What tosh
Loft conversion vs Extension
- Thread starter psd99
- Start date
What tosh
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
That's how it is for the majority.
I've seen both a proper loft conversion and in the family home where there was a proper staircase put into a old Victorian house and then 4 rooms made with a hallway and skylights and proper windows, etc.
However I've also seen people who regularly opt for them because it's the cheap option. No staircase. Only the middle part of the room you can stand up in. It's tiny and your using a pull down ladders.
The latter is what I'm referring to and that's what you see the majority of the time.
The former is reserved for large 4+ bedroom houses which have enough space to accommodate the staircase and also therefore have the roof space to accommodate a proper loft conversion.
In ops case he is looking for the cheap option and I'm guessing he therefore falls into the latter category.
Personally I'd just move home than do either. Spend the money on a bigger home to begin with. Unless you had lots of land to build an extension on which wouldn't restrict your garden, etc.
You are not "usually always better off" - what a ridiculous sweeping generalisation. Have you personally assessed the majority of houses?
What are the results of your national assessment of the nation's housing stock ? Please share the results as I'm sure they would be of huge interest to the sector and industry.
Each individual situation needs to be looked at in terms of geographic location, property type (terrace, semi, detached, number of existing stories), construction type, incoming service locations, access for logistics and buildability, physical restrictions, boundary walls, trees with TPOs or which will impact any works, restrictive covenants or conditions by the area or local / national planning departments. Is the site level, on a slope? What are the ground conditions like? What depth would foundations be? Would you need mini piles ?
You simply cannot make that judgement call without that level of consideration
As for the use of space, again, it is dependant on so many factors - what if you have a 20ft wide hallway a staircase can go into and actually enhance the space rather than reduce it or make it less usable?
The roof construction may be of such that the height of the eaves / pitch of the roof gives you more than adequate space and headroom. There's then dormers and other solutions to give you additional space.
Again, in your second post, how many have you seen in each category you define ? One ? Five? Ten? It must be millions as you have claimed it is a "majority", you really do spout some utter ******** .
Last edited:
so first couple of quotes coming in have surprised me..... for a loft conversion hip to gable.
first quote is 49K and that doesn't include the bathroom parts, windows, doors or radiators. - these people did a job for me in the past they were excellent but that just feels too high for my liking
second quote was 45k but didn't feel comfortable with the builders attitude.
so far the quotes have been between 40-50k to get this done in the south east. seems Steep but when I actually read all of the parts I can see how it is this expensive.
first quote is 49K and that doesn't include the bathroom parts, windows, doors or radiators. - these people did a job for me in the past they were excellent but that just feels too high for my liking
second quote was 45k but didn't feel comfortable with the builders attitude.
so far the quotes have been between 40-50k to get this done in the south east. seems Steep but when I actually read all of the parts I can see how it is this expensive.
Put the contractors in touch with PS they obviously haven't read his in depth nationwide study
They're obvs wrong
? don't understand
do u think? someone here said 34K in manchester
so nearly 16k extra for the south east area. I think by the time all other items are included im looking at an extra 3-5K on top of say 49k
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2013
- Posts
- 9,453
Is the main increase just because the builder has higher living costs, I cant see materials or wages being that much higher. Might be worth seeing if a builder would travel if it's that much cheaper.
Well it's the context and content (as well as region and demand)
I'm in Cheshire and ours about 18 months ago cost £85k but that was 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, three large dormers, drainage alterations as well as creating a new ensuite and splitting an existing large bathroom into separate shower room and utility. There's was steelwork, gallows bracket needed in the roof, a chimney breast taking down, blocking up am existing door, new back door, moving a boiler and a lot of alterations to the electrics and plumbing. The new staircase was also in oak. We also had 20 odd solar panels disconnected / removed along with the inverter and all electrics
We bought all the bathroom suites and tiles on top of that but that included all second fix, radiators, doors (throughout)
Strip that back with all the "extras" and I don't think you're a million miles away ?
E: as above north west / south east differentials the materials shouldn't be much higher but would assume the trades / labour would be more and likely the overhead / profit and prelims higher too
Also just to say we are looking at the next extension at the moment and getting a builder even to come and look is proving difficult as they are so busy
I'm in Cheshire and ours about 18 months ago cost £85k but that was 2 bedrooms and a bathroom, three large dormers, drainage alterations as well as creating a new ensuite and splitting an existing large bathroom into separate shower room and utility. There's was steelwork, gallows bracket needed in the roof, a chimney breast taking down, blocking up am existing door, new back door, moving a boiler and a lot of alterations to the electrics and plumbing. The new staircase was also in oak. We also had 20 odd solar panels disconnected / removed along with the inverter and all electrics
We bought all the bathroom suites and tiles on top of that but that included all second fix, radiators, doors (throughout)
Strip that back with all the "extras" and I don't think you're a million miles away ?
E: as above north west / south east differentials the materials shouldn't be much higher but would assume the trades / labour would be more and likely the overhead / profit and prelims higher too
Also just to say we are looking at the next extension at the moment and getting a builder even to come and look is proving difficult as they are so busy
perhaps the labour down here is more expensive? as I can't see why the materials would cost more here than the NW. not sure a builder would want to come down here to do the job where would they live etc.
one of the builders said that Brexit has spiked some product prices do u think it is possible?
It appears I was being overly optimistic to suggest between 30 and 40k previously for this job.
one of the builders said that Brexit has spiked some product prices do u think it is possible?
It appears I was being overly optimistic to suggest between 30 and 40k previously for this job.
We are seeing a number of material costs start to rise (which may therefore boost UK production at some point) including steel and some prefabricated / modular products from the continent.
I think you're biggest factor will be labour and demand
I think you're biggest factor will be labour and demand
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Mar 2013
- Posts
- 9,453
I think covid is the biggest factor, when ours was finished off last year, the builder had to drive an hour to get some plaster as people were being scalpers and charging 20 quid a bag (normally around a fiver), you could be absorbing some of that cost.
Associate
- Joined
- 25 Aug 2008
- Posts
- 947
Rather than deciding between either just between the implementation cost, how about looking at it from the point of view, which would add more value/space to your existing home?
Soldato
- Joined
- 22 Feb 2014
- Posts
- 2,938
I hear this a lot and having only my own experience to go on I have to say this has to be down to poor insulation.
I "converted" my loft, it is accessible by pulldown ladder, I used 150mm Kingspan equivalent, there are no radiators in here, it is my office so i have a NAS and a computer running and the boiler is in a cupboard in here, but its pretty much always warm, have the velux window cracked open right now in fact.
Summer it was pretty hot but I think that's because the heat from the rest of the house rises up as well as the NAS running constantly chucking a bit of heat in the room.
Ditto, the whole roof of my house is converted to rooms, we have 3 bedrooms and a bathroom in the roof spaces including our master. All of them are normal condition and do not require much if any additional heat as the heat from the rest of the house rises to them, with it having nowhere to go due to the excessive regs for warm roof insulation. It IS true that they can be warm in summer, but being high up you can usually ventilate them quite well if you open the windows.
The three rooms we have formed in the roof have full height tilt and turn windows in the dormers
Not a great picture but you should get the idea
The rooms have all (due to the insulation levels) been toasty and having windows that size open in the summer really help with airflow and cooling the rooms / house down
Not a great picture but you should get the idea
The rooms have all (due to the insulation levels) been toasty and having windows that size open in the summer really help with airflow and cooling the rooms / house down