We’re 4 weeks into our loft conversion – these are the lessons I've learnt so far
Like most reno projects it's already taking longer than planned!
Home decorator and content creator Leah Hodson is one of Ideal Home's new Open House contributors, sharing her thoughts on overhauling a home with clever DIY and decorating tricks. See the rest of her articles here.
When we bought this house in 2023, my 5-year plan was to a) add more space downstairs for our family to grow into, and b) create an extra bedroom, turning a 2.5 bedroom semi-detached into a 3.5 bedroom semi-detached. At the start of this year, we began with extending the ground floor - a modest 2.5m x 2m extension and garage conversion. This added 3 new rooms - a bootroom, pantry and utility, whilst opening up the kitchen and making the most of the space downstairs.
However, our ground floor extension didn’t add any bedrooms to our house…so we decided to extend into the loft too! My builders have been working on the loft conversion for the last few weeks, adding a much needed extra room! We’re 4 weeks into our loft conversion and here are some lessons I’ve learnt from this ‘permitted development’...
Party wall drawbacks
Living in a semi-detached and sharing party walls has a few challenges. Our adjoining neighbour completed their loft conversion before ours – as we were second, ours had to be slightly smaller. This is to leave space in between both dormers for tiling the outside, something our architect didn't consider when drawing up our plans.
It’ll be a tad smaller – just enough for the roofer to get between to tile the exterior of the dormer to ensure that it’s all watertight. I was worried we would be left with another box room, but thankfully that’s not the case!
You can’t contain the chaos!
I naively thought a loft extension will only concern the loft, however it’s thrown the first floor into a mess. Whilst not affected during a ground floor extension, we suddenly have rubble falling through the ceiling!
Due to all the movement in the loft, the once flush ceiling plasterboard on the first floor has now created gaps for all manner of dust and debris to fall through, not to mention the coving almost falling off!
Another upheaval to consider – adding a loft conversion means all the doors leading off the stairs need to be replaced with fire doors. This isn’t a small sum and could cost anywhere from a couple hundred pounds to a couple thousand pounds depending on the style that you like.
Staircase layout
Stair positioning is so important! Initially, I thought we had nothing to worry about when it comes to the stairs as the previous owner had already turned the stairs around.
However, when the work started, my builder pointed out that the architect’s proposed plans would mean walking straight into a chimney – another thing he didn’t account for (there is a running theme here).
This meant that it wasn’t as straightforward as following the plans. It was far more complicated than just ordering the stairs online. We opted for a professional joiner instead, who came out for a survey, and created a custom design using his designing tool, with the stairs installed within a week! It cost more than if we ordered the stairs online, but it has been money well spent!
Rolling with the punches
Again, naively based on the architect's drawings, I expected the ensuite to be at the front of the house (in the eaves). It turned out that there wasn’t anywhere near enough head space to have a proper ensuite there!
Thankfully my builder was able to reconfigure the waste so there is enough space in the dormer for the bedroom and an ensuite. We even managed to fit a walk-in wardrobe in the eaves where the bathroom was going to be, something I’ve wanted ever since my own little walk-in wardrobe growing up in my childhood home.
Just like many renovation projects, the loft conversion is taking longer than I expected! There have been more problems than my head can wrap around however, I truly think hiring the right trades to support you through the process will help take some of the mental load off – not all, but a good amount!
