Attic Conversion

I suppose its specific to the size of the house, but

I'd never be able to fit a stairs for an attic conversion on the landing as those stairs would impose too much into the headroom space for the original stairs.
This means I would have to start somewhere in the boxroom, making an already small room smaller.
I can also see how the beginning of the stairs to an attic room might have to moved depending on the available headroom in the attic at the top of the stairs so there is enough standing room for an adult there.

Im not sure if there would be enough left or anything left that would be viable as a room, maybe a small office, even then it might be better to just incorporate an office into the room where the stairs to the attic start.

What do people consider or do? Ive seen where attic conversions have been completed that started in the landing and this keeps a whole extra boxroom/office/bedspace/whatever you want for that room. But that is only where the size of the landing or the space over the existing stairs permits that.

Ive also seen where the former boxroom is the start of the stairs to the attic and where that space is too large for that purpose and ends seeming to be a wasted space and maybe sacrificed space/room for a bigger attic room.

So, to maximise space and use, how small can you make a bedroom? such as an existing boxroom, is there a legal requirement? or what will look and be practical.
I'm trying to imagine a room that could be used potentially a single guest bed/office only, or a dual purpose, potentially with some kind of folding bed design, or is that in itself tacky?

DvB wrote: »

We got various bits of work done at ground & first floor levels outside the attic scope of works also, so it wasn't just an attic conversion, however, in the breakdown we agreed with the builder we paid €13,300 for the attic conversion elements. We didn't bother with an ensuite as we felt it a poor use of the space available.

Our attic conversion itself cannot be classed as a habitable room under building regulations and therefore shouldn't be used as a bedroom (another reason why we didn't bother with the ensuite), however, that doesn't necessarily mean that other attics in other dwellings can't be classed as habitable & therefore could, if constructed properly, be used as such, each house is different & should be treated as such when looking at what can & cant be achieved. Depends on the house really.

What extra is there to do to qualify to use it as a habitable room? I assume you mean a bedroom is a habitable room opposed to a study/play room.
Is the extra, planning permission etc?
Im sure people have their reasons to get an attic conversion completed but not have it available as a bedroom, maybe its down to their current needs? or insurance purposes? is there some extra cost to get it certified?? and if so, can that be done at a later date.
I'd have thought it was more advantageous to getting the work so it could be used as bedroom from the offset, as I expected an insurance provider would still need to be informed of the changes anyway and these may incur a premium increase.

The insurance consideration is one big thing that has crossed my mind when thinking about getting an attic conversion done. I'd guess most conversions would be fine, but I know if I strayed from an exacting approach, I'd fall foul of something.
In my opinion, even though the room numbers would be the same with a conversion, I still think an insurance provider would expect to know or be informed about such a change, it could be a get out clause for them in the event of problems later.

I'm interested to do some measurements myself and see what size room and storage I can get, I've plenty of time to do that before doing any work as the funds dont exist now.

DvB wrote: »

I suggest you contact an Architect or Architectural Technologist to run through your queries & concerns.

An attic conversion will have building regulations & possibly building control impacts, so in order to satisfy yourself fully of your legal standing prior to commencing any works or even designs I'd talk to a professional.

I agree, but I wasnt asking for that kind of advice specifically if thats what you think? Im more curious
If the money becomes available, I know what I want, its just a matter of making sure that it conforms and a plan is adhered to.

I was wondering why, you or anyone would change a room to a "space" from an attic and not make it a habitable room, more especially as you say you're an architect??

Also, from what I have come across of a few people that have gotten attic conversions done, the usual way to tackle it seems to be throw caution to the wind, dont check for insurances, just let someone get on with it and not know what will come out at the end and just accept that, no matter how poor it may perform, no calculation, no assesment, nada.

DvB wrote: »

Not being smart, but because we wanted to. Once we had ascertained the space that could be achieved & the costs associated with making that space available for our use we considered it better value than say an extension at ground floor level.

Despite we have complied with all the building regulations other than the required height dimensions for ventilation purposes (an element that was largely outside our control & not cost effective to solve or likely to get planning permission), therefore its a very usable space but is c.10% out on the full ceiling height requirements to make it a habitable room. We even upgraded the existing landing & hall & the doors accessing off them to comply with TGD par B 2006.

Something like that (overall ceiling height) may be enough to put some people off the idea, but we saw past that & saw how practically we could use the space & to be fair we're delighted we did it. I have a fantastic bright & open space to work in that I simply could never have achieved without giving up an existing bedroom.

FWIW I had a third party Architect certify the works (no conflict of interests) & a structural engineer certify the structural elements, I notified my insurer & my solicitor & have had my documents updated to reflect the changes to the house from its original state. If I've missed something along the way I'm not aware of it.

It may not be perfect but it works for us.

Im not questioning your motive for/or your choice of the room use, if it suits your needs and you work with what you got, I get that, just wondered what factors make people come to a decision. In your case, I was curious as to yours and if that might apply to any plans I might make.

Ive come across examples of where what people told me was a habitable room converted from an attic, seemingly not certified, which effectively appears only to be suitable as a converted attic. In that instance it seems a waste of money to do it and not right, as you say you had a height restriction to work around, it seems obvious, or maybe where someone had enough room elsewhere.

Ive a fairly large attic, so think I wouldnt have a bother fitting a room in there, although that'd need to be confirmed by the time joists might be put in, I still think its possible. I would do it to sacrifice a very small box room and because the layout is otherwise poor which encourages me to think of doing a habitable room to supplement bedroom space.