Dormer loft conversion

We completed our dormer and hip to gable conversion in October last year. The space is for my wife's business as a hair dresser, plus we got a small spare room and an en suite. It's surprising how much space you get from the loft.

I've just taken some snaps, you'll have to excuse the mess, my wife has been working flat out and hasn't tidied up from last night.

Still lots of bits to paint.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/npzhkgev4KqTyMxeA

We have a massive chimney that runs through the middle, that is is boxed in with the cubbyholes above it.
 
eviled said:
@Russinating

any updates
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Hey, we've had a couple of builders round, one who we used before for a ground floor extension and another who's basically done every single loft extension on this and the adjacent streets (he's currently doing next door but one). We've viewed two completed ones on our road as well and I think our preference is to go for two bedrooms and a bathroom instead of one large bedroom and an en-suite.

We can actually go further out the back than we thought and so you can get a decent sized bathroom (one on our road we saw had roll top bath, wetroom shower etc), two double bedrooms and a decent hallway/stairway. Would make it a 5 bed then which goes some way to justifying the cost.

We were also told initially that we'd have to block up our open plan ground floor (no door in between stair way and kitchen currently), but turns out our neighbours have got a loft extension/open plan and satisfied building regs by having a mist sprinkler system installed. They said it cost £2-3k which I thought was pretty reasonable and there's just 2 outlets on the wall, one at the bottom of the stairs and one below the bannisters.

So yeah, just need to actually do it now really.
 
Why have you changed to 2 bedrooms instead of 1? Is it to primarily draw the necessary value from the works or for personal/living reasons?

We're about to design our loft extension and despite it being a decent size, we're leaning towards only having one large bedroom up there. Although I suppose that may be more to do with conservation area restrictions than anything else.
 
Russinating said:
Hey, we've had a couple of builders round, one who we used before for a ground floor extension and another who's basically done every single loft extension on this and the adjacent streets (he's currently doing next door but one). We've viewed two completed ones on our road as well and I think our preference is to go for two bedrooms and a bathroom instead of one large bedroom and an en-suite.

We can actually go further out the back than we thought and so you can get a decent sized bathroom (one on our road we saw had roll top bath, wetroom shower etc), two double bedrooms and a decent hallway/stairway. Would make it a 5 bed then which goes some way to justifying the cost.

We were also told initially that we'd have to block up our open plan ground floor (no door in between stair way and kitchen currently), but turns out our neighbours have got a loft extension/open plan and satisfied building regs by having a mist sprinkler system installed. They said it cost £2-3k which I thought was pretty reasonable and there's just 2 outlets on the wall, one at the bottom of the stairs and one below the bannisters.

So yeah, just need to actually do it now really.
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but would it actually sell as a 5 bedroom property?

See I was thinking of just having 1 large bedroom ensuite up there, but I doubt I would get away with 2 bedrooms in my loft, unless the estate agents suggest it's feasible to sell as a 5 bedroom then defo go ahead.
 
toshj said:
Why have you changed to 2 bedrooms instead of 1? Is it to primarily draw the necessary value from the works or for personal/living reasons?
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Bit of both but more the latter. Our current master bedroom is plenty big, approx. 4.5x3.5m with a bay window and we'll be putting fitted wardrobes in soon.

One bedroom upstairs would be huge and it doesn't feel like we would actually need a bedroom that large. Only advantage would be an en-suite but we'd have two bathrooms and the downstairs toilet if we go down the 2 bedroom route anyway.

Having seen the one on our road that's gone the 2 bed/1 bathroom route it was amazing, felt more like a whole other floor to the house rather than an extension. We'd then be happy to keep our master as-is and one room could be an office and both have beds for when the nieces/family stay etc.
 
Russinating said:
Bit of both but more the latter. Our current master bedroom is plenty big, approx. 4.5x3.5m with a bay window and we'll be putting fitted wardrobes in soon.

One bedroom upstairs would be huge and it doesn't feel like we would actually need a bedroom that large. Only advantage would be an en-suite but we'd have two bathrooms and the downstairs toilet if we go down the 2 bedroom route anyway.

