Anyone done a loft conversion?

viz

GuyR said:

viz said:

You don’t need planning permission for dormers that aren’t at the front or against public highway (ie back garden is ok), and less than 50 cubic metres, don’t protrude out from original roof plan, don’t encroach more than 0.12) metres from eaves, and the window sills more than a certain height from the internal floor. 

You did where I live, if you had already used your permitted development allowance,10 years ago. 

It it may well be the rules have changed.

Ah ok fair enough

boogieman

Jalapeno said:

Had one done a few houses back, it was good.  Don't plan on making money from it, you'll get it back though.

Just make sure you put in more support than the ceiling rafters for the rooms below !

As much insulation as can be squeezed in.

Dormers if you can to maximise usable space.

If you can extend above existing stairs rather than circular - do it !

Not sure wha the planning/building is like these days - we had to fit a 30 min fire door to the loft, and auo-closers to all other doors to avoid the "chimney" effect.  Once inspected we disconnected all the closers    I think they're more relaxed these days.

Looked at having one done at current Jalapeno Towers when we bought it, but it would have take £50k's worth of steel beams alone, so we parked that.

The regs are even tighter now if anything. You certainly won’t get away with not reinforcing or replacing the ceiling joists, any building control guy would absolutely insist on proper support. You might even need to put in steels on the side walls to suspend the joists off. Fire doors with closers are compulsory but you’ll also have to put in linked, mains powered fire alarms on every floor. You’d also have to install a fire escape route from the loft space, something like wide opening windows in the dormer or a Velux that goes to floor level. As someone has suggested it’s well worth checking with local planning to see what their minimum requirements are. 

strtdv

Didn't explain that well enough, our extension isn't being done under permitted development, so we're getting full planning permission for that.

I'll look into whether I'm allowed dormer windows on the rear, if I am then that would be the obvious place for a fire escape window.
Adding a linked fire alarm shouldn't be difficult as there'll be one in one of the ceilings below (the house is getting a full rewire along with the extension so will all be up to standard, will also be putting cat 5 in)

Rob1742

For those that have had loft conversions, where do you now hide all your old porn? 

Jalapeno

WiresDreamDisasters said:

I've been looking at a company called Eco Truss:
https://ecotrus.com/

They fit these premade kits, and their prices seem pretty great. Does anyone know anything about this approach?? They seem respectable.

They look ruddy marvellous !

Danny1969

Get the builder to think about the noise deduction of the insulation as well as the thermals. We lived in a large converted loft space above a physiotherapy centre years ago. It had been done to a very high standard but they had used lightweight insulation,  which meant every time it rained the noise was terrible, you literally couldn't hear the TV. The glass units in the Velux windows were too thin with too shallow a cavity too, which again meant more noise and they hadn't treated them for reflected heat in. I remember there was one summer where it just constantly rained to the point sink holes were opening up and living in that space became unbearable due to the noise of the rain. 

This is  a rubbish picture but when I did this conversion in the roof of 2020 I used 50mm Rockwool and 2 x layers of 12mm plasterboard and installed a large double glazed window using a unit made of the thickest glass and widest cavity the unit manufacturer offered.  Then before it was installed we coated it with a layer of film which stops the radiated heat coming through. 



You can only see the lounge dinning area in this pic but around the corner is a kitchen and further around was my workshop. In the workshop area I never went to the same lengths and really regretted it later. In summer it became unbearably hot and when it rained it was noisy as hell. 

In regards to builders, you can do your homework but nobody really knows how the jobs gonna go until they are stuck into it. There's a lot that can go wrong and if it does insurers will use every trick in the book to avoid a payout 

NorthernStomps

Rob1742 said:

For those that have had loft conversions, where do you now hide all your old porn? 

Near the train tracks, like usual 

Tone71

I'm in the process of getting quotes, Hip to gable with rear dormer, think it will be 50k which is very painful but cheaper than moving.

