Loft to office 'conversion'

[monty77uk]

..following on from my thread //www.diynot.com/diy/threads/posh-loft-new-floor-questions.437380/ thought I'd start up a project progress thread with some pics.

Have a pretty large loft space with good height to play with. It's hipped on all sides with a chalet style slope at the front (2 dormers poke out the front of the house on 1st floor) and a full conversion requires 2 dormers and lots of mucking about (not to mention £50k) to do which I do not see as a worthwhile thing to do .. would however be nice to move the office up there and free up a bedroom.

Plan is to:

- Create a new floor above the existing ceiling joists which will be largely untouched
- Install a large velux for natural light
- Insulate and board the rafters, keeping as much height as possible
- Install a new ring circuit up there for the equipment
- Would be nice to relocate the boiler up there too, but that's a maybe

Access will be via chunky loft ladder, nothing permanent, only me using it anyway.

Yes I'm aware it won't be a habitable room or there's a slim chance someone will tell me to rip it out on resale (whatever, I've seen FAR worse out there) - I don't plan on going anywhere anytime soon

Floor plan looks as per attached:

Red = walls (all solid either steel supported on 1st floor or all the way to ground)
Blue = Ceiling joists
Green = Ceiling binders where the ceiling has a large span

I've selected 8x2" C24 timber based upon the spans I need.

 

[monty77uk]

I've started in the bottom right corner of the loft (as per pic in first post)

Progress was slow, mostly because I was too lazy to clear the area properly but it's starting to make sense. Already feeling nice and solid.

The new joists sit on top of 4x2 that sits on the existing wall plate on the external wall and internal wall. They're bolted to the rafter also using 12mm coach bolts with plate washer and a timber connector (sawtooth thing) in between the two. I've ordered an angle drill to help this part, going at an angle (due to lack of clearance) just isn't an option. Trimmed around the chimney by hanging a 5" timber between 2 of the joists and hanging off that. Was a bit concerned at it only being 5" (can't be the full 8" as it goes over the ceiling joists) but given that it's only 50cm or so from the wall at either end of the supporting joists I'm not too worried unless someone tells me that I should be. The trimmed area will be in a cupboard anyway so it's not the end of the world.

Plan for replacing the binders is to hang the existing binder from the rafters to support while I cut out the binder and attach the existing ceiling joists to the new floor joists using metal strip. Alternative would be to hang each joist from the rafters above but seems like overkill to me - from the pics of other floor projects it seems like metal strip is the way to go.

Pics attached anyway

 

[monty77uk]

Got a few more joists in over the past few days. Cut the first couple of sections from the ceiling binder too and strapped the ceiling joists to the new floor joists roughly in line with where the binder was - all good so far!

The angle drill is AMAZING!! Don't know how I've lived without one before.

 

[Harry0075]

Looks great, I too needed to free up a bedroom which I was using as a study so converted back part of garage, loft would've been ideal but didnt have times/skill.

Keep up the good work!

 

[monty77uk]

Looks great, I too needed to free up a bedroom which I was using as a study so converted back part of garage, loft would've been ideal but didnt have times/skill.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks!!

Update time...

The floor joists on the right hand side (looking at plan) are all in Still have a few noggins to add but that's about it. I moved the loft hatch a little to make accessing the bathroom below easier when the ladder is down as it seemed a logical time to do it also. The strapping is in place to replace the ceiling binder and all seems OK so far. I've also re-run the pipes in the first few pics through the joists. I was going to be lazy and run them on top of the floor deep in the eaves but they'll only annoy me when I'm trying to use that area for storage.

Need to move everything around now and start on the other side. In theory it'll be easier going over there as I don't have so many obstacles and only the main chimney to trim around but we shall see.

Pics attached.

Cheers,
Adam

 

[monty77uk]

Pics

 

[SteveP86]

that's looks great

used to rent a top floor cottage flat (4 in a block) and the loft in that was massive. Basically the floor space of a 3 bedroom flat and loads of height (couldn't touch top of roof jumping). If I had owned the flat I would be doing what you're doing. That would have been an excellent man cave, sorry office I meant.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

But of course what no one has mentioned is that anyone considering buying the OP's house who may actually want to do a proper loft conversion will likely be put right off, seeing as all of his hard work is following sticking some fingers in the air and would probably have to be undone in order to do a proper job.

 

[monty77uk]

But of course what no one has mentioned is that anyone considering buying the OP's house who may actually want to do a proper loft conversion will likely be put right off, seeing as all of his hard work is following sticking some fingers in the air and would probably have to be undone in order to do a proper job.

I think it's a little more than fingers in the air but fair enough but everyone is different, personally I wouldn't be put off as long as it has been done with a little sense.

 

[monty77uk]

Update time!

- All new floor joists are in place
- 2/3 of the floor itself is in (2400x600 sheets are a pain but worth it!)
- Started adding the battens to the inside of roof rafters to take the new insulation
- Started on the stud work to show where the walls around the perimeter will go and hung the first ceiling joist to get an idea of final height

Next

- Velux fitting if it ever stops raining for long enough
- Finish floor
- Finish stud work
- Fit insulation in rafters (80mm kingspan leaving 50mm gap then membrane then 25mm gap then plasterboard for finished surface, no plasterboard inside eaves storage. I know this isn't enough for regs but then this isn't a regs build and if down the line I want to go there I can add celotex backed plasterboard
- First fix plumbing (2 rads) / electrics / LAN etc..

Feels like I'm over the hump, maybe not

 

[monty77uk]

Pics here:
https://flic.kr/s/aHskjUV76P

 

[ree]

Well done.
However, from what i can gather, you dont have Regs (or any planning if its applicable)? If thats the case then why not do it proper and give BCO a call? There are actually lots of advantages to you - such as a dormer, fixed stairs, insurance and any future sale. Plus you might be saved from some expensive mistake.

Anyhow, what you've done so far seems excellent given that you are DIY.

 

[monty77uk]

Well done.
However, from what i can gather, you dont have Regs (or any planning if its applicable)? If thats the case then why not do it proper and give BCO a call? There are actually lots of advantages to you - such as a dormer, fixed stairs, insurance and any future sale. Plus you might be saved from some expensive mistake.

Anyhow, what you've done so far seems excellent given that you are DIY.

I had plans and structural done for a proper conversion and had a couple of EAs give opinions. I couldn't justify the expense for office use hence the 'posh loft' route. Budget is £2.5-3k total (including relocation boiler) so if I had to rip it out (unlikely) when/if I sell it wouldn't be the end of the world. Thanks for the opinion though

 

[cjard]

Well, you wouldn't have to rip it out when you sell, you just forget it exists - after all, it's still just a loft. From what you say you're certainly going to be there longer than the enforcement period so if some smart arse solicitor is angling for a ten grand discount on the house price on the premise that the loft conversion hasn't got BC approval, you can always tell them to **** off and take their buyer with them

 

[monty77uk]

Well, you wouldn't have to rip it out when you sell, you just forget it exists - after all, it's still just a loft. From what you say you're certainly going to be there longer than the enforcement period so if some smart arse solicitor is angling for a ten grand discount on the house price on the premise that the loft conversion hasn't got BC approval, you can always tell them to **** off and take their buyer with them

Couldn't agree more. Or worst case an indemnity policy for a few £££. Cheers!