Love how you turned the chimney into a design feature. Shame there wasn't a better spot for the stairs. Nice job on the en-suite too. Used the space cleverly.
Appreciate that, I really need to take the channel more seriously and invest in decent camera. Used go pro to improve sound quality and now the lens is an issue 🤦
Thank you. Can you believe I had a troll the other day claiming to do this on a regular basis for 2k and calling me a prick 😂 I spent that much on just the windows, stairs and insulation.
Thanks for the positive comments, it's all the added bits that make it for me too. The drawers, wardrobe, light panel etc the effective use of space. I couldn't be more pleased
Cheers pal, the mirror and chimney feature is popular amongst admirers. I can't decide what my favourite bit is, just love it all! Thanks for the positive comments 👍🏻
It had a tiny box room and 1 bathroom, it now has 3 doubles and 2 bathrooms... It increases the value substantially and suits my family needs so what's your point?
Nice job well done only annoyance is the squeaky floor on the top of the stairs would annoy me great tip too for watching the football without having an ugly tv thank you for sharing
@@tstube818 I tried my best to get it but to no avail. My start point for this project was a floor that had been done for me and they cocked up a few things. Glueing would be the way to go in future - and don't skimp.
Tidy job with some nice touches - built in drawers/hanging space, space efficient en-suite is good. Bit naughty using as habitable room before Building Control have signed off (no fire doors or mains fire alarm). Won’t be saleable and home insurance invalid until it’s sorted...
Mains fire alarm is there, just doing hall and landing so doors going on at same time. Building control said can't visit at present but can use in mean time...
@@Chatters156 Hope all goes well with that, had a few run ins myself with BC on my very similar job. Head height on stair turn an inch too low, wrong grade timber for 9” joists they wanted to reinforce floor, other bits I forget. They got their mains alarm (with loft elecs about £1k all round the house) - can’t mess with these guys! Haven’t seen your other vids but for a DIYer you’ve done well buddy.
Thank you very much! All electrics been tested and signed off and bc inspections have all gone well so floorings all good - just awaiting final inspection with my part p cert. If you do watch the earlier episodes you'll note I found a problem with the stairs headheight at the design stage so adjusted the stairs measurements to correct it 👍🏻 Bit of a mine field...
Cheers, all of my DIY experience paid off in this project - lots of excuses to try things I've wanted to do for ages and buy the tools I've needed for years! 😂
I wish! Thank you! I have full-time job keeping me very busy so have to keep it DIY unfortunately...hoping to drop current career for something along these lines in the future but gotta keep paying that mortgage!! Seen my mancave build series?
I joked about him making these to order but said it was one off, he made some spares and I have fitted them to the drawers under the bed so they are all over the room now. Shame really because he did a great job with them!
@@Chatters156 Ask him to make one more ,send it off to China to see what the cost would be ,he might make enough for his retirement fund . a friend of mine came up with chile fairy lights and sold 64 mil £ worth ,thats the saturation point of sales and then exported frozen chickens feet to china , which they eat .
Well done, lovely finish. Sorry I haven’t watched all your videos yet but what is the finished floor to ceiling height? Did you have to strengthen your existing joists and did you have building regs? Thanks
Thank you. The floor to ceiling height is 8 foot, if you watch ep2 i go in to detail about the flooring joists, and ep3 (roof window) I explain the roof rafters. I was able to avoid steels. I went through full building regs without an issue. I recommend the previous episodes if you're considering it yourself and a couple of books that put me on the right track.
