Is this loft work possible and worth while?

[Robert9999]

My son, who is single, has just bought a 1960's ex-council house in a quiet cul-de-sac. It is a two-storey, end of terrace house, generally in good condition and has fairly large rooms, so he is very pleased with it.

However, it has one odd feature. The loft has been converted to what was obviously intended as a children's playroom. There is a staircase that looks properly installed above the original staircase so that it does not compromise the landing in any way. It is boarded, carpeted, has power sockets and a radiator. It also has two velux windows that look as though they have been professionally installed.

The surveyor that he employed said that it looked like a DIY conversion and would never pass building regulations for two reasons. Firstly, it seriously lacks headroom. At 5ft 7in I can just stand up but only in the centre. It then slopes with the roof down to about 2ft each side. Secondly, the surveyor doubted that the roof beams had been strengthened in any way.

He was not duped by the sellers who correctly advertised it as a two bedroom house with a loft storage area. Now I realise that there is no economic way of making this loft conversion into a habitable room, i.e. a third bedroom, because of the the height problem. My questions, is there a not too costly way of strengthening the beams under the floor without sacrificing any more height and could it then be properly advertised as being a child's playroom rather than just a storage area.

Thank you for any help and advice.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Without exposing the floor or the ceiling void its impossible to say what strengthening may or may not be required. Same goes for whether it would be too costly or not. Strengthening a floor so that you keep the new beams/joists etc down at existing ceiling joist level can be done but at a higher cost.

The room can never be advertised as a playroom unless it is a bona fide conversion be it a play room, office, bedroom or whatever and that would involve getting retrospective Building Regs Approval. As well as strengthening the floor/roof there are fire, thermal and electrical regulations amongst others to comply with. Strangely there is nothing the building Regulations that requires minimum floor-ceiling heights except immediately above the stairs. Is it also lacking a door between it and the stairwell (be it at the top or the bottom)? If not you would not receive any positive advice to use it as a play room as its potentially a death trap and using it as a habitable room may also invalidate any insurance you (or your son) has.

Then again, it may have been strengthened accordingly.

 

[noseall]

As Freddie has pointed out, there is more to compliance than floor strengthening and head clearance (stairs).

Also, once the staircase was added the so-called storage area became an illegal conversion.

 

[Robert9999]

Thank you Freddy for your reply.

I don't think that it would be difficult to remove the carpet and some of the boarding to see what, if anything, has been done to the joists. There is no door but I don't think that it would be difficult to incorporate one. Anyway, he wants to do something about heat escaping through the conversion.

His surveyor suspected that the whole thing had been done several years ago (before the previous occupants had the house as they had only been there two or three yeears), without involving planning or buildings inspection.

I think that my son would be reluctant to involve a building inspector in case the whole thing is comdemned and has to be removed. Obviously, as he is single, he has no need for the space and can't afford to do anything for a while anyway. We are just looking ahead to when he comes to sell and how he might maximise the return on the house.

 

[Robert9999]

Noseall, are you saying that the best policy is to remove the staircase and replace it with a loft hatch and stowable loft ladder? Could the "room" then be left in its present state and used on an occasional basis for something. (If it were mine it would make a great model railway room.)