How Disruptive is a Loft Conversion?

Converting your loft into a usable room is a great way to add more space and value to your home. You can use a loft conversion in several different ways, whether you want an extra bedroom to accommodate your growing family, want to add a touch of luxury to your home with a walk-in wardrobe, need a study area or could use some extra bathroom space. But, how disruptive exactly can you expect a loft conversion to be?

How Long Does a Loft Conversion Take?

The length of time that you can expect your loft conversion to take will depend on a number of factors including the type of loft that you have, your home, and what you want to do with the space. Older homes, for example, might require a lot more work than a new build when it comes to turning the loft into a usable room. The planning phase is often the longest since you will be required to get quotes, draw up and approve blueprints, and potentially get planning permission from the local authority, depending on what you are planning to do with the loft.

Raising the Ceilings

Does your loft have enough head height? Without the right amount of height, your loft conversion options can be limited and may start to create more disruption.

Measuring your space is very straight forward. Simply grab a tape measure and calculate the distance between the top of the floor joists to the underside of the ridge beam. Ideally, these measurements will be 2.4 metres or more, leaving you with 2.2 metres of space once the loft conversion has been completed.

If you’re still unsure about whether or not your loft space is suitable for a loft conversion, then take a read of our blog post, where you can find out whether you’ll need permission and how likely it is that you’ll be able to have one.

Types of Loft Conversion

The type of loft conversion that you go for will impact not only the length of time that you can expect the work to take but also the amount of disruption to your home life that you can expect in the meantime. A Velux loft conversion or simple roof light is usually the easiest and least disruptive of all the options, however, there are other loft conversion options such as a hip-to-gable, mansard, or dormer loft conversion that are required to structurally alter your home and will therefore take longer to accomplish and usually cause more disruption.

Do plenty of research into the different types of loft conversion before you begin, to determine which one is the most suitable for your needs – not only with what you want to achieve but also in terms of the amount of time you have to complete the work and how much disruption you are willing to put up with.

Which Loft Conversion is Best for Your Home?

While some loft conversions in London are more time-consuming and disruptive than others, you may be limited to what you can choose based on the type of home that you own. A semi-detached home, for example, is often the best candidate for a hip-to-gable loft conversion which requires slightly altering the shape of your roof. On the other hand, detached homes are often the best for easier and simpler conversion options. If you have a terraced house, a loft conversion can be the best way to increase its size and get more space. Mansard conversions are ideal but will require planning permission since they alter the structure of your roof. On the other hand, a dormer loft conversion is usually built to the rear of the property and does not require planning permission.

What You Want to Do With Your Loft Conversion

Bear in mind that the end goal you have for your loft conversion will also have an impact on the amount of disruption and work that you can expect. For example, converting a loft area into an additional bedroom or study area is often the least disruptive option compared to turning it into a second bathroom, for example. If you want to use your loft as a bathroom space then you can expect much more disruption and work to be going on in your home for longer since it will require additional plumbing to add a toilet, shower, suitable drainage and everything else that you can expect from a bathroom space.

The amount of disruption you can expect from your loft conversion will depend on your home, loft conversion type, and what you want the room to be.