Loft Conversions ideas in Barnet
Loft Conversion ideas in Enfield
Are you planning a loft conversion in Enfield?
Charles Jeffrey Ltd for great loft conversion ideas in Enfield
Before you call in a company, employ an architect or rip out the roof, read on.
Charles Jeffrey who has been a reliable & respected builder of loft conversions in Enfield, tells us exactly how to make your big spend a successful one.
1 Getting Into The Loft And Make Sense Of The Space
Charles Jeffrey can help you plan and design it properly. People find it difficult to visualise a three dimensional space in a loft. If you look at it on a plan it can seem bigger than it is. Get up there and you'll bang your head.
What I always tell clients to do is to get up in the loft, no matter how miserable and dingy and dark it might be, take a measuring tape and a piece of paper to make sense of space and to start thinking about how the space is going to work, because you'll realise there's only so much usable space - in other words, where you're going to get head clearance.
2 We Plan How To Use All Your Space
Where there isn't headroom use it for storage. Use the eaves space for low-level shelving, low-level bookcases or cupboards. Get as much storage as you can. Even if I put shelving into the eaves, I'll put hatch cupboards behind them, because you can get suitcases in there.
3 Planning For Natural Daylight
Think about how you're going to get natural light into the space as well. Are you going to put in Velux rooflights? Or a dormer window? Dormer windows are lovely, because they give you extra headroom.
4 What Will The Space Be For?
Think about whether you want a shower room, a toilet or en suite in there. What's the room being used for? Is it a studio? Is it a bedroom? Any additional space is going to add value anyway, whether you call it 'bedroom number four' or 'study space'.
There's no point in putting a bathroom there if you're not going to use it, but think about how you'll use the room in the future, too - if you'll have more kids, if you want to maximise its value, then putting an extra shower room is a good idea - it can become en suite bedroom, in effect. But you have got to get the services up there, which can be really tricky for lofts.
A word of warning, though: never let your builder put a macerator (a waste disposal unit with a pump) in. Macerators should be banned. Even talking about them makes me feel ill.
5 Getting the Staircase Right
One of the most important things is the position of the staircase. It's the most important decision to make. Most times, there's only one place it can go, but you've got to think quite creatively about that. In most house types, the best place has to be over the existing staircase. To make the staircase efficient it mustn't feel like you're climbing a loft ladder. It's got to comply with building regulations anyway, but you want climbing the stairs to be a nice experience and to feel as though it is part of the original dwelling.
6 Insulation
Finally, the insulation - if you're having a loft conversion it must be well insulated. I always say to my clients, 'Let's do it beyond the building regulations. That little extra cost is worth everything - and it'll save you having to put on the heating as much.
Charles Jeffrey Ltd the trusted specialist builder of loft conversions in Enfield.
Submitted by charles jeffrey on Wednesday 16th June 2010