Not to my knowledge, stairs are built of wood so can't really fireproof them entirely... Nothing I've read specifies of top of my head... Gutted the top step creaks tho 😡
I have a few questions. Your loft extension is pretty much the same as what I want with using an old bedroom as the entrance to the loft. You mention about fire doors on all the other bedrooms etc. What stood you just putting a fire door on the old bedroom with your stairs in and in the event of a fire using the window as the exit point with it being in the first floor. It wouldn’t be any different to for example if you had a fire downstairs before the loft conversion and you needed to exit the upstairs windows would be your means of escape if the stairs are blocked off. Also what depth of insulation did you use? Was it 130 mm because it’s not a new build. One last thing, are the building reg people ok with self builders doing the work as long as you meet all the requirements. Is yours all passed off now? Looks spot on by the way, you are into the detail so from that you know everything done properly, did you fit ridge vents to make sure you have a good flow of air around the back of the insulation? Like the fact you haven’t put spot lights through the insulation letting moisture through and going for a mounted assembly . Good idea. 👍
OK, few questions to get through there...have you watched the full series? Episode 1 covers the design process and some of the regs and I discuss insulation thicknesses too. 1. Fire regulations prevent just that one fire door being used, you have to create an escape corridor rated to 30 mins. Coupled with the inter connected alarms it provides an escape route to the door. 2. Regarding the insulation thickness, it's the u-value that has to be adhered to. My insulation isn't as thick but I used more efficient types so that the equivalent u-value still meets the expectations of building regs. The multifoil I used is super efficient and is the equivalent of 55mm of pir board. 3. There are 2 routes you can go down with the local authorities. Full plans, where you agree before hand all of the details, and show in your plans how you will meet regs. The other is a building notice, where you could get an inspection and told to improve something that you hadn't accounted for. As long as regs are met it should be OK, but your electrical work will need to be fully 'part P' compliant and signed off by a suitable professional. Also any structural changes early on will need to be displayed as meeting standards, which may require a structural engineer - especially if steels are required because there are load calcs to be done. Covid has delayed my final sign off, but I have been in close contact and provided evidencial photos and it is a formality 🤞🏻 when they're allowed to visit again. 4. There is a 50mm air gap above the insulation to prevent the risk of condensation build up which runs from front to back. You can get away with less if you have a 'breathable membrane' under the tiles but defo consult the LA about this in advance. If you haven't checked out my other episodes then please do, I would highly recommend the Haynes loft conversion manual for research purposes and read it all, I referred to that so much at the planning stage! Take as much time at the planning stage as you can to iron out. Don't underestimate the amount of work involved too! Fitting the stairs and maybe the roof window (mine was massive) might require additional pairs of hands. Stairbox have a decent planning section to visualise the stairs and calculate the measurements. Thanks for you kind words, it's the best thing I ever did and took so much effort - it's great to hear others appreciate the outcome. I love it!!
@@Chatters156 thanks for the quick reply. I will look at your other vids for sure. I’m not keen on fitting fire doors from top to bottom. They are not the most stylish. I can’t see why a full corridor needs to be made. Let’s face it who closes all the doors at night. If there was a fire downstairs your not going down are you , I’d be going out of the window if there was a nice porch to climb onto.
@@philprice760 I know what you mean, but there is no way around it unfortunately. The fire regs are extreme in some cases. But you can get fire doors in a good range these days but they are far more expensive!
Looks great and something I'm considering doing. What's were the dimensions of your loft before you started? Trying to get an idea if I can do a very similar thing in mine. Thanks
Yes, didn't change roof structure. The idea was to get rid of the box bedroom not increase the amount of rooms. Either way there has been a huge increase in value. If we want a fourth bedroom we can still build over the garage anyway. The existing roof is very tall so managed to get all this done with minimal disruption. If I'd created a fourth bedroom then 2 of the bedrooms on first floor would have been tiny and I ultimately want 4 doubles.
@@Chatters156 fair play mate , it’s first time I seen a 1 room second floor bungalow. We did extension to our 6 bed detached house , smashed the conservatory made kitchen bigger and added a extra en suite. When we look at the new bricks 🧱 it stands out from the the original bricks the house had. We now have 4 toilets instead of 2 and we made a room smaller for stairs to third floor because the ladder 🪜 snapped and my sister fell breaking her arm. But yes mate it still looks good the bungalow
Started January just as COVID was rearing it's ugly head. I was working around my day job and was delayed in may when the lockdown was imposed. I couldn't get a plasterer for 3 months but then clearly only had decorating left. Worth the wait in the end.
No there's no Dormer, but the height is nowhere near restrictive. The wardrobes occupy the lower side and the rooms designed so you move around the higher area. The narrow ceiling is still 8 foot tall!
Absolutely amazing job. Like you I brought my house with the idea of doing a loft extension, but just didn't know what to do. Your layout is pretty much the same as mine apart from my bathroom and box room are the other way around (would probably need changing before work is done). I still can't believe you managed to keep it within budget, I commend you on that considering the quality as well. Also love the video on the plans. Just out of curiosity have you managed to get your house valued since doing the work and if so has it improved in value?