MikeC

we did one 20 years ago here, and it was great but

- get lots of quotes
- don't skimp on things (we regret the shoddy shower stuff we chose) - and you may need good pumps etc to get the water pressure
- accept that it gets cold in winter / hot in summer
- we focused on how the back dormer would look from the garden, should have ignored that, and gone for size not looks
- if the builders rush and say they can't get the right size velux on the day, tell them to bloody wait!

chillidoggy

Danny1969 said:

Get the builder to think about the noise deduction of the insulation as well as the thermals. We lived in a large converted loft space above a physiotherapy centre years ago. It had been done to a very high standard but they had used lightweight insulation,  which meant every time it rained the noise was terrible, you literally couldn't hear the TV. The glass units in the Velux windows were too thin with too shallow a cavity too, which again meant more noise and they hadn't treated them for reflected heat in. I remember there was one summer where it just constantly rained to the point sink holes were opening up and living in that space became unbearable due to the noise of the rain. 

This is  a rubbish picture but when I did this conversion in the roof of 2020 I used 50mm Rockwool and 2 x layers of 12mm plasterboard and installed a large double glazed window using a unit made of the thickest glass and widest cavity the unit manufacturer offered.  Then before it was installed we coated it with a layer of film which stops the radiated heat coming through. 



You can only see the lounge dinning area in this pic but around the corner is a kitchen and further around was my workshop. In the workshop area I never went to the same lengths and really regretted it later. In summer it became unbearably hot and when it rained it was noisy as hell. 

In regards to builders, you can do your homework but nobody really knows how the jobs gonna go until they are stuck into it. There's a lot that can go wrong and if it does insurers will use every trick in the book to avoid a payout 

Absolutely agree with you about the insulation, it's a must.

Also, I got shafted by the builder with stuff like door furniture, he used cheap shit, and I ended up changing it all. If you've got a bathroom or kitchen, the same applies - taps, sink tops, etc. Get it sorted and agreed beforehand, or you'll get the 'Trade' range.

strtdv

Thankfully for the extension and renovation work I'll be supplying the tiles/sanitaryware and we'll use the same kitchen supplier and fitter we used previously who did a very good job which we were happy with.

I've budgeted £35k for the kitchen, bathroom, ensuite and tiling which should get a pretty good spec. 

Full rewire and total replacement of the plumbing including changing to a gas system boiler and getting the necessary pressurised cylinder fitted should cost about £20-25k and the house is getting replastered anyway

boogieman

We had our existing c/h modified. I’d not long put it all in (I used to have a Corgi ticket through work, so it was all kosher) so I didn’t see the point of ripping it out so soon. The plumber just modified the pipework and added a pressure vessel for the loft rads and hot water. If I was doing it from scratch though I’d definitely go for a megaflo system, presumably that’s what you’re doing?

strtdv

 @boogieman yes that's what we're doing. 
The plumbing is very old (the newest bit was fitted in the 70s, with some of it the original plumbing from the late 20s, so figured we may as well change the whole lot.
The extension will be warm roof construction so would work well for the megaflo system tank

boogieman

Cool. I’d be interested to hear your experience with the megaflo when it’s in. The house we’ve recently bought has pretty poor hot water pressure upstairs, basically because the cold water tank here only has about two foot of head above the showers. The previous owner has installed pumped units fitted to the shower wall but they’re ugly things, really noisy and not very effective so I’m thinking of going with a megaflo cylinder in the future. Not a cheap option though, that’s why I’m after some real world experience from an owner. 

strtdv

It is expensive (about £1400 for the cylinder) but in theory we'll save money elsewhere by not needing power showers.

We're changing from an oil boiler to a gas boiler at the same time so it made sense to make the change. In the grand scheme of the overall project cost the boiler and cylinder is only around 1.5% of the cost so fairly reasonable.

The other advantage is that depending on the cylinder you get you can easily add solar hot water at a later stage

Jalapeno

Another +1 for extra insulation - needed for Summer and Winter - just go up in the loft on a warm July day, mid-afternoon is worst time