After having a loft ladder installed I’m considering getting floor boards installed for storage to cover 80% of the area. They’d be on raised joists that would be installed also.

Currently there’s standard roof felt so it’s pretty chilly up there.

Is there any point putting some kind of cover panels either against the felt for a sloping wall effect or against the joists for a vertical wall? It would just be for making the loft space more attractive for potential buyers without going down the full conversion route. I’m thinking wall panels and light paint and more lighting in case someone wanted to spend more time up there.

Does this sound plausible as an inexpensive very basic quasi loft conversion?
Would it cause issues re ventilating the house?

Thanks

You might already be tripping over regulations. Last time I looked there were pretty tight on putting plasterboard etc in a loft space but not converting it properly

Thanks. I hadn’t considered building regs.

My LA is if it’s insulated and has a fixed stair you need regs for it

It would just be for making the loft space more attractive for potential buyers without going down the full conversion route

If it works for you as a semi converted space it’s ok but don’t do it to add value. It will not make converting the loft fully any easier or cheaper as whatever you have done will more than likely need to be stripped out. If you want to show buiers what’s possible get some plans drawn up for a loft conversion so they have a idea what’s possible and how it would fit in with the rest of the house. It will actually be useful to them as well.

If it works for you as a semi converted space it’s ok but don’t do it to add value. It will not make converting the loft fully any easier or cheaper as whatever you have done will more than likely need to be stripped out.

This.

If you’re not doing it properly I wouldn’t bother at all.

mine has no regs on it and probably wouldn’t be easy to get it to pass them without a lot of work. i was advised when buying to just class it as a bit of extra storage space but it makes a good office/computer room for me, also what previous owner used it for.
fixed stairs leading up from a spare bedroom and as much insulation(was hardly any when i bought it) as i could get in without losing to much head height which wouldn’t be enough insulation for regs. also got a velux, radiater and under eaves storage at both ends. this is done over an extension that had previously been built, the original loft space is through a door at the top of the stairs, wouldn’t have head height to do it in there as well.

as above if its worth doing a bit of work to give you a workable space for your needs/wants do it, but otherwise not worth it unless done properly

Loft conversions costs money for a reason, there’s alot of labour and materials involved to do it properly.

If your using your loft for more than just your average house storage then be very careful. They are not floor joists your standing on, they are ceiling joists – most likely half the size of your floor joists on the first floor and therefor not very strong or designed to take the weight of anything more than storage

yeah that is something to look at, i think when the extension was put on my house they planned to do something with the loft in the future as the joists are the same size as the ones on the floor below, just big enough for the span but my original loft would need bigger joists put in.

My LA is if it’s insulated and has a fixed stair you need regs for it

Only if it was installed after a certain date though. Our old house had a fixed stairway leading from a bedroom but as it was built many years ago we could still class it as a room.