Attic Conversion

Arklow10

I have received planning permission to convert my attic space with to a bedroom with an en-suite. It will have a dormer window.

I want to have as detailed a specification as possible for the internal layout before I go to tender. It will be a relatively small area roughly a 3m by 4m bedroom room with a landing accessed by a normal new stairway


Two questions, in particular from anyone who has experience of having completed an attic extension as to what should I consider including in this conversion:
1. Best way of preventing shower leaks, type of shower enclosure, insulation for heat (flooring, walls and roof), thin,but high efficiency, roof insulation as possible on the roof in order to maximise the internal room height. Also sound damping, electric features to install, etc. I will be using this job to upgrade other aspects of the house, where the budget allows. The house is about 15 years old and an end of terrace.

Secondly - any specialist Attic conversion companies that do this type of job and a guesstimate of what a standard attic conversion may cost?

Gumbo

Arklow10 wrote: »

I have received planning permission to convert my attic space with to a bedroom with an en-suite. It will have a dormer window.

I want to have as detailed a specification as possible for the internal layout before I go to tender. It will be a relatively small area roughly a 3m by 4m bedroom room with a landing accessed by a normal new stairway


Two questions, in particular from anyone who has experience of having completed an attic extension as to what should I consider including in this conversion:
1. Best way of preventing shower leaks, type of shower enclosure, insulation for heat (flooring, walls and roof), thin,but high efficiency, roof insulation as possible on the roof in order to maximise the internal room height. Also sound damping, electric features to install, etc. I will be using this job to upgrade other aspects of the house, where the budget allows. The house is about 15 years old and an end of terrace.

Secondly - any specialist Attic conversion companies that do this type of job and a guesstimate of what a standard attic conversion may cost?

Let your Architect or Engineer specify these items, not Boards.ie.
You are converting an attic, so serious consideration with regards to fire Safety must be adhered to at all times. Simple thing like down lighters will cause a reduction in the integrity of the fire rated ceiling/floor, so all this needs to be considered.

Have you got a professional designing and inspecting the works?

1874

An attic conversion requires planning permission? I thought internal works were planning exempt (but had to comply with building regs) is it the dormer window?


Could recessed downlighters have a fire rated plasterboard box created for them? Or are there reasonably flush surface mounted types?

Arklow10

To both comments ; a structural engineer will design the internal steel structure (unfortunately required in this case) and an architect the interior.

This attic conversion requires planning permission. Required when a dormer window is been installed.

I was hoping to tap into the experience of others who had gone through an attic conversion process re what their learnings were, and if doing the same job again would they do anything differently. Are there features they are glad they included and features they wish they had/had not etc.

Also any thoughts on the specialist attic conversion companies used?
Will not be going to tender for about 3 months.

patsy mulcaghy

Hopefully not to hijack thread, but looking at a house currently and I know there are a few technical people here.

Attic converted, not to building regs. Am I right in saying they are 'stand up storage' and cannot be used or sold as being bedrooms. Pursue or run a mile?

Property was built pre '63 if makes any difference, but works completed more recently.

Cheers!

tretorn

patsy mulcaghy wrote: »

Hopefully not to hijack thread, but looking at a house currently and I know there are a few technical people here.

Attic converted, not to building regs. Am I right in saying they are 'stand up storage' and cannot be used or sold as being bedrooms. Pursue or run a mile?

Property was built pre '63 if makes any difference, but works completed more recently.

Cheers!

An attic conversion that doesnt have a separate landing or fire doors cannot be sold as a bedroom. The ceiling height has to be adequate to class it as a bedroom too.

I would install extra insulation in the walls, the attic will be very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer, there isnt much you can do in the summer but the extra insulation will help in the winter.

We used The Attic Man and found them very good.

patsy mulcaghy

It's been converted already to a decent standard in terms of insulation, velux windows and the likes. But it doesn't comply for a number of reasons.

Undecided whether to pursue or not as property is a one-bed in reality, not a three bed as advertised.

Has anybody here heard of upgrading such a conversion to the building regs?Would be a pricy and fairly unrealistic task imo. Cheers

tretorn wrote: »

An attic conversion that doesnt have a separate landing or fire doors cannot be sold as a bedroom. The ceiling height has to be adequate to class it as a bedroom too.

I would install extra insulation in the walls, the attic will be very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer, there isnt much you can do in the summer but the extra insulation will help in the winter.

