loft conversion

whack

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just moved into a new pad and was looking in the loft and thort a cud make it into a bit of a lads room- weights bench and consoles, etc. Has anyone got any tips on best way to go about this? At the min it looks rather dark and dingy, just got some insulation down on the floor. Has anyone done one of these themselves or is it just as cost effective to get someone in to do it.? cheers
 
A loft conversion is not really something you can do yourself unless you are in the trade.

There are a load of building regs to adhere to (up-grade fire protection on ceiling doors fire/smoke alarm, structural works, floors etc.) just for starters.
A new floor would be needed in the loft as the existing ceiling joists (probably 3" x 2") will not be strong enough

You would need to budget for about £20000 plus, depending on what you want, size and how much work you can do yourself
 
and i wouldn't recommend a weight bench in loft either, that is a lot of weight in roof space..

it is very costly but worth it in end.
 
funny enough my fella is starting his loft conversation next week,.....u have to get planning permission for it firstly, i didn't ask much about it really but i know he said a firm wanted to charge him £30.000 and would take about 4 weeks,
 
You can board it out yourself but Don't use it for weights ect, light use only, shove some velux windows in and tell the ****cil if they ask its for storage only so no fire reg's are needed ;)
 
You only need planning permission for the following .


If its going to be used as a room
A velox window situated at the front of the house.
A fixed Staircase

I did mine myself and only cost me about £500,( its a hard and dirty job )
A mask, Goggles and Gloves are essential
Cut out the hole where the hatch is going to be
Take out the old loft insulation.
Fit metal joist brackets to either side of the loft ( wall to wall ), to hold the new floor joists.( 4" x 2" or you could get away with 3" x 2" make sure there is at least an inch gap between these joists and existing Floor ( this is called a floating floor ).

Dont take out any linchpin joists ( i didnt ) you can but will need to have some steel supports made.

lay in your cables needed for any sockets and lighting.

Board all the floor out with loft flooring boards.

Fit loft insulation to the walls of ceiling to floor sides and board over the top with plasterboard ( you can use the rock wool or polystyrene )

you will need a velux window, ( i put in a small one, gives me enough light and didnt take any support away from the roof. )

i papered over the plasterboard with a lining paper before i painted it, and put in a strip of spotlights.

I also made cupboards allong both sides of the loft for storage space.

If you need any help, or want to see any photos m8 give me a shout.


Edit.... i agree 100% with Highlander , i wouldnt go putting weights in there.
 
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You only need planning permission for the following .


If its going to be used as a room
A velox window situated at the front of the house.
A fixed Staircase

I dont think you need planning permission, its more building regulation. PP is only need if you are going to extend it out and above the roofline. I had one done about 6 years ago and it cost about £6000.

I know a lot of other people who have had it done but didnt comply and one of them collapsed completely. Others had it done without complying with building regs and the cheeky bastards tried selling as a 3 bed house when in fact according to title deeds its only 2
 
i have 2 builders across the road who kept me right mate,

Think your right on the PP comment, its been a few years now.

now you got me thinking again, but either way it has to be done to the local authorities standard, i know things changed in the last year or 2 so i could be wrong on the permission side of things.

thanks
 
aye thanx for ur comments guys- didnt really think to much about putting the weights up there :)! Thinking a might get a few quotes and see whats what
 
Aftermath talk me through the whole floating floor thing with pictures if you have them, lol. No rude one's mind.

It's a project I always mean to get round too, boarded the fooker half out but really want to remove any load from the original ceiling joists.

Mind you the amount of crap we have in our lofft it will take a year to clear it.
 
Aftermath talk me through the whole floating floor thing with pictures if you have them, lol. No rude one's mind.

It's a project I always mean to get round too, boarded the fooker half out but really want to remove any load from the original ceiling joists.

Mind you the amount of crap we have in our lofft it will take a year to clear it.


alright m8

i did my loft last year,what was up there was 5 by 1 joists, not strong enough to walk on.
so i got some 7 by 2 joists .and made some 1 inch packers out of plywood .then i sat the new joist next to the old ones and put the packers under them.on top of the bedroom walls . so the floor was floating 1 inch above the celins in the bedrooms , so if the joists give a little bit when you walk on them . no cracked celins.

hope this helps . by the way its a very mucky job but well worth it.

mine is smart as cuff lol

thanks dave
 
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And how the fook do you get the new joists up there, lol.

hard work swet and tears.
i put soild stairs in m8 .so i could cut a bigger opening in the loft hatch
but ive seen someone take a couple of roof tiles of then feed them in that way

dave
 
20,000 30,000 lol . what you doing building a new home . m8 5-8 k will build you this properly we got ours done for 6 k . included metal girders flooring windows fixed stair case the whole lot passed bc too . id shop around a little m8 .
 
@ Dutcho.

A floating floor is a whole new floor which is an inch above the existing Joists.

fit these to each side of the loft so that the joists slot in, if you cant get joists long enough, overlap then and secure them together.

joisthanger.jpg


Best to run the joists from adjoining walls, and not from back to front of the house mate.

The inch just gives enough spring for walking on the floor so as not to crack the ceilings below.

Remember you supposed to have 7" beams to safely walk on, so if your existing ones are 4"x 2" you can use 3" x 2" in loft and vice versa.

edit :- @ Dutcho again. if you do the velux window first you can get the joists in through there
 
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@ countryboy

that looks very similar to mine in size and decco mate, only i dont have a bed in or a radiator, only my PC stuff.

see here mate for a pic of mine
 
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