Pimp my home - Attic conversion megamerge

daveco23

Hi,
Am thinking of doing one or both of the above soon, does anyone have any numbers or contacts for a firm that can price up some quotes and do the work?
Cheers

Heinrich

This guy did my conservatory. Excellent work and great attention to detail. Well worth giving him a call.



LYNCUR CONSTRUCTION
Renovations Block Work • Extensions
Conservatories & Sunrooms a speciality
Hawkinstown, Carristown, Co. Meath. Tel/Fax: 01 835 4122
Mobile: 087 648 7902 • 087 648 7841 • 086 837 9286

daveco23

Thanks Guys.
Heinrich, ballpark, how much was the conservatory?

Sparks115

Just in case anyone has a 3 bed end of terrace the costs of doing one are not worth it apparently the attics would cost over €25,000 as the wooden beams would have to be supported with steel due to the structure of the house:eek: ahwell just have to convert the Barna ched out the back instead!!:D

sasmac

Viv Dutton and sons did may attic and they were very good. They are local lads that live in Bray.His number is 0872420487

eleMental

What type of house do you live in sasmac, and could you tell me how much they charged for the conversion?

sasmac

I live in Newcastle and had a bungalow done which includes two large rooms and a bathroom put in, and it cost 20k a year ago. I paid for the suit in the bathroom on top of the price. Viv is a great guy and will come out and give you a quote and he is very plain talker so no bs. give him a ring he does great work have recommened him to a few people and none seem disapointed.

daveco23

INCH wrote:

Just in case anyone has a 3 bed end of terrace the costs of doing one are not worth it apparently the attics would cost over €25,000 as the wooden beams would have to be supported with steel due to the structure of the house:eek: ahwell just have to convert the Barna ched out the back instead!!:D

Am in a 3 bed semi so am in the same position... Giving serious thought to buting a portakabin for the back gardenand putting some wooden cladding around it!!

Sparks115

hi Daveco23.....If you are in a three bed mid terrace you can convert no problem, its the 3 bed end of terrace that are harder to convert. Although that portocabin idea sounds like great could use it as a sauna or games room!!ha ha ha

Heinrich

daveco23 wrote:

Thanks Guys.
Heinrich, ballpark, how much was the conservatory?

€24,500

4m50 x 3m
Concrete floor built up to existing floor level. Insulated etc.

Total satisfaction!

SPS

Spending €20k on an attic conversion doesn't make sense, it doesn't add any significant value onto your house. There is a two bed with an attic conversion on Myhome.ie at the moment for €390k and yet another 2 bed was sold last week for €385 that didn't have any:rolleyes:

Manny7

SPS wrote:

Spending €20k on an attic conversion doesn't make sense, it doesn't add any significant value onto your house. There is a two bed with an attic conversion on Myhome.ie at the moment for €390k and yet another 2 bed was sold last week for €385 that didn't have any:rolleyes:

It makes sense if you want an extra room!

loyatemu

don't see why the 3 bed end-terrace would be different from the mid-terrace
the roof is essentially the same on each.

Sparks115

The head carpenter for Durkan told me the way the beams are in the attic need extra support with Steel otherwise the structure of the house isnt safe if it is done without this. Someone already in Charlesland park already made this mistake and it has cost her more now to get people in to fix it to make it safe.!!! not worth it really in the end for the small amount of space u would get.Unless u realllllllllyyyyyy need and want to pay €25,000 for a box room:eek:

daveco23

INCH wrote:

hi Daveco23.....If you are in a three bed mid terrace you can convert no problem, its the 3 bed end of terrace that are harder to convert. Although that portocabin idea sounds like great could use it as a sauna or games room!!ha ha ha

Thanks Inch - am in type d semi - looks like a single house but has another one on the back of it. Had a look in the attic and wooden beams everywhere!!
Still considering it - master bedroom is tiny and its starting to get on my nerves..

m_stan

for a conservatory look no further than the guys in Matrix Sunrooms and Conservatories - www.matrixconservatories.com.

They did a sweet job on my sunroom (16"x15") and couldn't recommend them more. The sunroom on their homepage is my one !

Tell them Mark Stanley sent ya.

