Dormer loft or not

[mm511]

Hi all I have a house in the midlands which is currently a 4 bed house:

Ground floor
Livingroom, kitchen, 1 bedroom,

First floor
3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom with bath, and 1 WC upstairs.

It has an existing loft bedroom which doesn't have building regulations but this could applied in retrospect (Contacted the council about this already). This could cost between £5,000-£10,000 for the work that needs to remedy the existing room to a bedroom. The house then needs an overhaul renovation, maybe £20,000. Total cost £40,000.

The other dilemma is that I want to extend the loft room by adding a dormer roof, and adding an ensuite to that room at the same time. The total change would mean adding a bedroom and another bathroom. I have been given a quote of £25,000 to do this work including new roof tiles, and removal of existing chimney breast but this only to leave the room as a shell. Considering the additional work I'm planning the entire works would cost about £35,000. Including the renovation to the rest of the property at £20,000. The total cost is about £55,000.


The end value for option 1 - would boost the house up from £300,000 to perhaps £400,000.
The end value for option 2 - would boost the value up to perhaps £450,000.

It's a first world problem to have and I have done other renovations where I added a room to the basement of a house and it paid off at the sale stage, but for this particular property I am a bit unsure. Was wondering if anyone else had ever been in this situation?

[PhilboSE]

If it’s a toss-up between regularising an existing non-habitable space, or adding a dormer/ensuite then I’d go for the latter every time, if it’s affordable.

Please go for a decent dormer though with some architectural merit, rather than just a flat roofed box sticking out the side.

[mm511]

PhilboSE said:

If it’s a toss-up between regularising an existing non-habitable space, or adding a dormer/ensuite then I’d go for the latter every time, if it’s affordable.

Please go for a decent dormer though with some architectural merit, rather than just a flat roofed box sticking out the side.

Thanks for the reply, is this based on past experience? did you find the onward value to be worth it? I personally like the idea of a master bedroom at the top of the house!

[wolfracesonic]

PhilboSE said:

If it’s a toss-up between regularising an existing non-habitable space, or adding a dormer/ensuite then I’d go for the latter every time, if it’s affordable.

Please go for a decent dormer though with some architectural merit, rather than just a flat roofed box sticking out the side.

What you want is a flat roof box, full width of the rear of your house, the flat roof at ridge level and everything clad in AFG, just like the one I’m staring at now:lovely.

[PhilboSE]

mm511 said:

PhilboSE said:

If it’s a toss-up between regularising an existing non-habitable space, or adding a dormer/ensuite then I’d go for the latter every time, if it’s affordable.

Please go for a decent dormer though with some architectural merit, rather than just a flat roofed box sticking out the side.

Thanks for the reply, is this based on past experience? did you find the onward value to be worth it? I personally like the idea of a master bedroom at the top of the house!

Yup, I’m a habitual home improver. On one project the architect specified a dormer window which utterly transformed the bathroom it went into, in terms of light, space and usability. It wasn’t cheap though…I’ll try a dig out a photo.

Onward value, I don’t know as I still own the property, but all I can say is it turned what would have been a shower room with a significant skeiling into a full head height bath/shower room that’s filled with light and it makes a real impact.

[mm511]

PhilboSE said:

Yup, I’m a habitual home improver. On one project the architect specified a dormer window which utterly transformed the bathroom it went into, in terms of light, space and usability. It wasn’t cheap though…I’ll try a dig out a photo.

Onward value, I don’t know as I still own the property, but all I can say is it turned what would have been a shower room with a significant skeiling into a full head height bath/shower room that’s filled with light and it makes a real impact.

I am biased towards this opinion (but would welcome counter opposing views), mainly because it would extend that loft room to a sizeable room close to 4m x 5m. I just also have a side project which is a waste of time I know but to convert my garage to an office space.

[PhilboSE]

Dormer window we put in on the top level.

[mm511]

PhilboSE said:

Dormer window we put in on the top level.

Thanks definitely seems I will go with this extension after all, but I guess like you said the onward value was not a big consideration as you got use out of the extension. Out of interest if you ever sell will you factor a 2x return on the cost of the extension?

[PhilboSE]

mm511 said:

Thanks definitely seems I will go with this extension after all, but I guess like you said the onward value was not a big consideration as you got use out of the extension. Out of interest if you ever sell will you factor a 2x return on the cost of the extension?

