Loft conversions

Cosmic182

Cosmic182

Cosmic182

Soldato
Joined
25 Jul 2006
Posts
3,105
Good Morning all,

Just trying to gain a bit of information from people who have added loft conversions on their homes.

We have a 2 bedroom bungalow which has a monstrous loft space which is in need of converting in to a third bedroom and en-suite. I’m at a loss of where to start really hence the thread. I think my main point of contact would be to fill a council householder enquiry form and see wether planning would be needed for anything and for the building regs needed for a loft conversion…

My one main question for you all is what do I need to do to get started? How do I find out the required information regarding floor steels? Etc. Do I need a structural engineer and express to them what our intentions are as well as the council householder enquiry form?

Thanks for your time, any information would be great.
 
This will probably get moved to Homes and Gardens or whatever the sub section is called, but from my own experience this bungalow had a loft conversion done by the owner himself, without planning permission and the seller then had to get retrospective when it was raised by my solicitor on doing the searches. It would not pass current planning requirements for a couple of reasons. You can wing it, but when you flog the place it will almost certainly come to light that there's no planning consent.

I think, for it to be Kosher, you will need professionally drawn up plans passed with structural engineering figures to show it won't collapse or be a fire hazard.

The efficiency of loft conversions and their cost effectiveness usually depends on current roof support structure impediments to your usable and unobstructed floor space, floor to roof height over a decent floor area (probably governed by existing main roof pitch), the ability to get to daylight and the capability of what are now ceiling joists to become suitable floor joists without impractical reinforcements. Then there's access via planning an acceptable staircase without compromising lower and upper floor area too much for you to consider...
 
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I've had one done and I'd say it was a good investment. Planning is not required unless you are adding significant Dormer windows to the conversion. We didn't do that and only have a couple of Velux windows for light. We used a firm call Econoloft who drew up the plans and did all the structural engineering required. We ended up with two pretty chunky steels to support the conversion. The only drama we had was squeezing the staircase into the space we had available without cutting into another room but in the end that was ok. Ours was done about 12 years ago and cost about £25k and gave us effectively an extra bedroom but it actually now used as an office and man cave. We've also still got space for storage in the eaves and a pretty chunky cold water tank. We could have done more but it wasn't required at the time.
 
Most loft conversions won't need planning permission unless you're adding significant height/change to the building. It's building regs you need to be more worried about. This looks helpful; https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/lof...ulations-and-planning-permission-aYaeU0I5DW7O

We finished a loft conversion on our terrace house last year (currently doing downstairs renovations :o ). As far as figuring out how to go to, you can basically either find yourself an architect first, or a builder first. Most builders will likely have an architect that they work with. We did plenty of research on local builders, and ended up with 4 different quotes which varied a lot (they will, especially in the current economic climate!). In the end we didn't go with the cheapest, nor the most expensive. It was really down to gut feeling and fingers crossed so far it's worked out well. I'd ask around locally, take comments on local FB groups with a pinch of salt (local tradesmen will always recommend themselves etc.!) and find out who is part of the FMB and other such groups. We actually found most of our builders from seeing their signs outside some of the bigger/nicer houses on the local area that were having work done :)

One thing we learnt quickly was that so much is decided by where you can put the stairs up. You can only make them so steep etc. so in a small space it can really dictate the layout of your loft room. In short, find yourself some builders, get them round to quote and chat through it with you. And go from there.
 
Take a look around your street if any other houses have a loft conversion. If you find some go to the council planning site and look up their submissions you should get a good idea from that what would be possible for your house.

We used a specialist loft company to do ours so they had a local architect draw up the plans and submit them. They also had a structural engineer confirm some of the loadings would be within tolerance and they also project managed the whole build. This was to add on two beds and a bathroom to a Victorian semi
 
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Get a local small architect or building surveying firm to take a look, come out and give you advice.

They should be able to give you a likely cost, any concerns etc, bit two main ones are stair location and head height in the loft (post conversion).

They will also be able to recommend builders to price, can get a structural engineer to do the calcs and sort your Building Regs (defo needed) and planning if needed. If you're just adding VELUX / roof lights and not altering the roof line possibly not needed but will be if you are or are adding dormers.

we had ours done 3 years or so ago to add stairs, two bedrooms and a bathroom.
 
57k on a large 1930s semi.
That was everything including new roof, velux windows and a dormer.

Decent size double bedrooms and a good sized shower room.

I’ve paid extra to have the whole floor space boarded properly - meaning extra storage space in the eaves and the panels are on knock down fixings - meaning they just pop off.

They figure included building regs / structural calcs and architect fee.

Only need carpets - which will have to wait a month or so as we’re doing the first floor at the same time.
 
We're about 80% through our loft conversion at present. Started end of November but the cold snap in December and the Christmas period set us back by about a month. Should be finished by mid-April.

We're mid-terrace in a conservation area, so the planning took ages, as did the party wall agreements. They added tremendously to the overall cost.

Doing this kind of work in an inflationary setting, with building material prices at massive highs, had meant this project costing an eye-watering amount.

I'd be surprised if we added the relative value to the property once we're finished - given tax, etc. - but we needed a fourth bedroom.

Can't wait for it to be finished!
 
1950's semi. Had the loft, stairs, 2 beds and bathroom in the loft.

Three large dormers as pic below

Split the large downstairs bathroom into a shower room and new utility room and split the largest downstairs room into the master bedroom and ensuite

IMG20230305101506-01.jpg
 
Ours finished just before Christmas, only just finished decorating. Large dormer on a 1960's semi bedroom and ensuite

Had to wait a year from booking, the company that does it has done loads where I live

Don't need planning permission if it's under a certain volume, building regs requires all internal doors be changed to fire doors and this gets expensive but it depends on local authority I think the rules vary area to area
 
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As above I'd you are changing the roofline / dormers (or depending what area you are in) you will require planning

Not all doors need to be fire doors, depends on the situation / layout etc.

The only fire door we needed was from the existing kitchen onto the main hall where the new staircase went in
 
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