Sparks115

Hi again Daveco23...Yes I feel the same my master bedroom is tiny and the window is totally in the wrong place and I can only get one side locker in. My other half still thinks it would be worth it ... I really dont think that amount of money is worth it to me unless it was really stunning and worked out bigger than the master room. Ahwell let me know how you get on and if your roof caves in you always have the Barna shed to sleep in!!! ha ha ha... only joking Best of luck if you do get it done.

cuddydale

does anyone know what size is the attic conversion in the 3 bed mid terrace house?

loyatemu

cuddydale wrote:

does anyone know what size is the attic conversion in the 3 bed mid terrace house?

i've been looking into this - I reckon put the attic stairs running across (perpendicular to) the existing stairs, starting just outside the door to the 2nd largest bedroom (you might need to move the door of this room back a couple of feet).

This way the stairs come up under the lower part of the attic roof, and you don't eat into the part of the attic which has decent headroom. You'd be left with a relatively long room running from the front to the back of the house. It'd be plenty big enough to make it worth doing - though if you're 6 foot 4 you might find the ceiling a bit low.

as for having to use steel - yeah afaik you need to put in steel beams to support the roof and also to carry the floor. The floor beams in the attic are there to support the ceiling of the floor below - they are not strong enough to put furniture etc on. This would be the case in all Grove\Park houses. As for the implications of attaching steel beams to the timber frame of the house - i don't know. Definitely make sure your builder knows what they're doing.

FVC

Hi - one of my neighbours in the Grove Part 2 on the left hand side has converted their 3 bed terrace attic recently. Can you let me know approx how much it cost and what size room you got up there ? Was there space for an en-suite ? and what's the head room like ?

daveco23

FVC wrote:

Hi - one of my neighbours in the Grove Part 2 on the left hand side has converted their 3 bed terrace attic recently. Can you let me know approx how much it cost and what size room you got up there ? Was there space for an en-suite ? and what's the head room like ?

Am in a type d semi so not sure if the attic dimensions are the same, but the quote I got was for €31k ex VAT... Not sure if its worth it ..

Ru

FVC wrote:

Hi - one of my neighbours in the Grove Part 2 on the left hand side has converted their 3 bed terrace attic recently. Can you let me know approx how much it cost and what size room you got up there ? Was there space for an en-suite ? and what's the head room like ?

If were talking about the same house!, here's the lowdown on the conversion on the 3 bed end of terrace.

The stairs are to steep.
The roof is to low
There is no room for a double bed, never mind an en suite toilet.
It's to cold, there are problems with insulation if you get spot lights.....
need i go on...

I don't know how much they paid for it but it's now used for the computer and ironing board.........

Wifey

INCH wrote:

The head carpenter for Durkan told me the way the beams are in the attic need extra support with Steel otherwise the structure of the house isnt safe if it is done without this. Someone already in Charlesland park already made this mistake and it has cost her more now to get people in to fix it to make it safe.!!! not worth it really in the end for the small amount of space u would get.Unless u realllllllllyyyyyy need and want to pay €25,000 for a box room:eek:

Thats your problem right there " Durkan" They are notorious for cutting corners, That is why when they were on view we went over to have a look & they were not finished half as nice as or as well; bad skirting, bad carpeting etc on a show house!! "Ballymore"- built The wood, and by the sounds of it, we lucked out, Two beds are exactly the same, have two lockers & chest of drawers in there, could have done with better shelving in the wardrobes, and I cant get to the top shelf, but it's all good with Ballymore, would deffinately buy one of theirs again!! & that is because when we had the flood the head guy came out assessed, paid for all damage, and wanted to mek us happy, so "would reccomend them to a friend". Even though there is equity in the house, where would you upgrade to? you would need to move to wicklow & thats a whole other Forum!:D

Plenty

To investigate further, the new estate in Arklow called Meadowvale
http://www2.myhome.ie/search/development.asp?id=15317&p=1
Their three bed houses have quite a similar layout to three bed houses in Charlesland. The construction company is Noonan Construction.

Hope this helps in some way:)

AAOC

Had this done with no problems at all in spite of what others are saying. House is timber frames which seemingly makes things easier and gable roof. Cost wa 23k and room is 18 foot by 16 foot with ceiling hight of 8 foot 7 inches at highest points going to 5 foot 8 at the walls.

AAOC

daveco23

AAOC wrote:

Had this done with no problems at all in spite of what others are saying. House is timber frames which seemingly makes things easier and gable roof. Cost wa 23k and room is 18 foot by 16 foot with ceiling hight of 8 foot 7 inches at highest points going to 5 foot 8 at the walls.

