aAsk a Tradesman

although my hubby spoke to several professional trademen regarding the correct requiements etc.We have very recently sold our house and have been sent questionaire from solicitors and it asks for building reg cert which we dont have. Is there anyway round this without involving the council or maybe because it was so long ago it doesnt require cert.

Hopefully someone will be able to steer us in the right direction

Jules

Looking to buy a pre 1900 2 bed cottage in good structural order with the hope of extending into the loft. The pitch of the roof is quite low, so I'm assuming a dormer style extension would be needed. Would the costs be higher or any complications arise due to the age of the property? How would we begin the process initial, architects? Build regs, planning permission etc? What would be the estimate pricing for planning etc before the build?

Who do we contact for for Building Regulators? We are currently getting quotes for a Loft Conversion we are not having a Dorma Conversion just two or three sky lights. We are putting a staircase in to make it a useable four bedroom house,do i still need to inform Building Regs?
Yours, Mrs E Lynch.

We bought a 1905 terraced house, which was sold to us as a 3 bed + bonus room. The bonus room referred to the loft which had been converted years and years ago by one of the previous owners. It was sold as a bonus room because there was no record or document (building regs certificate, etc.) for this loft conversion.
The loft conversion currently consists of the following:
spiral staircase (very space saving, but the balustrade has become very wobbly),
some electric work for lighting and also electric heaters,
some insulation (most likely not up to scratch Vs current building regs),
floor: not sure how to check if this was properly done,
Dormer window looking to the back.

We would like to refurbish the loft (fix stairs to make them more sturdy, fit double glazing for dormer window, fit new velux opposite dormer window to bring in more light, fit built-in cupboard).

Ultimately we want to use the loft as a study/play room. Do study/play rooms count as habitable rooms in which case we would need to re-do the loft conversion entirely with up-to-date building regs? Or can we get away with doing the above refurbishment without building regs?

I'm planning to contact my council's building control department, but wanted to get advice from expert tradesmen too. Sorry for the long question...

=======Update 23/04/11===========
Thanks all for the replies so far. Had further thoughts: so ok we could do the refurbishment (fix spiral stairs, replace wooden dormer window by uPVC double glazing, etc.) without need for building regs, BUT when we come to sell our house, potential buyers could be deterred by the fact that building regs are still missing.
So I think we have 2 options:
option A) have a surveyor come to our house to do a full structural survey of the loft to ascertain the roof structure is sound and the floor is strong enough to be used as bonus room. Providing there is nothing drastically wrong, proceed with refurbishment. Pros: cheaper and quicker job. Cons: building regs still missing which could be a problem when we come to sell our house, but at least we would have a full structural survey to show...
option B) do a full refurbishment to bring loft conversion to current building regs. Pros: peace of mind that structurally all is sound, easy resale of property. Cons: will take more time and cost a lot more than we had planned/budgeted
If anyone has further inputs/comments, they would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hi. Not looking for any estimates on this, just an idea of the work involved which we'd need to consider.

We have an existing loft conversion - two bedrooms, one with a dormer, one with a velux window. The velux window needs repairing and now we're thinking about it my husband has expressed an interest in installing a dormer window instead, to open out more space in the room.

On average, how big a job is this in terms of steps involved, disruption, and time taken (quite apart from the cost, which clearly isn't something we can go into here?). I'm thinking

- drawing up plans
- permission?
- scaffolding and permission from neighbours to put it up
- removing existing window, putting a big hole in the roof (!), adding in walls and roof, installing window...
- plastering and decorating

Can anyone correct / expand on this, and let me know what it's like living through such a job and how long it can take, from experience?

Thanks in advance.

Right... in the process of boarding my loft to provide extra storage in a traditional 1930's semi. Front to back is 7.5m and party wall to gable is 6m. A load bearing wall spilts the 7.5m span into two bedrooms or nearly 4m span each. The existing joists are 2x4 at 350 centres (not quite 400) and run from front to back in 4m spans staggered over the load bearing wall. There are already 4 or 5 cross joists (6m 2x4) running from party wall (not touching) to the gable wall. Again these are original and nailed at each cross over to the joists below. Probably to tie things together?

I hope the above makes sense, if not please ask.

My original plan was to cross batten with 2x4 timbers at 600 centres (in line with the cross joists already in place). I can get 4m lengths into the loft easily. 600 centres as the previous owners left 27 sheets of 22mm T&G chip board in the garage.

My concern is... is it safe to cross batten with 2x4 at 600 centres and then board with 22mm chipboard when the original joists span nearly 4m? To be used for storage and not a habitable room.

Thanks for reading.

Reinforce how? by running 2x6 timbers next to the 2x4? but what about the existing cross battens, how would I get around them do I just remove them?

Thanks for taking the time to give your advice A&A! It sounds like a big job. What if I have cross battens at 400 centers will that be any better and the floorboards less bouncy? Remember it is just for storage so no regular foot traffic.

most loft conversions in the past seemed to be very hot in the summer time.

with modern insulation etc how good would a new one be, ie warm in winter, cool in summer.

Ask as if added the dormer winders will technically overlook a highway. However the road they would overlook would be a non-residential adjacent road to which there is no immediate access from the property and just farmers fields the other side of the road. The windows would not overlook the residential road in front of the house. Would this be allowed as have read that dorner windows are not allowed to overlook a highway.
Many thanks,
Theresa

Do I need a structural engineer for loft conversion or just an archtic as is obey the rafters tat are being moved

What should I think of having done at this stage so that the groundwork is there when we get around to converting it properly? It's a victorian terrace.