can you make your attic bigger?

S

samanthajane

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Only realised once we had moved in that we are unable to convert our attic.

Is it actually possible to make your roof highter so we could convert it into an attic. How much of a job would it be. I'm assumming because of the wooden frame that the whole thing will need to be removed and replaced, or is there an easier way of doing it? ( wishful hoping i know )

Also if anyone knows approx how much a job like this would cost, and also the time involved to do this.
 
Yes it can be done but, before you do it, you'll probably need to get planning permission. Are you living in a housing estate? If so, it's likely that they'd tell you that your house would have to conform to the others in height, roof pitch, etc.

It wouldn't be possible to price it without knowing the dimensions, type of stairs, number of roof windows, etc.
 
yes we are living in a estate it's only a few years old, i'm not sure if we would get planning permission. When these were built there was "something" in the rules that said we couldn't even build the normal 20 sq meters ( i think ) and we would need to get planning permission for that. A few people want to extend but are waiting for someone else to do it cause then they cant really say no. Well thats what were hoping for anyway....just after 3 years no one has built an extension yet!!!

I wasn't so much looking how much it would cost to actually convert the attic as in liveable wise, it was just to make it bigger so that we could one day convert it. It's a 3 bed that we have and the master room is a good enough size but the 2 other rooms are both box rooms, you can get a double bed in but thats about it.

So would you need to contact someone that dealt only in roof or would just a normal builder be able to do the work. Obviously we would need to get the planning permission first, but is it better to get the same person/company to do both jobs or go to seperate people?

But thinking about what you said it would probably make much more sense to do it all once.
 
Hi again. In connection with what you can or can't do with regard to extending, the following link might be of benefit to you.

http://www.environ.ie/en/Publications/DevelopmentandHousing/Planning/FileDownLoad,1586,en.pdf

With regard to doing the work itself, going on personal experience, I wouldn't bother with a builder. I'd go with a good carpenter or a company that specialises in attic conversions. Having said that, a conversion company mightn't be the best people to employ if you're taking off, and raising, the roof. If I were having that done, I'd probably get a good carpenter to do the roof and conversion job and would get an electrician to do the electrics, a plumber to do the plumbing etc. And it should certainly make the job cheaper.

We live in an estate also. I'll PM you tomorrow and tell you what we did when we converted. It may be of benefit to you.
 
Wow thats a lot of info. Only went over it once think i'll need to read it a few more times to fully understand it.

I'm hoping your going to tell me of a nice little loop hole that i can get around the planning permission lol but i doubt it.

Thanks for the advice.
 
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