Loft conversion - useful additions/ideas please
Discussion
Hi, we want to get a loft conversion done at our semi detached house this year. I have never done major work like this so looking for some PH help please.
It's a very vanilla hip to gable conversion with one bedroom and a bathroom. I will post layout later but am starting to make a list of useful little things. So looking for suggestions and help with some queries below.
1. Is additional insulation needed above the building regs requirement? If so how much.. House is centrally heated using conventional boiler (which will be changed to system boiler)
2. Is a balcony worth it.. Views are pretty poor so am leaning towards just a window I stead of balcony.
3. Are all velux windows the same or are there any worth paying extra. Windows will be north facing.
4. We currently have in line loft ventilation for existing bathroom. This will be lost when new bathroom is installed.. For both new bathroom and old one, is wall mounted unit the only option?
5. Am considering AC unit as half the house is south facing. Are these units only for one room or they can be ducted to 2 rooms (One new loft bedroom and other the existing bedroom directly underneath) ?
6. Any other suggestions or advise most welcome..
It's a very vanilla hip to gable conversion with one bedroom and a bathroom. I will post layout later but am starting to make a list of useful little things. So looking for suggestions and help with some queries below.
1. Is additional insulation needed above the building regs requirement? If so how much.. House is centrally heated using conventional boiler (which will be changed to system boiler)
2. Is a balcony worth it.. Views are pretty poor so am leaning towards just a window I stead of balcony.
3. Are all velux windows the same or are there any worth paying extra. Windows will be north facing.
4. We currently have in line loft ventilation for existing bathroom. This will be lost when new bathroom is installed.. For both new bathroom and old one, is wall mounted unit the only option?
5. Am considering AC unit as half the house is south facing. Are these units only for one room or they can be ducted to 2 rooms (One new loft bedroom and other the existing bedroom directly underneath) ?
6. Any other suggestions or advise most welcome..
I can't help on too much of that, save for the A/C - we did our loft as part of a wider refurb last year, and added A/C to the top floor. Ours is located in the eaves, with the split unit outside of course. It is ducted into three rooms - the bedroom, dressing room and onto the landing outside our bedroom. Ours is wifi controlled so that we can set timers etc - we elected to not include a radiator on the top floor and just heat at bed time using the A/C which works really well, using the app to control it.
Cost was around £4,500 from memory.
Cost was around £4,500 from memory.
xyz123 said:
Hi, we want to get a loft conversion done at our semi detached house this year. I have never done major work like this so looking for some PH help please.
It's a very vanilla hip to gable conversion with one bedroom and a bathroom. I will post layout later but am starting to make a list of useful little things. So looking for suggestions and help with some queries below.
1. Is additional insulation needed above the building regs requirement? If so how much.. House is centrally heated using conventional boiler (which will be changed to system boiler) - The latest Part L requirements are quite stringent, so I'd have thought the opportunities to add additional insulation whilst retaining ceiling heights would be limited (and of questionable benefit)
2. Is a balcony worth it.. Views are pretty poor so am leaning towards just a window I stead of balcony. A balcony will take you outside of permitted development (if this route is open to you) and I would have thought would be very difficult to get past the planners.
3. Are all velux windows the same or are there any worth paying extra. Windows will be north facing. Velux is a brand, not a style- there are other similar options, but Velux are the most widely installed, and in my view, for good reason
4. We currently have in line loft ventilation for existing bathroom. This will be lost when new bathroom is installed.. For both new bathroom and old one, is wall mounted unit the only option? This will be layout dependent, but you may be able to re-route the existing ventilation through the eaves spaces
5. Am considering AC unit as half the house is south facing. Are these units only for one room or they can be ducted to 2 rooms (One new loft bedroom and other the existing bedroom directly underneath) ? You can get systems which will do both but ducting (and placement of the external unit) might be challenging. I don't do much domestic resi stuff these days, but latest Part L might limit your options for air con and given the north facing windows and the good level of insulation, the space may not need it
6. Any other suggestions or advise most welcome.. Find a local Architect orArchitectural Technologist who has plenty of experience of similar schemes - if you have neighbours who have had conversions, ask for recommendations for designers and contractors.
It's a very vanilla hip to gable conversion with one bedroom and a bathroom. I will post layout later but am starting to make a list of useful little things. So looking for suggestions and help with some queries below.
1. Is additional insulation needed above the building regs requirement? If so how much.. House is centrally heated using conventional boiler (which will be changed to system boiler) - The latest Part L requirements are quite stringent, so I'd have thought the opportunities to add additional insulation whilst retaining ceiling heights would be limited (and of questionable benefit)
2. Is a balcony worth it.. Views are pretty poor so am leaning towards just a window I stead of balcony. A balcony will take you outside of permitted development (if this route is open to you) and I would have thought would be very difficult to get past the planners.