We used The Attic Man and found them very good.

tommythecat

patsy mulcaghy wrote: »

It's been converted already to a decent standard in terms of insulation, velux windows and the likes. But it doesn't comply for a number of reasons.

Undecided whether to pursue or not as property is a one-bed in reality, not a three bed as advertised.

Has anybody here heard of upgrading such a conversion to the building regs?Would be a pricy and fairly unrealistic task imo. Cheers

You need clearance of over 7ft or thereabouts for a significant part of the space so unless you have that (which most attics don’t have) it can never be classed as a bedroom

Gumbo

tretorn wrote: »

An attic conversion that doesnt have a separate landing or fire doors cannot be sold as a bedroom. The ceiling height has to be adequate to class it as a bedroom too.

I would install extra insulation in the walls, the attic will be very cold in the winter and very warm in the summer, there isnt much you can do in the summer but the extra insulation will help in the winter.

We used The Attic Man and found them very good.

It cannot be sold as anything as it will be a breach of building regulations. You need the fire for and landing for the creation of the additional storey no matter what it’s use. This can be at first or attic storey level.

tommythecat wrote: »

You need clearance of over 7ft or thereabouts for a significant part of the space so unless you have that (which most attics don’t have) it can never be classed as a bedroom

The calculation stems from TGD F, it’s a triangular calculation and the min height at the higher level is 2.4m.

Arklow10

50% 0f the floor area needs to be 2.4 mtrs high to be able to be classified as an attic conversion amongst some other criteria, however this is the critical criteria. This can be achieved in some cases by installing a dormer window, which I did.

Will check out the Attic man, thank you.

By the way Patsy you install any spacial features?
In hindsight would you have installed anything else in your attic conversion?
Did you tank the en-suite , if you installed one?

dinomite

We did a conversion a few years ago, ensuite bedroom, wardrobe and dormer window. We tanked ensuite shower which has worked great, definitely worth doing. A couple of things in hindsight that we should have done - make wardrobe door open outwards. Carpenter presumed inwards and because of eaves, space is reduced. Also, looking back, instead of normal window in dormer, I would have made it full height to let in more light. Apart from that, we are thrilled with it. The builder thought we were mad not to make two rooms, but one decent size is so much better.

Alf Veedersane

I'd look to address airtightness during works. Been in too many dormers and attic conversions with decently spec'd insulation but draught everywhere.

patsy mulcaghy

@Arklow haven't completed any of the work myself, was looking at a property purchase. Having serious doubts now, as to value incl. this non-compliant converted space. Attic Guy website does look decent, quite knowledgeable.

Thanks all for your input

3DataModem

I just sold a house with an attic conversion (it was being used as a bedroom but was not a bedroom per building regulations). The sale was not straightforward, and we were lucky to close to be honest.

patsy mulcaghy

3DataModem wrote: »

I just sold a house with an attic conversion (it was being used as a bedroom but was not a bedroom per building regulations). The sale was not straightforward, and we were lucky to close to be honest.

Would you mind if I sent you a quick PM? Cheers

tretorn

3DataModem wrote: »

I just sold a house with an attic conversion (it was being used as a bedroom but was not a bedroom per building regulations). The sale was not straightforward, and we were lucky to close to be honest.

Can you say what the issue was.

We have the right celing clearance on the stairs cleared by an engineer. We have enough clearance height wise in the attic but we couldnt sell it as a bedroom, it will be classed as storage.

The fixed furniture is designed to suit the space, ie drawers that pull out so you dont have to bend, every inch of storage space is used. The room is en suite and its comfortable.

Nobodysrobots

3DataModem wrote: »

I just sold a house with an attic conversion (it was being used as a bedroom but was not a bedroom per building regulations). The sale was not straightforward, and we were lucky to close to be honest.

I'm sale agreed on a house with attic conversion, the conversion was done about 20 years ago. The surveyor just requested engineers certificates of compliance/exemption which vendor furnished a week later. It's not classified for bedroom use either (they rarely are). Would also be interested in hearing what your issue was?

tretorn

What does tanking the en suite mean.

1874

tretorn wrote: »

What does tanking the en suite mean.

Its sealing up the wet areas, such as showers and bathroom walls and possibly floors if a wet room.
I thought this was doen with a membrane, wasnt sure how tiles would be sti=uck to that but think it might be plastered in and sealed to prevent moisture spreading/leaks.
but I believe you can get a paint on type product which you can apply with a brush.