Loft conversion - feasibility

[jcbl]

Hi. I am in the difficult place of house hunting and trying to assess whether it is possible to do various things to various properties based on floor plans etc.

I have seen a house that would be of interest if the loft could be converted. The problem is that the stairs are between two rooms as per floorplan. The roof is hipped to the side elevation.

My assumption is that the easiest way to add a staircase would be to take out the shower and put in a double winder staircase in that space - does anyone have a view on whether this looks feasible?

The other potential issue is that the ridge of the roof on the bottom bit of the 'L' shape is lower than on the main part - it looks lower than could be usable as head height - is there a way of estimating how much of the 5.5m on the main part could be usable if a rear dormer could be put on (without knowing the roof pitch and internal height on the centre line - I only need to know to the level of 'could you make a double bedroom')

Thanks

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Is there actually enough space to fit a double winder in where the shower is?, it would be about 1300 wide at the absolute minimum, how would you get into the remaining bathroom? We need the pitch and the height from existing floor to underside of ridge height to estimate the possible available space so a second visit armed with a tape measure is in order if you want a meaningful answer I’m afraid.

 

[jcbl]

Difficult to fully get into loft - not well boarded and lots of stuff - but the height from the top of a joist to below the ridge just before the end of the hip was 2860mm so ~2900 - 3000mm at the top. Eaves to ridge run is 2750mm based on floor plan. So around a 47o pitch.

Roof is trussed construction. Thinking hip to gable might be needed anyway?

 

[jcbl]

Sorry to write again but felt it might be helpful to clarify what I would plan to do

I would take out the shower and take the master bedroom wall in c.1m, and install either a double or triple winder which started just after the bathroom door and turned to the right. The first six risers would be winders taking you through 180o, there would be a straight flight up to follow along the new wall of the master and eventually over the master bedroom door. The roof ridge is directly over the current landing so if the head height at the top of the stairs was impacted by the front roof slope, I would put in a third turn starting with the 10th riser so that the top 2-3 risers came out under the point where the ridge meets the top of the hip.

Small lobby and then rear dormer over the entire rear elevation after the hip.

On a roof pitch of 47o and 5500mm front to back, my maths says you get 2550m from the rear dormer, and c. 1000mm usable on front elevation. The hip and ridge join over the current staircase so probably 3500mm usable space lengthways.

As I write this I'm wondering whether it's worth it for a small double. There's no PD restrictions so you could go hip to gable but it would be a bit of a crime aesthetically - bags of kerb appeal at the moment.

Thoughts welcome.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Sounds plausible, though in your number crunching assume you'll lose say 125 headroom off the existing rafters to allow for insulation etc and you'll need to add say 200 to the floor for the new floor and that will mean an extra step or so and all that will further impact on where the stairs can go but that 200 could be less depending on the existing set-up. It all comes down to if the costs work out at the end of the day.