3. Are all velux windows the same or are there any worth paying extra. Windows will be north facing. Velux is a brand, not a style- there are other similar options, but Velux are the most widely installed, and in my view, for good reason
4. We currently have in line loft ventilation for existing bathroom. This will be lost when new bathroom is installed.. For both new bathroom and old one, is wall mounted unit the only option? This will be layout dependent, but you may be able to re-route the existing ventilation through the eaves spaces
5. Am considering AC unit as half the house is south facing. Are these units only for one room or they can be ducted to 2 rooms (One new loft bedroom and other the existing bedroom directly underneath) ? You can get systems which will do both but ducting (and placement of the external unit) might be challenging. I don't do much domestic resi stuff these days, but latest Part L might limit your options for air con and given the north facing windows and the good level of insulation, the space may not need it
6. Any other suggestions or advise most welcome.. Find a local Architect orArchitectural Technologist who has plenty of experience of similar schemes - if you have neighbours who have had conversions, ask for recommendations for designers and contractors.
Edited by Cow Corner on Friday 21st February 12:07
Edited by Cow Corner on Friday 21st February 12:08
I know almost nothing about the subject, but the "Build it with Rob" channel on Youtube covers this type of work, and the metal joist system he uses has always looked really impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/@builditwithrob/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@builditwithrob/videos
Not identical, but similar principles. We did a loft conversion in the runup to lockdown. I don't mind sharing photos of the stages we went through: https://photos.app.goo.gl/SdG1C8DPdE7S37q37
This whole process we did without the need for Planning Permission, but have a fully signed of Certificate of Conformity / Building Warrant due to the structural changes.
This introduced a 'Master Suite' in the loft, with a full bedroom, dressing room and bath/shower room. Under the new stairs we stole space and created a Jack & Jill shower room for the main guest and my sons room. House is 1920's brick built, and is now technically 6-bed / 2 bath.
Key lessons from my experience:
- Measurements: Don't assume whoever measures up for spaces gets it right. We're got nearly parallel lines in rooms, and the first iteration of the staircase didn't meet the floor.
- Ensure the builder is competent: I won't recommend my builder to anyone, as I had to do a bunch of work myself which wasn't right. He fell out with his own subbies and they would only communicate via me. We were resident throughout.
- Temperatures: We found that with the new insulation, and being right close to the tiles, the loft was mighty warm in summer despite being in Edinburgh. Consider cooling / or passive ventilation.
- Access: We had 3 hatches installed to retain access to the loft space around the rooms.
- Power runs: Sparky will keep it right, but think about the length of cable runs to the consumer unit as the cable can't always be extended and may need replacing for additional runs.
- Head pressure: Our system boiler and pressure HW cylinder are in the basement, and this is 3 floors up. HW will need a boost from the boiler / cylinder I'm sure.
- Sound proofing: Whether it's from the roof vents or between the floors, think about insulation / soundproofing as this is a space that hasn't been occupied before and sound travels.
- Windows: We originally considered a Juliet balcony setup, but that requires Planning Permission as it extended from the roofline. Our current setup of a fixed lower and top hung upper avoided that, but gets us the opening we wanted. These are all Velux, including the 2 electric openers on the front of the house.
- Drainage runs: Think about where any gravity drainage is going carefully, we have challenging runs. Also isolation valves on the way to the loft so you can isolate if needs be.
Finally: Dust goes EVERYWHERE.
If I could do it again, I may treat the loft as a separate annex with heating and HW independent of the rest of the house but that's unique to our setup. I'd make sure they threw all the fixings at stuff as over the years I've a few creaks coming in.
This whole process we did without the need for Planning Permission, but have a fully signed of Certificate of Conformity / Building Warrant due to the structural changes.
This introduced a 'Master Suite' in the loft, with a full bedroom, dressing room and bath/shower room. Under the new stairs we stole space and created a Jack & Jill shower room for the main guest and my sons room. House is 1920's brick built, and is now technically 6-bed / 2 bath.
Key lessons from my experience:
- Measurements: Don't assume whoever measures up for spaces gets it right. We're got nearly parallel lines in rooms, and the first iteration of the staircase didn't meet the floor.
- Ensure the builder is competent: I won't recommend my builder to anyone, as I had to do a bunch of work myself which wasn't right. He fell out with his own subbies and they would only communicate via me. We were resident throughout.
- Temperatures: We found that with the new insulation, and being right close to the tiles, the loft was mighty warm in summer despite being in Edinburgh. Consider cooling / or passive ventilation.
- Access: We had 3 hatches installed to retain access to the loft space around the rooms.
- Power runs: Sparky will keep it right, but think about the length of cable runs to the consumer unit as the cable can't always be extended and may need replacing for additional runs.