AAOC

Hi AAOC,
Would you mind PM - ing me the details of the crowd you got to do it?
Thanks

loyatemu

AAOC wrote:

Had this done with no problems at all in spite of what others are saying. House is timber frames which seemingly makes things easier and gable roof. Cost wa 23k and room is 18 foot by 16 foot with ceiling hight of 8 foot 7 inches at highest points going to 5 foot 8 at the walls.

AAOC

presumably you're not in Charlesland then as none of the houses have gable roofs.

BonnieD

Has anyone had an issues with the structure of their attic conversion (on 3 bed charlesland)? We're looking at getting Dermot McKenna to do ours (I know he's done a fair few in the estate), but I just want to be sure that structurally it will be sound. Has anyone got one done by Dermot signed off as OK with by an architect or an engineer?
Thanks.

Ru

Planning to convert our attic before christmas and was wondering if anyone else here has done this yet?

I've seen a fair amount of Velux windows around so it has been done!

I was wondering a few things!

1) What stair arrangent did you use?
2) How much did it cost?
3) How long did it take?

I'm planning to do this myself (with help from friends in the trade) and would be very interested in hearing from others who have taken this on themselves. Did you hit and major problems etc. etc.

kholly

Well we got a builder in to convert our attic, suprised at how much work was invloved in the end, our is a 3 bed and cost €22 and had to wait 6 mths for the builder to start as he was mad busy...it took alot of bedroom 2 as we have a proper stairs going up, put an landing and velex and then 2 large velex in the attic room itself which we use as an extra sitting rm/study........

NewHome

We just got the attic converted without the new stairs or landing - just kept the stira thing. We had already floored the attic ourselves (or should I say Himself). For 8k we got 2 velux windows, walls and ceiling plasterboarded and skimmed,skirting boards, spotlights, electrical points, oodles of shelving and cupboard access to loads of floored storage in the sloped parts behind the new walls.

It took about 10 days all told.

We use it primarily for storage and as a library/office.

Ru

NewHome wrote: »

We just got the attic converted without the new stairs or landing

Did you put ratiators in?? If not (like us) what's to room like? To hot, to cold or fine?

NewHome

Nope no radiators or plumbing done and it seems grand. In fact on those sunny days last weekend, it was positively balmy with the sun shining in the two velux. But we have bought a plug in radiator, you know the Dimplex ones in case it does get a bit cold in the middle of winter. We have no plans to use the room very extensively or as a second sitting room or anything, so radiators aren't really necessary.

TnJ

Hi NewHome,

Can you tell me who put the Velux windows in for you? and how much approx? As we would be interested in starting with the Windows. Did you put two small windows in? Thanks

NewHome

Hiya TnJ

It was a guy called Michael from attic ladders based in Dalkey and we got two small velux.http://www.atticladders.com He's great to deal with we were delighted with the job he did.

He did the whole conversion job for us for 8k, but we know neighbours who used him for just the 2 velux windows and they were charged just over 1k I think, maybe a bit more.

Hope this helps

Nearly There

Hi - I have no intention of trying to convert the attic (as this is not feasible due to roof pitch and space that would be gained)....however I have noticed a couple of 3 bed duplexes on the Park side that have a velux window in their roof.

Just wondering if anybody knows what they have done here - something to do with bringing light down into the bathroom maybe???

Cheers

ADK

Hi, we got our attic conversion (2 bed) done in April, really happy with it but have a question about safety. We have three velux windows in and they look great but I have noticed that some people seem to be getting two in, a large one and a small one. Is this for fire escape reasons?. We use ours as a bedroom and could not get out the current velux windows should there be a fire. Our builder did not mention this to us and we did not think of this at the time.

daveco23

NewHome wrote: »

We just got the attic converted without the new stairs or landing - just kept the stira thing. We had already floored the attic ourselves (or should I say Himself). For 8k we got 2 velux windows, walls and ceiling plasterboarded and skimmed,skirting boards, spotlights, electrical points, oodles of shelving and cupboard access to loads of floored storage in the sloped parts behind the new walls.

It took about 10 days all told.

We use it primarily for storage and as a library/office.

What type of house are you in?

MuffinsDa

NewHome wrote: »

Hiya TnJ

It was a guy called Michael from attic ladders based in Dalkey and we got two small velux.http://www.atticladders.com He's great to deal with we were delighted with the job he did.

He did the whole conversion job for us for 8k, but we know neighbours who used him for just the 2 velux windows and they were charged just over 1k I think, maybe a bit more.

