Full House Renovation
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Loft conversions
The cheapest square metres you will ever add
A loft conversion uses space you already own and already pay for. On most terraced and semi detached houses in south west London it delivers a double bedroom with an ensuite for considerably less than the equivalent extension.
- Dormer, L shaped dormer, mansard, hip to gable and Velux conversions
- Structural calculations for new floor joists, steels and purlins
- Building regulations fire escape and staircase compliance
- Ensuite first fix and second fix handled by our own team
- Insulation upgraded to current thermal standards
- Completion certificate issued at handover
Which type of conversion suits your roof
The right conversion is dictated by the roof you have, not by preference. Head height is the first test: you need roughly 2.2 metres from the top of the existing ceiling joists to the underside of the ridge before a conversion becomes viable without raising the roof.
A rear dormer is the most common answer on a Victorian terrace, because it converts a sloping ceiling into a flat one and creates the floor area you actually need. A hip to gable suits a semi or an end of terrace with a hipped roof, squaring off the side to open up the volume. A mansard reshapes the whole roof and gives the most space, but it almost always needs full planning permission. A Velux conversion adds no volume at all and only works where the head height is already generous.
- Rear dormer conversions
- L shaped dormer for back addition terraces
- Hip to gable conversions
- Mansard conversions
- Velux and rooflight only conversions
- Loft ensuites and wardrobes
What building control will insist on
A loft conversion is one of the most heavily regulated pieces of domestic work, because it adds a storey and changes the fire escape route. The existing ceiling joists were designed to hold up a ceiling, not to carry a floor, so new joists are installed alongside them and usually carried on steels.
The staircase has to meet the regulations for rise, going and headroom, which on a narrow terrace is often the hardest part of the design to solve. Every door onto the stairwell has to become fire rated, mains linked smoke alarms are required throughout, and the escape route has to be protected from top to bottom. We design all of this in from the start rather than discovering it at inspection.
Do you need planning permission?
Many rear dormer conversions fall under permitted development, subject to volume limits of forty cubic metres on a terrace and fifty on a semi or detached house, and provided nothing is built forward of the roof plane on the front elevation.
Conservation areas change that, and much of Chelsea, Kensington and parts of Fulham and Wimbledon are covered. Flats have no permitted development rights at all. Mansards nearly always need full permission. As with extensions, we check the constraints on your actual address before quoting.
Living with the build
Most loft conversions are built with scaffolding and a roof access, which means the majority of the noisy and dusty work happens above your ceilings rather than through your house. That makes it one of the easier projects to live through.
The disruptive phase is the staircase installation, when the landing ceiling is opened up. That is usually a few days, and we sheet and protect the route beforehand. As a guide the whole job runs six to ten weeks on site.
Questions
Loft Conversion: common questions
Is my loft tall enough to convert?
Measure from the top of the existing ceiling joist to the underside of the ridge at the highest point. Below about 2.2 metres a standard conversion becomes difficult, because the new floor sits above the old joists and the new ceiling sits below the rafters, and both eat into the height. Below that you are looking at a mansard or at lowering the ceilings beneath. We will measure it properly on the free visit.
Will we lose a bedroom to the new staircase?
Not usually. On most terraces the new stair runs directly over the existing one, taking space from the landing rather than a room. On narrower properties it sometimes takes a corner of the smallest bedroom, and we will show you exactly what it costs you in floor area at the drawing stage rather than after the fact.
Can we have an ensuite up there?
Yes, and most clients do. It needs a soil connection, which we normally run down the existing stack, and it needs the floor structure designed to carry the load. Where gravity will not give adequate pressure at that height we fit a pump. All of the first fix and second fix is done by our own team.
Does a loft conversion need party wall notices?
On a terrace or semi, yes. New steels almost always bear onto the party wall, which brings the works under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. We serve the notices and manage the agreements, and we build the statutory notice periods into the programme.
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Free consultation
Wondering whether your loft will convert?
We will come out, measure the head height, look at the roof structure and tell you honestly which type of conversion your property will take and what it will cost.