- Head pressure: Our system boiler and pressure HW cylinder are in the basement, and this is 3 floors up. HW will need a boost from the boiler / cylinder I'm sure.
- Sound proofing: Whether it's from the roof vents or between the floors, think about insulation / soundproofing as this is a space that hasn't been occupied before and sound travels.
- Windows: We originally considered a Juliet balcony setup, but that requires Planning Permission as it extended from the roofline. Our current setup of a fixed lower and top hung upper avoided that, but gets us the opening we wanted. These are all Velux, including the 2 electric openers on the front of the house.
- Drainage runs: Think about where any gravity drainage is going carefully, we have challenging runs. Also isolation valves on the way to the loft so you can isolate if needs be.
Finally: Dust goes EVERYWHERE.
If I could do it again, I may treat the loft as a separate annex with heating and HW independent of the rest of the house but that's unique to our setup. I'd make sure they threw all the fixings at stuff as over the years I've a few creaks coming in.
Some good advice here already. We did ours a year and a half ago.
Some thoughts:
Heat gain dependent on where it faces - ours is not too bad as rear elevation faces north so the major glazing is not in sun all day and the bathroom and walk in wardrobe insulates somewhat with the extra wall and doors. But I would plan for accommodating AC easily and then see if you need it if possible.
We have velux windows and i fitted the external blinds just after building. Makes a significant difference to heat. You can also get solar powered openers which can open/close. Believe this can be retrofitted so may not be a decision for now.
Place the Velux carefully - pref over toilet if it works for you, gives you more head height.
Consider walk in wardrobe!
Wouldn’t bother with Juliette balcony - how much time are you going to spend up there with it open, and it makes it harder to leave a window open ajar in order to provide ventilation
Talking of which, plan for cross ventilation eg through the loft
You might well have room in the floor for a solid tube for current bathroom extract, the joists on ours sit above the original room joists so there is a surprising amount of space - just have to consider runs
Architects got the measurements on ours all wrong. They submitted for building regs then meaning all our steel calcs where wrong and I had to get the changed last minute at great cost. Very annoying. So get someone decent to measure up or use a design and build company and make it their problem
Make use of any wasted space as built in storage
Been reasonably happy with the GRP roof on ours and hopefully will last longer than felt by some margin. Does make a bit of noise expanding and contracting though.
Some thoughts:
Heat gain dependent on where it faces - ours is not too bad as rear elevation faces north so the major glazing is not in sun all day and the bathroom and walk in wardrobe insulates somewhat with the extra wall and doors. But I would plan for accommodating AC easily and then see if you need it if possible.
We have velux windows and i fitted the external blinds just after building. Makes a significant difference to heat. You can also get solar powered openers which can open/close. Believe this can be retrofitted so may not be a decision for now.
Place the Velux carefully - pref over toilet if it works for you, gives you more head height.
Consider walk in wardrobe!
Wouldn’t bother with Juliette balcony - how much time are you going to spend up there with it open, and it makes it harder to leave a window open ajar in order to provide ventilation
Talking of which, plan for cross ventilation eg through the loft
You might well have room in the floor for a solid tube for current bathroom extract, the joists on ours sit above the original room joists so there is a surprising amount of space - just have to consider runs
Architects got the measurements on ours all wrong. They submitted for building regs then meaning all our steel calcs where wrong and I had to get the changed last minute at great cost. Very annoying. So get someone decent to measure up or use a design and build company and make it their problem
Make use of any wasted space as built in storage
Been reasonably happy with the GRP roof on ours and hopefully will last longer than felt by some margin. Does make a bit of noise expanding and contracting though.
It’s been said above, but:
Heating and cooling is key. I’d def consider your options, we’re looking at retro fitting air con to ours.
Work out wardrobe spaces, draw it all out how you’ll use it. We made changes to ours to accommodate standard wardrobe widths.
Big Velux are great, can be noisy in rain but I quite like that. What you do want is thermal blinds on them through to reduce thermal gain. We have outside blinds that retract for the summer, and the full reflective ones on the inside of them too.
Heating and cooling is key. I’d def consider your options, we’re looking at retro fitting air con to ours.
Work out wardrobe spaces, draw it all out how you’ll use it. We made changes to ours to accommodate standard wardrobe widths.
Big Velux are great, can be noisy in rain but I quite like that. What you do want is thermal blinds on them through to reduce thermal gain. We have outside blinds that retract for the summer, and the full reflective ones on the inside of them too.
b14 said:
I can't help on too much of that, save for the A/C - we did our loft as part of a wider refurb last year, and added A/C to the top floor. Ours is located in the eaves, with the split unit outside of course. It is ducted into three rooms - the bedroom, dressing room and onto the landing outside our bedroom. Ours is wifi controlled so that we can set timers etc - we elected to not include a radiator on the top floor and just heat at bed time using the A/C which works really well, using the app to control it.
