Converting loft London is one of the solutions to add space to your home. As an example here is dormer loft conversion in Woolwich, London, SE18. This project we have completed in spring 2018.
Converting loft London:
If you are thinking of converting loft London to increase space in your home then first step is to get pre construction paperwork ready. Namely: planning application or permitted development notice, construction drawings, structural calculations and notify building control. In case of our client there was no need for planing application - permitted development notification was sufficient as volume added was bellow planning threshold. (More on Loft Planing).
Next stage was to measure and order steels. Once we got delivery date (which usually between 3 to 7 days) we were ready to start the project.
AFL team has started with opening the existing roof and installing steels to support new dormers. Followed by timber framing 2 dormers on 2 different levels. A smaller dormer on lower and larger dormer one on top. Overall sequence of works was as follows:
- Scaffold erected- we chose to have temporary roof added expense but less affected by weather allowing to avoid interruptions and leaks into the house.
- Installed supports and strip part of the roof to make space for dormers.
- Installed structural steels.
- Build timber frame and claded with chipboard. Structural grade chipboard is slightly cheaper but prone to moisture compared with structural plywood. In our case we had temporary roof so this was not an issue.
- Next phase we have installed heating and electrical services.
- Opened into existing house and installed new loft staircase.
- Installed windows and doors.
- Installed GRP flat roof membrane and slates to the walls of dormers. Again was temporary roof not in place this we would have done as early as we can but in our case we could change timing.
- Installed insulation and cladded with plasterboards
- Plastered the internal walls.
- Decorated all the walls and ceiling- clients chose to decorate themselves.
- Installed heating and electrical fittings (2nd fix).
When building is important to communicate with Building control and get their sign off at relevant stages not only final sign off. To be honest one could expect a bit more guidance for £1200 building control fee. Anyway only notes to the proposed design were: Building Control has advised us to create baskets for wool type insulation between joists using chicken mesh. This is applicable as part of fire regulations when ceiling is lathes and purpose is to keep insulation in place in case of a fire. Also we double checked re insulation values for walls, roof and ceiling as different Building controls have slight difference of opinion when it comes to existing buildings.
On final sign off visit main discussion was on fire regulation compliance for the rest of the house due to the loft being added. Our electrician upgraded to fire alarm system with linked fire alarms, also co2 and smoke detectors were installed.
To summarise - converting loft took us only 7 weeks to build and finished from the inside. We got few disruptions that delayed overall delivery time to 9 weeks. The client was left happy to enjoy an additional of 36m2 to his home.