Impossible for me to isolate the cost / benefit of that one element as it was one small part of an entire restoration.

However, on your numbers, I’d say it was financially sensible for you to go the extra mile. The cost of regularising the existing space can be absorbed in the gist of your extension, so it’s effectively cheaper for that work, and in your numbers it doesn’t look like you’d end up worse off. And the benefit of a well done dormer vs say a couple of Velux is significant.

[mm511]

Update I went with a full dormer loft extension and we are now starting to build the interior walls! thank you all for your help it really was useful.

[Countdown]

wolfracesonic said:

What you want is a flat roof box, full width of the rear of your house, the flat roof at ridge level and everything clad in AFG, just like the one I’m staring at now:lovely.

Something like this?



In my defence I was quite young, it was my first house, and growing kids meant I needed space urgently.

Cost me £6k in 1999

[that isn't mine btw, but mine was similar]

[mikeiow]

Countdown said:

Something like this?



In my defence I was quite young, it was my first house, and growing kids meant I needed space urgently.

Cost me £6k in 1999

[that isn't mine btw, but mine was similar]

Well, it does kind of depend on the area.
That on PhilboSE's house would have clearly been an abomination, but on a terraced (or semi-det) street of homes where they all look like that...well, it might be a very effective way to get a lot of head space up there!

Either way - get it well done, you should reap some benefits in the future. For a given definition of 'future' !!

[Countdown]

mikeiow said:

That on PhilboSE's house would have clearly been an abomination, but on a terraced (or semi-det) street of homes where they all look like that...well, it might be a very effective way to get a lot of head space up there!
!

That's pretty accurate i think mine was the 3rd dormer in that street. The Council only gave permission for dormers to be built on the rear of the properties (to prevent any visual issues on the front side facing the main road) and the end result was it turned a 2-bed terrace with an open attic into a 4-bed which meant we could stay there for another 5 years (until we needed more bathrooms!)

[borcy]

Countdown said:

Something like this?



In my defence I was quite young, it was my first house, and growing kids meant I needed space urgently.

Cost me £6k in 1999

[that isn't mine btw, but mine was similar]

I think most look like that, that I've seen anyway.

[Puzzles]

I'm not really sold on those full width flat roof dormers. They mostly don't look very pleasing

I've considered two smaller pitched dormers but then they don't give a lot of extra space so it's a bit of a waste of money.

[Quhet]

Countdown said:

Something like this?



In my defence I was quite young, it was my first house, and growing kids meant I needed space urgently.

Cost me £6k in 1999

[that isn't mine btw, but mine was similar]

£11.1k in todays money. Our dormer loft conversion is costing us £60k

[mm511]

Puzzles said:

I'm not really sold on those full width flat roof dormers. They mostly don't look very pleasing

I've considered two smaller pitched dormers but then they don't give a lot of extra space so it's a bit of a waste of money.

Unfortunately I needed the space and didn't have much of a budget for something like this so I've gone with this in the end



It's added a new en-suite upstairs, and an additional 30sqm to the house so I'm chuffed but I do understand its not to everyone's taste

[mm511]

Quhet said:

£11.1k in todays money. Our dormer loft conversion is costing us £60k

To be honest I got quotes between £20k and £120k for my extension. I went with the builder who let me visit his latest project in progress and asked the client. Of course this doesn't mean anything they could have been friends, but the other quotes didn't want to do this.

[Skodillac]

Countdown said:

mikeiow said:

That on PhilboSE's house would have clearly been an abomination, but on a terraced (or semi-det) street of homes where they all look like that...well, it might be a very effective way to get a lot of head space up there!
!

That's pretty accurate i think mine was the 3rd dormer in that street. The Council only gave permission for dormers to be built on the rear of the properties (to prevent any visual issues on the front side facing the main road) and the end result was it turned a 2-bed terrace with an open attic into a 4-bed which meant we could stay there for another 5 years (until we needed more bathrooms!)

To my dying day I'll never understand how planning permission was granted for one on the front of a house in a street I know well - these vandals even replaced the bay window with something worse. Spin the streetview round and you'll see there isn't a single other example anywhere. Baffling.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/enSLaxdDyU5yTY5r7

[chopper602]

An abomination near where I used to live. It's been tidied up from when it was first 'constructed'. There are no others on the street.
The windows always used to be running with condensation . . .

Edited by chopper602 on Friday 18th October 14:51