Cost was around £4,500 from memory.
I did air con for 3 rooms last year and totally agree with this. Worth going for more powerful units than you need if possible. I paid abiut 3600 but it's a bungalow so easier to do. Note that if you have to use the heating from it a lot it can make the air quite dry which might be uncomfortable for some.Cost was around £4,500 from memory.
Velux
You could install a Cabrio - we did and no planning issues (ours was ~£3K six years ago)
Windows can be centre or top hung - use the latter if above the loo / where space is tight
Blinds / electric openers are amazing and can be had for a large discount through third parties
Think carefully where the stairs are going - we built a pitched roof dormer to accomodate them
Floor - glue and screw it, I put foam tape on top of the joists
We had some built in storage made - on a landing that would have justbeen wasted space and in the eaves behind the knee wall. Access panels can be skimmed so they blend in quite well
We have good water pressure so even in the loft the combi boiler delivers
You could install a Cabrio - we did and no planning issues (ours was ~£3K six years ago)
Windows can be centre or top hung - use the latter if above the loo / where space is tight
Blinds / electric openers are amazing and can be had for a large discount through third parties
Think carefully where the stairs are going - we built a pitched roof dormer to accomodate them
Floor - glue and screw it, I put foam tape on top of the joists
We had some built in storage made - on a landing that would have justbeen wasted space and in the eaves behind the knee wall. Access panels can be skimmed so they blend in quite well
We have good water pressure so even in the loft the combi boiler delivers
Turtle Shed said:
I know almost nothing about the subject, but the "Build it with Rob" channel on Youtube covers this type of work, and the metal joist system he uses has always looked really impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/@builditwithrob/videos
Lots of these are illegal conversions, not sure how he still gets away with it, my LABC would be on him like a ton of bricks.https://www.youtube.com/@builditwithrob/videos
Pheo said:
Some good advice here already. We did ours a year and a half ago.
Some thoughts:
Heat gain dependent on where it faces - ours is not too bad as rear elevation faces north so the major glazing is not in sun all day and the bathroom and walk in wardrobe insulates somewhat with the extra wall and doors. But I would plan for accommodating AC easily and then see if you need it if possible.
We have velux windows and i fitted the external blinds just after building. Makes a significant difference to heat. You can also get solar powered openers which can open/close. Believe this can be retrofitted so may not be a decision for now.
Place the Velux carefully - pref over toilet if it works for you, gives you more head height.
Consider walk in wardrobe!
Wouldn’t bother with Juliette balcony - how much time are you going to spend up there with it open, and it makes it harder to leave a window open ajar in order to provide ventilation
Talking of which, plan for cross ventilation eg through the loft
You might well have room in the floor for a solid tube for current bathroom extract, the joists on ours sit above the original room joists so there is a surprising amount of space - just have to consider runs
Architects got the measurements on ours all wrong. They submitted for building regs then meaning all our steel calcs where wrong and I had to get the changed last minute at great cost. Very annoying. So get someone decent to measure up or use a design and build company and make it their problem
Make use of any wasted space as built in storage
Been reasonably happy with the GRP roof on ours and hopefully will last longer than felt by some margin. Does make a bit of noise expanding and contracting though.
You are not alone, I stopped quoting for jobs if the customer already had plans/calcs, most are total garbage.Some thoughts:
Heat gain dependent on where it faces - ours is not too bad as rear elevation faces north so the major glazing is not in sun all day and the bathroom and walk in wardrobe insulates somewhat with the extra wall and doors. But I would plan for accommodating AC easily and then see if you need it if possible.
We have velux windows and i fitted the external blinds just after building. Makes a significant difference to heat. You can also get solar powered openers which can open/close. Believe this can be retrofitted so may not be a decision for now.
Place the Velux carefully - pref over toilet if it works for you, gives you more head height.
Consider walk in wardrobe!
Wouldn’t bother with Juliette balcony - how much time are you going to spend up there with it open, and it makes it harder to leave a window open ajar in order to provide ventilation
Talking of which, plan for cross ventilation eg through the loft
You might well have room in the floor for a solid tube for current bathroom extract, the joists on ours sit above the original room joists so there is a surprising amount of space - just have to consider runs
Architects got the measurements on ours all wrong. They submitted for building regs then meaning all our steel calcs where wrong and I had to get the changed last minute at great cost. Very annoying. So get someone decent to measure up or use a design and build company and make it their problem
Make use of any wasted space as built in storage
Been reasonably happy with the GRP roof on ours and hopefully will last longer than felt by some margin. Does make a bit of noise expanding and contracting though.
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