Loft Conversions 20 great ideas

Follow our great ideas for loft conversions over the coming weeks

10. Install Feature Rooflights

The standard solutions for bringing light into an attic room are the rooflight and the dormer window, but it's really worj considering feature windows, which can bring in more light and create a sense of space, as well as making the most of any views.

A bank of rooflights arranged together, typicall...

y in a symmetrical pattern, look impressive and can be achieved using both conventional and conservation rooflights.

Other options include ridgelights - a bank of glazing running along one or both sides of the ridge - and glazed roof lanterns.

where the loft has a flat roof there are many options for introducing light, including dormes and pyramids, or roof lanterns with arched, gabled or hip gabled profile.

The frameless flat rooflight, is a good option for a flat roof, especially above a stair landing.

Rooflights can eb fixed or hinged for access to the flat roof. When closed, no part of the frame is visible, except on very large rooflights which are made from two or more units supported by steel mullion, although even this can be replaced by structural glass beam.

Loft Conversions 20 Great Ideas

9. - Bring in light

If your budget is limited, the least expensive type of loft conversion design is a 'rooflight' conversion, also known as a 'Velux' conversion after the well-known roof window manufacturer.

This type of conversion only works where there is already a large amount of loft space with full headroom, as the roof itself remains unaltered, other than by cutting in rooflights between rafters.

As no volume is added, planning permission is not required in England and Wales providing the work constitutes Permitted Development (flats, listed properties and properties where Permitted Development rights are restricted or removed will still need consent)

What you want from your home

A recent survey has given an insight into how people are using their homes and what they are looking for when choosing a home.

People are looking for more storage, utility space and larger windows to let in mo...

re light to the property.

The other main area people would like is to have a larger living rooms in their property.

Have a look at our web site www.linleydevelopments.co.uk for all our great ideas of how to achieve your properties maximum potential and make sure you have everything you need from your hhome

Loft Conversions 20 Great Ideas

Follow our great ideas for loft conversions over the coming weeks

8. Mansards work on terraces - A mansard roof is a roof that has two slopes, with the lower slope being so steeply pitched as to almost be vertical and the upper being verylow pitch, often down to just 5-8 degrees.

Spanning from gable to gable or hip to hip on a four - sided mansard roof, it maximises the volume of interior spac...

e within the attic without requiring masonry. The steeply pitched slope is typically puncuated with dormer windows or glazed doors.

The deisgn works particularly well on terraced houses where the rear section of the roof can be removed and replaced with a mansard structure, creating space with full headroom over a significant proportion of the property, without raising the ridge height.

Usually rooflights are added in the front plane of the roof, but in some siutations it may be possible to alter the roof to a mansard design at the front, too, effectively creating a whole additional storey on the building.

Many local authorities favour mansard roof conversions, as having a slate-clad roof extending from party wall to party wall of a terraced house is considered far less visaully obtrusive than a large box bormer set within party walls.

Loft Conversions 20 Great Ideas

7. The Ultimate Master Suite - Away from activity in the rest of the house, the attic level can be the perfect place to create a master bedroom ensuite.  The brief you give us can be interpreted by creating a space in which you can relax, rest, work and entertain.

A new master ensuite could be created by remodelling the rood space, doubling the floor area and increasing the headroom.  As well as the bedroom area, you could have a living space, wrok area, walk-in wardrobes and a beautiful ensuite bathroom.

Features could include underfloor heating beneth wooden flooring, together with air conditioning to give total climate control.  You could have the bed designed to look as if it floats by concealing the legs out of view, and underlight it with subtle LED lights.

The bathroom could include a steam room, jacuzzi bath and high tech toilet.

Loft Conversions 20 Great Ideas

Follow our great ideas for converting loft spaces over the coming weeks.

6. Sound proof it - Accoustic seperation is critical.  There is a minimum soundproofing requirement, but this is inaqequate where the use of the attic room is likely to be noisy, such as a playroom.  If the floor is to have a hard surface, such as a wooden floor, an acoustic floor is essential.  Sound can travel between attic rooms and the floor below by two means; airbourne and impact transfer. 

The first can be reduced by making sure the structure is air tight, taping insulation materials together, and using sealant around the floor edges etc.  The voids between the floor joists can be filled with high-density acoustic insulation, atthough this cannot be used around recessed spotlights.  Using high-density fibre reinforced plasterboard (e.g Fernacell) can also reduce sound transfer.

Impact transfer can be reduced by using caulking to seperate the structural floor joists from the wooden floorboards and ensuring there are no fixings - screws or nails - between the flooring and the joists.

Loft Conversions 20 Great Ideas

Follow our great ideas for converting loft spaces over the coming weeks.

5. Juliet Balcony - Where it is not possible to add a roof terrace or balcony that you can step out onto, the solution is to add a balustrade just beyond the doors (which are designed to open inwards). On a traditional building this is often in black painted wrought iron, but of a more contemporary building a glass balustrade is discreet and simple.