Loft extension

Yes, but it didn’t go well! Ex husband, who normally worked overseas, came to the U.K. for a couple of weeks holiday which co-incided with a holiday I had pre-booked with the kids. So he stayed at home, saying he had a ‘project’ in mind. When I got home two weeks later, he’d knocked a whacking great hole in they wall on the top landing leading to the roof space. Then he went off back overseas. Each time he came on leave he had an excuse for why he couldn’t continue his ‘project’.

Four years later, we divorced and I moved away. (I wouldn’t say the hole in the wall was the only reason for the divorce, but it didn’t help!). Two years after that he finally fitted out the roof space. By that time he hand his new wife had no use for the extra room and it was never used.

My nephew has a three storey house. His advice to me was to think very careful before moving to one!

We did a loft extension in our last house, that was over 25 years ago now, we had an additional big bedroom and 2nd bathroom out of that venture. The bedroom had Velux windows that looked down the garden. A dormer gives more headroom but they can sometimes look incongruous on some structures, a balcony would be great though, especially good to step out onto if one is experiencing a menopausal hot flush I imagine. Glad we did ours, we turned a 3 bedroomed house into a 4 bedroomed one and our children both had equal sized bedrooms on the floor below. There was a hell of a lot of dust in the aftermath, that I do remember and the builders gave me bugger all notice on the day they knocked the ceiling through, just told me to spend longer in Sainsburys when I was on my way out that day. A lot of stairs! but I must say the new staircase that was created matched the existing one very well it was as if it was always there.

Our current house is still three storeys, and has the living room on the first floor, and although it has great views, I'm getting sick of the stairs now, the kitchen and dining room are down below, I often find myself up and down stairs all the time when I'm cooking.............In my dreams, I'm living in a bungalow Logistically it's not great having the living room on the first floor, if and when we move, those rooms will have to be adjacent for me.

I had a flat when I first moved up north, and although apartment living isn't for me, I loved my main sitting room being above ground floor.

I'm very envious of my neighbour. The balcony is at the front of his house, and while I was on my daily walk a couple of weeks ago, he was on the balcony watering his plants. Jealous!

While I was working abroad, between Jan/Jun, a wonderful house directly opposite a park with a lovely loft extension came up for sale. Not that my house was up for sale, but I yearned for it! Needless to say, it sold quickly.

We once had a house that had the living room/kitchen on the first floor, bedrooms above that, because there was a garage and cellar beneath. It was split level.
The views were wonderful but getting a pram up and down was difficult!

I'd opt for a bungalow these days, although 'bungalow legs' are supposed to be a problem of old age.

When I moved (downsized) to my last house it was a terraced 1930 house. At that time, only one of my adult children had a child.
Within a very short time, other g.children started to be born, and I decided to have just one big room put in the loft for them to sleep (and when older,_ to play in.
Used a local company and decided to keep down costs and times, just to have that one room, with stairs running up from landing where there had been an airing cupboard which had originally houses a large bot water tank. That I replaced with a modern combi-boiler in the kitchen.

Kept the original door to airing cupbaord. As those stairs led directly into that room, it meant that the the loft only every (legally) counted as a 'boarded out loft', not a room. This meant it did not effect my value for Community Charge, and I did not need to have all room doors in the rest of the house changed over to fire resistant ones. Just one of those legal technicalities, Had two large Velux windows there These did need to proper Velux blackout blinds.. Lots of room, I had two single beds, masses of space for toys, rail dressing up clothes, cupboards, and had a tv airial point in there also, etc. etc. Each side had excellent (lockable) storage space under the eaves.

It would be very simple for any future owners of the house to add in a wet room or shower room with a small extension directly over the bathroom on the first floor. Of course if this was done it would then become a loft extension and the other legalities would need to take place.

I used it as a spare guest room for many years whilst I was there. I replaced what had been the little cupboard that had been at the top of the original airing cupboard with a pane of glass (so this was at the bottom of those stairs directly on the first floor landing.. As my g,children grew older, and stayed with me overnight, they could never quite understand the magic which meant that Grandma, ALWAYS KNEW when they did not put the lights out in that room when they were told to do so at night!!!!

So, I was very pleased with that and I am sure it was an added selling point last year. Gave so much extra space.

Franbern, you were using it for sleeping accommodation - for children? There's very good reasons for the fire door building regulations requirements, they're not just a 'legal technicality'!

Gagajo I can see the appeal, but from my experience first floor rooms which have been designed as bedrooms are unlikely to have the dimensions you would need for a living room without a lot of reconfiguring.
I think you could be looking at a £30-50k bill - is it worth it?