Loft Conversion costs

It is amazing how trends in home improvements are circular.

Three years ago the fashion was to buy a property and try and move up the ladder.

This was generally achieved by installing new bathrooms.

Now the fashion seems to be stay in one property and make it bigger.

People often ask about the cost of but a conversion is an excellent means of getting more space without having to endure the stressful process of moving.

In fact these days, with stamp duty, legal fees and all your removal costs, its is often only a relatively small further investment to add a loft
(and also approximately 20% to the value of your property.)

The government has rolled back the planning rules to make it easier to achieve this but there is still quite a lot of choice for a home owner.

Most people want an extra master bedroom with an en-suite bathroom, but home offices are also very popular.

Home cinema rooms, mini recording studios and general hobby rooms are another need for extra space.

There are three main styles of loft conversion.

Dormer: where a box like structure protrudes from the plane of the original sloping roof surface.

Hip to gable or Gable end: where the conversion encopasses the exposed side of the property.

And

Roof window conversion: where the roof has window installed at intervals to allow light into the decorated attic space but the structural profile of the property is not changed.

In the UK these are all very popular and in a lot of cases planning permission is not required under the new permitted development rules.



You will need to check with your local council planning site to see what precedent applies where you live and sometimes it can be quite a minefield.

Subject to local authority conditions building control regulations will almost always be required if loft space is being converted into any usable form of accommodation.

Your current ceiling joists in most houses are only designed to support the weight of a ceiling, therefore additional support will be required to transfer the loads from the new loft floor to rest of the structure.

The one thing most property owners don’t understand is that the attic conversion can be undertaken with less disruption to the existing house than a normal small extension causes.

In fact everbody thinks the summer is the best time have it done when in fact the property is only open to the weather for a very small part of the job, so having it done in the winter can be a cheaper option since builders are not so active at this time.


Crucially it also tends to be a cheaper way of getting more floor space because you are working within the existing footprint of the house rather than adding to it.