Hope this helps

May I ask what was included in the conversion?
Stairs? Walls? Insulation? Plastering? Painting? Windows?

loyatemu

ADK wrote: »

Hi, we got our attic conversion (2 bed) done in April, really happy with it but have a question about safety. We have three velux windows in and they look great but I have noticed that some people seem to be getting two in, a large one and a small one. Is this for fire escape reasons?. We use ours as a bedroom and could not get out the current velux windows should there be a fire. Our builder did not mention this to us and we did not think of this at the time.

depends on whether you got the conversion certified as an extra room - if you did there are fire safety regulations (and conditions on space and roof height) that have be met. Most attic conversions though are just classified as "storage space" and no such conditions apply. Not sure what the implication of this are for insurance etc, especially if you're using it as a bedroom.

daveco23

loyatemu wrote: »

depends on whether you got the conversion certified as an extra room - if you did there are fire safety regulations (and conditions on space and roof height) that have be met. Most attic conversions though are just classified as "storage space" and no such conditions apply. Not sure what the implication of this are for insurance etc, especially if you're using it as a bedroom.

Plus, you will not be able to sell the house as a 3 bed unless it is certified as "habitable space" ie fire regs and height requirements are met.

NewHome

daveco23 wrote: »

What type of house are you in?

a 2 bed mid-terrace

NewHome

MuffinsDa wrote: »

May I ask what was included in the conversion?
Stairs? Walls? Insulation? Plastering? Painting? Windows?

NewHome wrote: »

We just got the attic converted without the new stairs or landing - just kept the stira thing. We had already floored the attic ourselves (or should I say Himself). For 8k we got 2 velux windows, walls and ceiling plasterboarded and skimmed,skirting boards, spotlights, electrical points, oodles of shelving and cupboard access to loads of floored storage in the sloped parts behind the new walls.

It took about 10 days all told.

We use it primarily for storage and as a library/office.

I've pm'd you.

Ru

I just got a quote from a company called TAE Carpentry.

Has anyone here used them or know anyone else who has??

I'm happy with the quote but would love to hear from someone who's used them before. He claimed to have worked in Charlesland before.

Ru

ADK wrote: »

We have three velux windows in and they look great but I have noticed that some people seem to be getting two in, a large one and a small one. Is this for fire escape reasons?

The minimum width for a velux window to be clasified as a fire escape is 600mm

The existing joices are only 600mm so they will only fit 550mm velux windows.

I decided to go with TAE capenters to put in the stairs and they did an absolutely fantastic job. They arrived at 8.30am and were done by 2pm.
The woodwork is top quality and as i had a very large desk and couch/bed in the back room already, i've actually gained floor space.

All they did was put in the stairs, move the joices and cut away the plasterboard for head room. I must have been in the attic a hundred times taking measurments and putting in cables but i can't get over the size of the room when you come up from stairs.

Charlie-Bravo

Ru wrote: »

All they did was put in the stairs, move the joices and cut away the plasterboard for head room. I must have been in the attic a hundred times taking measurments and putting in cables but i can't get over the size of the room when you come up from stairs.

Just as a matter of interest...how many joists did you cut to get the stairs in?

Ru

astrofluff wrote: »

Just as a matter of interest...how many joists did you cut to get the stairs in?

2 floor joices were cut and new supports put in.
1 Ceiling joist was removed and a second one will be taken out but i have to wait until next week when the new wall (in the back room) is put in which will add support.

I'll put up a few pictures later if i find the time

JKB

Ru do you have any pictures yet, would love to see how it looks

TnJ

Ru wrote: »

The minimum width for a velux window to be clasified as a fire escape is 600mm

The existing joices are only 600mm so they will only fit 550mm velux windows.

I decided to go with TAE capenters to put in the stairs and they did an absolutely fantastic job. They arrived at 8.30am and were done by 2pm.
The woodwork is top quality and as i had a very large desk and couch/bed in the back room already, i've actually gained floor space.

All they did was put in the stairs, move the joices and cut away the plasterboard for head room. I must have been in the attic a hundred times taking measurments and putting in cables but i can't get over the size of the room when you come up from stairs.

Ru-can you PM a contact number for TAE Carpentry as I would like to call them for a quote, thanks

ryecatcher

Hi - finally going to get this done! Getting a couple quotes at the moment - has anyone had their attic converted by Dermot McKenna in Delgany? I've seen his van around- you can pm me if you want.
Thanks!

Toto_02

Hi,
He did mine last feb and it looks fine to me until now.