Enclosed staircase in victorian cottage in middle of house, loft conversion help

[Rob Drummer]

I've seen a few posts about moving staircases and the issues around building regulations in small victorian cottages. We'd not be planning to do that but are interested to know any opinions on getting a staircase up to the loft if we converted in the attached property. We'd look at creating a landing/corridor upstairs and create a very small room upstairs.

The first floor plan is the property we're interested in and the second has a loft conversion as a reference. We'd be keen on a similar conversion. Building/fire regulations are on our mind. We know that the very small room upstairs would likely be useful for a nursery/study - and would end up with two good sized doubles. That bathroom off the current second bedroom is an issue for us and we're looking for ways to resolve that.

Obviously anything is possible with enough money but welcome any thoughts on this type of work and whether it is just best to leave the layout as it is.

Thanks!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Sometimes loft conversion layouts design themselves, so to speak, that is as in your case there doesn't seem to be many practical alternatives to the layout you have already found assuming you don't want to move the stairs, you want separate access to the bathroom and the roof lends itself to conversion.

Note that the door to the new stairs in that design you found would not comply (though could just be an inaccurate estate agents plan) as you need a 400mm gap between any door swing and the bottom step, though that could be overcome by shifting the door and accessing the second bedroom off the corridor instead. Or it might be possible to have the door at the top of the new stairs though that is often undesirable in a loft bedroom. So it looks OK in theory but someone needs to get their tape measure out and check it'll work ie enough loft height, can the stairs be made to work etc etc. Have any of the neighbours done conversions?