Pimp my home - Attic conversion megamerge

toxytag

Hi would really love to get details for the attic conversion to, I'm in a 2 bed with kitchen at the back and want to get the attic done as soon as. Thank you if someone can help

Charlie-Bravo

AFAIK it was one in the Court that has a full gable and looks terrible from the street. There is a second application of another house in for a Dutch hip, which would be more in keeping with the existing hipped roofs/character of the streetscape. I am not aware of any inidicative costs but you can always ask a builder to price for it.

Have a look at the plans on Wicklow.ie by searching address 'charlesland court'. If you would like to get the dutch hipped gable or standard gable, then planning is required and please bear in mind you'll need an 'assigned certifier (regs from March 1st)'. Further more you'll also need a PSDP from design stage and a PSCS when work starts (HSA regs since August last year).

pitrn

Some one in the posts suggested getting attic converted by Viv Dutton. I got the attic surveyed by him and he has given me a quote of 28000 euros for just adding stairs and making a bedroom and en suit and adding 2 vilux windows.... this does not include any fitting. Its too high a price to pay, as then i also need to pay for architectural report/fittings/carpets/wardrobes.. I see a total expense of 50k .... any one got it done cheaper or these are the prices for conversion these days.

Charlie-Bravo

Sounds like a lot but you don't mention if you have a huge house with a massive attic that needs a lot of work done?! I've heard anything between 10 and 15k for a 2-bed townhouse attic conversion in Charlesland - always shop around anyway. Do hire an architect/building surveyor before works begins so he/she may specify the work to be completed such as insulation, fire compliance etc.

Also, you'll find quotes vary greatly because each contractor has their own ideas of what needs to be completed. Having the spec beforehand will make it easier for you to decide who is the better priced guy for the same spec. Quality of workmanship is a different kettle of fish, so go look at some of their previous work and speak to the owners about how the job went for them.

pitrn

Ours is a 3 bed end of row timber house. Agree he mentioned that steel frames need to be placed, but still 28k is too high a price for attic conversion. Will indeed look around for others!

Maudi

pitrn wrote: »

Ours is a 3 bed end of row timber house. Agree he mentioned that steel frames need to be placed, but still 28k is too high a price for attic conversion. Will indeed look around for others!

Steel frames would be a big expense when converting an attic .but seeing as most of the attics( in cland anyway) are left" cut out "ready for conversion are extra steel beams necessary? especially when the attics already feature 9x2 joists..can anybody clarify this.

Charlie-Bravo

The three beds are generally just standard trussed hipped roofs which are not designed to take floor loading. Steel will be required as well as a timber plywood truss to take joists - get yourself a good structural engineer - he can sign off on compliance with building regs as well if all is completed satisfactorily.

cuddlycavies

23K would be about normal. But you want two windows. One is standard and you want an ensuite. 28 sounds about right give or take. Decor etc wont cost another 22k!!!! Also any of the builders who have done it before, like Dermot Mckenna in Delgany, Dorm quality developments or viv dutton will have plans which were signed off by an engineer so no big cost there either. Theres one in the court where the hip was extended to flush with the end wall, would be interested in knowing how much extra this cost.

toxytag

Sorry but could someone tell me how much they paid to get the attic converted in the 2 bed town house. I'm really thinking I might go ahead with it and can anyone recommend a builder for the job thanks for you help.

Annasopra

Attic conversion threads merged

ellejay

I had a look and seem's nice enough.
No shower or bath installed.
There are fitted wardrobe's and 2 sky lights.
plastered floored and loads of electricity points.

Stairs access made the back bedroom a little smaller as runs up along by the wall there.

Hope that helps anyone.

pitrn

Not sure whats wrong with Dermot MC Kenna. Gave him couple of calls but no answer and he never got back to my voice mails as well. I also posted a query on his website, but he never got back. David from attic masters refused to even have a look at my attic on hearing that its timber made house.he said that timber framed houses are very difficult to be converted and are way too expensive!

cuddlycavies

We had ours done. 23k end of terrace, one velux no ensuite, Radiator, lights and 4 powerpoints.

Jimjay

We had our two bed mid terrace done. It was about 19k plus Paint, carpet (since been changed to wood) and at the time an overpriced sliding robe. This was 2006 prices though. We had three windows and the stairs is open (fire door at top of stairs to room) You can see all the way up both staircases from ground floor and there is a window at the top which shines light down to landing. We also had a cathedral ceiling which means the ceiling is higher - goes all the way to to a point rather than a ceiling added under the cross joists.

tp25

I am doing adaptation of the attic space to storage with complete roof insulation.
velux windows to the rear. retain electrical points. Lay new redesigned bathrooms ventilation which was complete joke.
I will post some pictures soon. but again No structural amendments. No changes to appearance of property externally. Architect signed off. I may be able to do parts of this work such as:
1) ventilation
2) ventilation of soil pipe
3) insulation of the complete roof to 0.16U
4) velux
5) reinforcement of flooring and lay new floor
6) I know someone who does the plasterboard jobs and he is good

tp25

Flexi ducting present in our attics is not insulated and once you insulate the roof you will start having a lot of troubles with condensation accumulating on the edges of this ducting. This will bring some drops back to the bathroom. Some of you may negate some of you may agree. The biggest problem is the soil pipe as there is very wet poisonus air trapped all the way along this pipe.

advice:

you cannot legally create 3rd room in Charlesland houses.

by making yourself compliant with fire regs you still need to comply with building regs.

read about minimum habitable space of the room.

then deduct the space of your staircase from the upstairs bedroom. you will end up with room which becomes storage room which is not meeting minimum habitable space condition.

saying that, your attic rooms wont meet all regs and specially wont meet 30 min fire retardance of the staircase.

i would not spend more than 7 k for the improvement of the attic storage space. Be clear. there is reason why cc refuses pp for habitable rooms.

also watch for the current building regs in relation to ventilation and insulation there is requirement to bring ur roof insulation to current regs.

