Free up some space
Loft conversions are ideal for extra bedrooms or office space
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One of the most effective ways to get a little free space without shelling out a huge chunk of money is to add a layer of extra space or loft. All houses can make use of this extra space either for storage or as an extra entertainment use.
3rd February, 2020 I Posted by Gowell Developments.
First you have to make sure that your house is suitable for constructing a loft and can accommodate the extra space. You have to make some assumptions and assessment before you start with the plans of the loft conversion and building.
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Before you start converting your loft you will need to make sure that there is enough availability of head height, and enough safety measures and all other structures such as water tanks and chimney stacks are well taken care of. Roof space have to be properly evaluated and assessed before the designing and execution of the structure can take place.
There should be enough head height on the loft of at least 2.2 meters of available vertical space. A head height can be measured by measuring from the bottom of the ridge timber to the top of ceiling joist.
The structure are built on two types, one is to build a frame type section and the other is to be build a truss section type. In frame type structures all the beams, timber supports and other ceiling joists are made and then cut into transportable sizes which are later assembled at the site.
Then there is truss section type of structures which makes sue of thinner and much cheaper timbers which are then strengthened by the addition of other timbers in diagonal shape. The building of this structure is relatively simpler and faster thus making it a big advantage for the both the user and the builder in terms of work, cost and time.
The conditions do not always fall into the favourable sections. Sometimes there can be a problem of low head height experienced by the people and in these cases there are a couple of solutions that you can employ.
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One of the solution to solve the problem of low head height is to actually raise the roof. This would sometimes involve the complex procedure of removing the existing low part of the roof and then rebuilding it entirely as to give a larger head height for the roof. But this is sometimes very complex method because it involves getting grant from the legal department as well the as high cost and longer time periods to finish the work on time.
Another method to increase the head height is to lower the roof of the room below. The accepted minimum amount of height for a room is 3 metres and if you have more than 3 metres in the room below your loft, then you can make the loft a little lower making the roof of the room below to decrease it’s head height.
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It must be always kept in mind that these loft conversions should be done only by those who are proficient and excellent in this field. It is also a good idea to keep aside some money in case something goes wrong or some mishaps do happen which might cause the whole project to close.
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Transform your home with Gowell Developments Ltd loft conversion, extension or refurbishment. We design, manage and build to create beautiful spaces for homeowners in South West London and the surrounding area.
Our project managers are all qualified structural engineers with significant experience working in the UK building industry read more >>
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Unit 111, 61 Victoria Rd, Surbiton, KT6 4JX
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Mobile: 07776 997 473
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E-mail: info@gowelldevelopments.co.uk