that people put all sorts of heavy stuff in the lofts.
We had ours done donkeys years ago and the builders who did it knew how much weight a floor needed to be able to support etc. I'm not sure they realised that it would have teenagers dancing about up there or prior to that younger children leaping off bunk beds but even so the ceiling hasn't come down on us yet! Your builder will know what permission you need and what regulations you must comply with too.
We had ours done donkeys years ago and the builders who did it knew how much weight a floor needed to be able to support etc. I'm not sure they realised that it would have teenagers dancing about up there or prior to that younger children leaping off bunk beds but even so the ceiling hasn't come down on us yet! Your builder will know what permission you need and what regulations you must comply with too.
When we had our new 'upstairs' put on the bungalow we had to pay for an engineer to calculate the strength of the RSJs that would be needed to hold the floor etc in place. Effectively our new floor is suspended from three RSJs, one in the apex of the property, two just above the 'new floor level'. Our work was done by Stephen Astin and he did a superb job but unfortunately he died of a heart attack a few years ago. He did play merry hell about the size of two of the RSJs, he reckoned that the top one needed to be larger than the two bottom ones and that the engineer just calclated the top one and said all three to be the same. Still better to be over engineered than under 
As for costs, as ours wasn't just a loft conversion it won't give you much of an idea one thing to remember is that it does cost a lot more than just the builders quote though when you add in carpets, curtains, poles, paint, trimmings, furniture etc.
As for costs, as ours wasn't just a loft conversion it won't give you much of an idea one thing to remember is that it does cost a lot more than just the builders quote though when you add in carpets, curtains, poles, paint, trimmings, furniture etc.
Will dig out the number for you Mani, he was called Andy and his trade is joinery. I had a lot more done to the house than just the loft, in fact the whole house was remodelled. So price wise it's hard to say how much just the loft cost. But now deep breath everyone. The final amount I paid was a few hundred quid under his original quote!!!!! And even better he's a regular stanley fan!! He is very busy so you would probably need to book him quite a few months in advance. Don't forget for building regs you will need proper plans drawn up too
Madhatter said:
the beauty of all the work I had done, is I organised for the plans to be drawn up, contacted andy and he organised all the other trades to do the jobs that needed doing
wow... i think i'm gettin a bargain!
i've got a guy who's doin it for 10 and its a huge loft too and i've seen the standard of work he does it to aswell and its top notch all done to plannin permission requirements
our ceilings are gonna b lowered too by the same amount thankfully we have the house next door so its not too far - though i cant b arsed moving all the stuff aswell...
then later on in dec time we're having the cellars converted over too
i've got a guy who's doin it for 10 and its a huge loft too and i've seen the standard of work he does it to aswell and its top notch all done to plannin permission requirements
our ceilings are gonna b lowered too by the same amount thankfully we have the house next door so its not too far - though i cant b arsed moving all the stuff aswell...
then later on in dec time we're having the cellars converted over too