anyone live in a loft or converted warehouse type apartment?

me and the wife have been to look at a nice loft flat, in a old warehouse in wakefield.
2 bedrooms, big lounge/kitchen, and a nice mezzanine area up a spiral staircase.

proper nice place.

cant live with my kids no longer, idea is for them to live in our house and for me and the wife to try something else.
short term to start with.

so loft living, anyone?

Kinda. I live in a little loft but with a bit of another floor available too.

I don’t use my heating as much as my downstairs neighbours do 🙂

Had one as an office once, worked well with big open space. Floors above where converted to apartments which where very well done incorporating the historic features (windows, brickwork and iron roof supports)

Floors above the loft?

no floors above. it has all the oak beams and a big steel pulley wheel system in the roof space. all original.
3rd floor with solicitors offices below. seperate entrance to the 2 apartments.
secure lockup in entrance area.

It can be nice living at the top, downsides are the heat issue, possibly too cold in winter and more likely, too hot during the summer. So does it have enough insulation and ventilation? Will you miss having a garden much?

Sounds very nice I do love a warehouse conversion.

Stayed in a flat after selling our last house for 2 months, absolutely hated the feeling of being boxed in after being used to house surrounded by garden.

Stayed in my first flat for 7 years, loved it then as Well!.

Lived in many ‘flats’ over the years, some of them in roof spaces, some not. Nothing wrong with them as such, they’re just houses.

I have to admit i’d struggle without a garage now for cycles/motorbikes and Zwifting.

One large space, so every thing smells of cooking.

Heating and cooling it can be a problem.

Storage space, drying space for clothes.

And those stairs Tony. At your age too. Shouldn’t you be considering a nice bungalow?

Shouldn’t you be considering a nice bungalow?

our lass said a bungalow would always ne a option…………. 😆

what scotroutes said.

I lived in a flat with my parents between houses – it was shit – noise from other flats – fear of making noise for the other flats , getting accused of making noise when you werent even in etc etc….

I had a studio apartment when i first moved out my folks – nothing like trying to watch the telly while the washing machine rumbles away 10 ft away

Then trying to dry said closes on the horse – meaning either all your clothes smell of what ever you cooked or you cant cook……

You couldnt drag me back to stacked living.

trail rat, good points mate……..never thought of any of that.
just called on the hop, and thought it looked nice.
just txtd the wife with your points and she said we will forget it.

bungalow search commences……….. 😆

why put the kids in the loft flat?

why put the kids in the loft flat?

have you forgot you reading spectacles? 😀

Aye, the cooking, christ, forgot that.

Made a Goan fish curry the first week we were in it, I can still smell it yet…

should have read “why not put the kids in the loft flat” 😳 You can have your house back and make them have fish curry clothes

Just put the kids in the loft of your current house….i imagine they will find somewhere to live pdq

Everything trail_rat said. We rented one for a couple of months when we moved to Leeds and we went to the pub every time we put the washing machine on…not cost/diet effective!

could be a seagull perch? worth checking out.

My loft bedroom in Weymouth is seagull central.

and a nice mezzanine area up a spiral staircase.

Not great as you get older, stairs could become an issue….

Everything trail_rat said. We rented one for a couple of months when we moved to Leeds and we went to the pub every time we put the washing machine on…not cost/diet effective!

lived in a flat for years… all those things not an issue for me. Guess it very much depends on the flat/area/neighbours though. As for the washing machine… just put it on at night! Cheaper to run too! Although if it’s making that much noise it’s probably broken/not installed properly?

Living in Edinburgh almost everyone I know lives in flats. Our flat has a kitchen diner as well as a sitting room – but we never use the sitting room. No issues with noise fromthe washer, no issues with cooking smells. Just have a decent washing machine and extractor fan.

Like the one you describe we have offices downstairs which is great – no noise issues

My girlfriends last flat was in a basement under a paint shop. Nice and quietuntil the mixer got turned on 😀

As for the washing machine… just put it on at night! Cheaper to run too! Although if it’s making that much noise it’s probably broken/not installed properly?

That wasn’t an option, the headboard of our bed was the otherside of the stud partition wall the washing machine was on. It was the machine which came with the rental so maybe not the super best, but any machine on spin is loud.

Anyway in our house now the machine is in the basement and we sleep in the attict. Bliss.

And ton, can I suggest you don’t try and move in the first 3-6 months after your hip opp. I’d maybe get the kids to move!

Good flats are great, bad ones are shite. You can get some big spacious flats that are well insulated from noise. A well designed kitchen with extraction will sort out any cooking smell issues and you should be barely able to hear a decent modern washing machine if you have installed it right.

Easy to clean and maintain, as there is less area you can decorate and furnish to a higher standard than a house for the same cost. No gardening to do (although some weirdos like that sort of thing). External maintenance is shared.

up a spiral staircase.

Aren’t you getting your hip done?

Where do you put the bikes in an upstairs flat? Are you happy to carry them up and down everytime you want to ride them? Or leave an expensive bike in a random poorly secured shed elsewhere on the site?

My bikes are kept in the flat. Doesn’t bother me taking them up and down a couple flights of stairs.

Just as a follow up the wife doesn’t like houses so we now live in flat. As weeky said my biggest issue is lack of a garage, means less storage for stuff and no possibility of a turbo, hassle to do maint etc (i have a lock up but is not the same and its not a garage). In a perfect world we’d have a townhouse with integrated garage. Best thing with flat is ability to leave it for months on end amd it’s secure / less maint as no garden (although you can clearly organise a garden to be low maint)

OP in your situation I’d look at putting the kids in a flat and you keep the house

There are practical storage options for bikes 😉

the flat idea has been put on the backburner since I started the thread.
a realisation that I am going to be pretty immobile for a few month has made sense kick in. 😆

Where do you put the bikes in an upstairs flat? Are you happy to carry them up and down everytime you want to ride them? Or leave an expensive bike in a random poorly secured shed elsewhere on the site?

My flat is up 104 stairs – the bikes go up and down the stairs everytime I use them – and I use one almost every day. Its the price I pay for living in the flat. After 20 years I hardly ever even notice it now. I have a specific room for storing them