Loft Conversions
Loft Conversions are an excellent way of increasing the size of your property just by utilising the dead and empty space which you already have.
A loft conversion, if planned correctly, can increase the value of your property by as much as 20%, and in some cases, previous customers have confirmed that their property had been valued at over 30% higher than before the loft conversion had been carried out.
Unfortunately, not every property is suited to having a loft conversion mainly due to the lack of internal head height. To enable a worthwhile conversion to happen you should ideally already have an internal loft head height of about 2.2 - 2.3 metres measured from the highest point of your loft, usually below the ridge line, down to the plasterboard of your ceiling directly below. If you have this internal head height then you probably have enough room to be able to convert your loft quite successfully, much less than this then it may not be worth converting as a very low ceiling height in a converted loft may not appeal to potential buyers if ever you were to sell your property.
There is a lot of work that goes into creating a loft conversion and there are a lot of regulations that need to be complied with. For instance, the loft will need a staircase, the room(s) and roof will require insulating, there will be a requirement for natural ventilation to the underside of your existing roof, any additional lighting and power points will need to be certificated, most of the existing doors within your property may require upgrading to fire rated doors, the list goes on.
Please don't be fooled into thinking that this work can be carried out without building regulation approval as unless certain inspections are carried out and unless you receive your building certificate from the building inspector at the end of the job, you may not be able to sell your house at a later date. The building certificate is a legal document that you will require for future reference and will need to be kept safe.
Our Advice......
For free advice either contact High Room Loft Conversions or talk to your local authority building control department, they are more than willing to provide free advice over the telephone, send you information or maybe even pay you a visit.
There could be a lot of money at stake here and you wouldn't want to lose it so don't give vast amounts of money to any builder upfront and always withhold some money until the building inspector agrees to release a building certificate.
Choose a loft conversion company carefully, simple checks that you make and references you get may take a little time, but may save you a lot.
