Steve wrote:

I'd love to get my loft converted into a habitable room, but have been
told by friends that it'd cost from £8k-£12k to get done properly, which

Depends on what sort of conversion you are attempting to do. Something
that you DIY, and keeps within the bounds of the roof (i.e. no changes
to the roof like additions of dormers), could be cheaper to do £4 - £5k
perhaps.

However, I was wondering, how much do you think it'd cost to just get
the loft floor strengthened, as if it were getting converted, but
nothing else?

How does your loft compare to mine:

http://www.internode.co.uk/loft/floor.htm

If you need to get an engineer to design it, then allow say £300 - £500.
The steel, wood, and fixings, plus floor boarding probably cost about
£1200. Total time to do the floor would be about 14 man days. So if you
are paying a builder, then anything from £2.5k and up for the labour.
Depending on the circumstances you may also need scaffolding to get the
new joists etc into the loft.

I could then use it for storage (albeit, with a stronger floor for peace
of mind), but be able to do work on it bit by bit over the next few
years, doing one step of the conversion at a time (DIY where possible,
and getting professionals in where necessary).

While it is just for storage you could probably save the costs of a
submission to building control. Obviously once you start turning the
floor into a conversion proper then they need to be involved.


--
Cheers,

John.

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