It really means a lot to read comments like yours Justin! Can't describe how proud I am of the job and how well it turned out. It surpasses even my own expectations. If I were to subtract the £1000+ I spent on tools then I came in really under budget but also remember I had done some work years ago when we first moved in. Have you seen the full series then? Not much feedback on the planning video I made so had wondered if it was any use to anyone??
Hello your loft look great! Well done on doing all the work yourself- it must have been really difficult! Just wondering if you have the dimensions of the space? You have inspired us but it is very hard to visualise what we can do with our own loft, and comparing the dimensions would be a great help. Thanks in advance x
That's a real compliment. Thank you. If you're thinking of doing your own have you seen the first episode from my series? It goes through considerations and dimensions to some degree... Most important thing to check is the height of the ridge board. The flooring joists will be thick and then there's the ceiling collar ties. Roughly 3 metres will be ideal to leave 8 foot headroom. I'd be really interested to hear what you think of the first episode... Thanks again!
Doing all but the plastering myself cut the costs right down. I also paid for the electrics to be checked but had done them all prior. In total I completed for less than 10k which wasn't easy, but totally worth it.
I have a loft that is about 5'11 in height. Do you think I could do something like this. The loft is already heated, carpeted and insulated. Just had sloping roof from the sides and only walking height in the middle.
The problem comes when you want to classify it as a habitibal room. It won't reach the official height and the access won't comply either. You can you it as a loft room especially if you've already got carpet and insulation etc but council won't agree it meets building regs. Big roof alterations required I suspect if you want more...
@Chatters DIY I'm about 5'9 so it'll probably be good for a chill out room if anything! I can't make the ceiling any higher so will probably just make do with it. It's got a loft ladder, doubt I'll put in stairs, if anything, I'll get a decent ladder/pull down stairs!
Thanks 👍🏻 I'm not quite in Birmingham... Dudley. Out of interest did you only watch this video or the whole series? This one was just the last episode and I went into lots more detail in previous episodes. They may answer the questions you have?
If you look back at my earlier videos in the series you can see that a tackled it myself. The only things I didn't do was the plastering (because its a skill and completely unforgiving) and the tiling (as I had it done whilst away on holiday) the rest of it was my own work, from design to stairs, roof windows and building bespoke furniture! That's how I got it done so cheap, never would have got it done otherwise £££!
Yes mate, the structure is the first thing the council inspect so it has to be spot on. The size and spec has to be calculated correctly. The first episode of this series goes into more detail about this stage...
Without checking I'm guessing that's the bit about the villa 😂 oh well - don't hate! Thank you for the positive comments. Please check out my other vids...!
Hi there. Thanks for that but I believe this to be the case only when the fire door for the room is at the top of the stairs? In our case the fire door separating the loft is still on the first floor and crucially before the stairs start. Fire proof board is used on the part of the stairs where they are exposed to the landing... So that becomes nigated? That sound right??
@@Chatters156 sorry my fire regs may be older bcz I don't deal with it now. The stairs rises. It duznt seem to matter if the fire door is at the top or bottom. The stairs are still exposed & fire can burn thro regardless of door location. I agree on the door at the top but top or btm don't see how it prevents fire burning through
Each to their own... The cons in our situation out weighed. Didn't wanna lose the light on landing and didn't want a really awkward staircase. We have no regrets AT ALL... The space under the stairs is still extremely practical and getting loads of usage.
Haha keep getting comments from people saying they done their own loft or others for like £2/3k... Not to the same level you haven't!! Soon as they comment they delete it 😂
Looking at converting my loft, can you tell me what the size of your loft space was before you started, ie Height, Width and over all length. I am looking at putting in bedroom, and a open plan office. Really like what you have done, and has given me some great ideas.
@@steven-ly5zi thanks Steven! Firstly, have you checked out the rest of this series?? There's lots more info I included in previous episodes regarding the design and process. Height is a biggy, this will determine your suitability for conversion. You need it tall enough to allow for new flooring joists, floor boards and roofing insulation. Ideally you want the ridge board to be getting on for about 3m high? My usable space was purlin to purlin (11ft) and gable to party wall (17 ft) Episode 1 will go through design consideration...
Yh easy mate... Helped by the unaltered size and internal supporting walls so didn't need steels. Defo do it again if I moved as added a lot to house value. 👍🏻