Jimjay

tp25 wrote: »

read about minimum habitable space of the room.

then deduct the space of your staircase from the upstairs bedroom. you will end up with room which becomes storage room which is not meeting minimum habitable space condition.

.

Are you saying the upstairs bedroom will turn in to storage room?
We have our attic converted with regulation sized staircase and our upstairs bedroom still has a double bed, bookcase and double wardrobe in it. Along with new understairs storage. It's still much bigger than some people's spare bedrooms.

Also Thousands and thousands of people have their bedrooms in attic (storage space), although you cannot sell it as a "bedroom" I bet a really well done one will still add value to the house if not make it more sellable than others.

Maudi

Im afraid tp is correct..dosent matter if your "third"bedroom is made from gold leaf..its not s bedroom unless certified..your builder cert isint enough.

Jimjay

Maudi wrote: »

Im afraid tp is correct..dosent matter if your "third"bedroom is made from gold leaf..its not s bedroom unless certified..your builder cert isint enough.

Sure. I am not talking about the attic room. It sounded like tp was saying after you take room from the upstairs bedroom to make way for new stairs then that bedroom would become too small to class as a bedroom.

tp25

Jimjay wrote: »

Sure. I am not talking about the attic room. It sounded like tp was saying after you take room from the upstairs bedroom to make way for new stairs then that bedroom would become too small to class as a bedroom.

I don't know about the exact internal dimensions of your property.
Dimensions seem to differ slightly between CL houses, perhaps you have larger internal dimensions than then others.

BTW I already appraised your bathroom... - great layout

Jimjay

Thanks ref bathroom.
back bedroom after new stairs is 8'x12' thats about 8.8 square meters?. I think minimum room size for a bedroom is 6 square meters.

jshow

Hello,

We live in a 2 bed mid-terraced house in Charlesland and we are interested in converting the attic. If anyone knows of a builder who has done a conversion in the estate please could you send me their details?

If anyone has received a quote recently please could you let me know a rough cost?

Thanks,
J. Howard.

Jimjay

Guys, just to clarify in case anyone has the wrong idea. Our attic conversion is not officially classed as a bedroom and we have never tried to get planning permission to class it as such.

tp25

jshow - hi, there is a possibility that you would convert it as an improved storage space with roof lights etc. You may do whatever access to your storage you wish (ladder, stairs, lift or whatever).

To make your 3rd bedroom compliant you would do a lot of work, but the planning is the most important part of it. I think County Council would refuse PP anyway.

You can do really nice storage, this will ADD value to your property and would certainly insulate Un-insulated roof space, which I believe is a great thing.

tp25

Jimjay wrote: »

Thanks ref bathroom.
back bedroom after new stairs is 8'x12' thats about 8.8 square meters?. I think minimum room size for a bedroom is 6 square meters.

Yes, your builder have used larger bedroom and the room is still a valid room.

I've seen some smaller bedrooms used to allow for a staircase and they become really small.

Obviously this is not the case here

Car2318

Our attic conversion is the biggest 'bedroom' in the house now. Much bigger than the original main room in the house. We have larger stairs too (as I was carrying kids up and down). Best decision/investment we ever made.

pitrn

Car2318 wrote: »

Our attic conversion is the biggest 'bedroom' in the house now. Much bigger than the original main room in the house. We have larger stairs too (as I was carrying kids up and down). Best decision/investment we ever made.

So lucky you are:) is yours a timber framed house? did you get engineers report for the conversion. How much did it cost you all together.

Car2318

pitrn wrote: »

So lucky you are:) is yours a timber framed house? did you get engineers report for the conversion. How much did it cost you all together.

Yep I think we are super duper lucky!!

I believe it is timber framed. Can't answer on engineers report as other half looked after that side but we used reputable builder and covered all fire & safety etc aspects as best as we could. Always well aware that it apparently cannot be advertised as a 3rd bedroom. My brother is architect and know he gave it a good once over. We did get the beams moved back and the tank moved slightly so it has created great space.

Would prefer not to state the price but I believe some local quotes are turning out at half what we paid..............and it does not make sense when you hear some prices and consider what a Velux window alone costs.
I have to agree on some comments on this thread that to get the job done properly it will cost over €10k minimum!

tp25

car2318 can you post pict of your staircase bottom?

redsox_500

daveco23 wrote: »

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

Hi

Would you think about putting an extension on to the back of your property. I
Extended a property in the wood last summer, approx 4m x4m, the client still had a bit of a back garden & it opened up the whole of the back of the house.