So, our house sale is about to go through and I’m planning on finally being able to use the loft as storage/possible zwift training area, the landlord didn’t give us access before hand, not sure why as there was nothing in there.

Has anyone done their own? I’m not looking to pay someone to do this and the father in law and myself can do it in a couple of days i think. Is it worth getting someone to come test the joists for load bearing weight as they may/may not need strengthening? Not even sure about that one.

There is no plan to use is as a bedroom or anything like that as we just dont want it. FWIW its a 1930’s semi detached. Anything else i should consider?

The ceiling joists that will soon become floor joists will almost certainly need strengthening.

If you are using it for Zwift training then one practical thing to consider is that lofts are hot – you’re probably going to want a few windows put in.

Worth spending a bit to get a structural engineer in to check. Our neighbours were planning to do a loft conversion in the other half of our Edwardian Semi. They had someone to look and soon realised it was going to be uneconomic as the joists would all need strengthening even for the simple storage area they were going to have as part of the work and they had the original lime plaster and lath ceilings which would need replacing at the same time and the cost was astronomical for the gain they would have made. However if you are doing it yourself it may be possible.

At the least you might need a buildings regs person to check your work

From the planning portal:

An excessive additional load, for example from storage, it may mean that the joists are loaded beyond their design capacity. If you decide to lay flooring boards over the existing joists in the loft space, then this may require a Building Regulations Application to Building Control. Your local Building Control body will be able to advise you on this issue.

@wrightyson – Aye just reading how to do this, seems like building a sub frame above the existing and mounting it to current roof joists works. The FiL has done his back home so i’ll find out next weekend how he did it.

@grahams – the zwift idea is a long shot, i prefer to get out on the bike so its a back burner but yes windows would be a good one. Looking at the roof with the recent surveyor that came round, he said we have back filled tiles(?) I may have that completely wrong. Essentially the mortar holding the tiles on is in the roof behind the tiles. Will have to get a a few pictures as i’m probably explaining that really badly.

Cheers Jim, i’ll get that looked into. The mother in law works for the council on the planning team albeit road and infrastructure etc but i’m certain she has some contacts there.

For the sake of resale being able to market it as say a four bed instead of three bed it may well be worth the time and hassle of getting building control involved.

IME converting to a bedroom costs A LOT more than a simple storage conversion, as you require things like proper fixed staircases and fire doors.

For comparison our storage only loft conversion cost £2600, including strengthening the floor joists, putting in two Velux windows, flooring, insulation, plasterboard walls, dropdown ladder, lighting and electrics.

We have no intention of using it as a bedroom as we simply don’t need an extra one right now, plus it would need a fixed staircase and we just don’t have the space for that. This would purely be for storage purposes.

Looking at the local BC rules I’d need to submit an application as they require one if we are “lining out the internal surfaces (that is, plasterboard / insulation)”

Appreciate the advice, nice to see a cost in there too as that gives me something to work under.

strengthening the floor joists, putting in two Velux windows, flooring, insulation, plasterboard walls, dropdown ladder, lighting and electrics.

All that for £2600? 😮

Yep. It was these guys when they were first starting out:

http://www.paramountlofts.co.uk/our-prices/

The only ‘plan’ was scribbled in biro on a bit of A4 😀 but they did a decent enough job for the money (with a little snagging).
They look a bit more professional these days and a little more expensive too.