Having seen the one on our road that's gone the 2 bed/1 bathroom route it was amazing, felt more like a whole other floor to the house rather than an extension. We'd then be happy to keep our master as-is and one room could be an office and both have beds for when the nieces/family stay etc.
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Nice, that makes sense. I sometimes find that where people have wedged in two small bedrooms with slanted ceilings/where the main wall reaches up to the apex of the loft, these can sometimes seem crammed and stifling. If you're going full dormer then that definitely gives you scope to open them up to full height throughout most of the rooms.

We're going to be lucky to get a small dormer window, let alone two. Most likely going to have to go down the velux route if our neighbours kick off...
 
One thing you haven't mentioned is why your doing a loft conversion in the first place. Would a 5th bedroom be used and is it needed?

I would echo the above really in that a house with large rooms is rarer and more desirable than one with more small rooms. Personally I find a large airy loft conversion much more appealing than corridor-ed off smaller rooms.

Good idea might be to design it in mind with very easily adding/removing a stud wall to vary the layout easily
 
toshj said:
Nice, that makes sense. I sometimes find that where people have wedged in two small bedrooms with slanted ceilings/where the main wall reaches up to the apex of the loft, these can sometimes seem crammed and stifling. If you're going full dormer then that definitely gives you scope to open them up to full height throughout most of the rooms.

We're going to be lucky to get a small dormer window, let alone two. Most likely going to have to go down the velux route if our neighbours kick off...
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Yeah, so one of their bedrooms was full width of the alcove end with two veluxes. Decent size, double bed with plenty of room either side etc. The other bedroom was then full height with a floor to ceiling window looking out back, then the bathroom was full height with a window looking out back. Could swap the bedroom and bathroom I suppose, either way.
 
psd99 said:
idk your exact details but if one of those bedrooms are like 1m x 2m then that might be difficult.

but it sounds like u got a lot of space up there.
guess a good estate agent will know the answer to that question.
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Yeah it's not, both just normal size doubles with room to walk around the bed and full size wardrobe etc. About the same size as our current second bedroom.
 
I cant picture how you are fitting 2 bedrooms into a usable floor space of ~3.5*~3.7m, the single bedroom layout in the 3d images above looked like a double bedroom plus a little toilet. By splitting that room in two, with the necessary little hallway to access the 2nd room, how are the rooms any bigger than approx 2*3m each?

Not meant to be read as an obtuse comment, i am just interested in peoples' renovations and cant picture how that works in that space :)
 
Russinating said:
Yeah it's not, both just normal size doubles with room to walk around the bed and full size wardrobe etc. About the same size as our current second bedroom.
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what size would each bedroom be then?

I think I could get approx 3.5 x 4m up there so one massive room + ensuite would be more appealing than two smaller ones.
 
Jez said:
I cant picture how you are fitting 2 bedrooms into a usable floor space of ~3.5*~3.7m, the single bedroom layout in the 3d images above looked like a double bedroom plus a little toilet. By splitting that room in two, with the necessary little hallway to access the 2nd room, how are the rooms any bigger than approx 2*3m each?

Not meant to be read as an obtuse comment, i am just interested in peoples' renovations and cant picture how that works in that space :)
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psd99 said:
what size would each bedroom be then?

I think I could get approx 3.5 x 4m up there so one massive room + ensuite would be more appealing than two smaller ones.
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My original 3D model only went out above bedroom 1 and 2, but it turns out we can also go out above the bathroom and bedroom 3 which are at the rear of the house. I've asked for the plans for the property down the road so I'll just post them if I get them.

Don't know where you've got ~3.5*~3.7m from though? My original drawing is ~4x5.5m.
 
Ahh, i was discounting the slope end really, i see that it is actually reasonably high even only approx 0.5m before the eave wall. The x dimension i was taking the measurement less the stair :)

What you say about going out over extra rooms makes sense, i couldnt see how it worked against the 3d drawing.
 
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