Our place was a 3 bed detached that has had a loft conversion to add a
4th bedroom (the previous previous owners had it done). The property is
certainly big enough to make the extra bedroom worth while but we found
that the estate agent was hard pushed to describe it as a bedroom and
now that we have lived in the place for a couple of years I can
understand why.

The loft conversion has generally been done well (the 'lectrics leave a
bit to be desired) and the builders haven't wrecked the shape of the
bedrooms. They have also left a good amount of space in the loft with
enough head room for most adults (it's about 6'6" in the bulk of the room).

There is quite a lot of usable space as it's about 19' long but the
space is fiddly and it might be tricky to put a bed and a half way
decent sized desk in at the same time. I use it for an office and it's
great for that.

The stairs up to the loft are very steep and run up from the landing in
what was the airing cupboard. Children certainly won't have a problem
with the stairs and I am completely used to them now and run up and down
them like a mountain goat.

All in all though I would rather they had built out sideways, perhaps
adding a two storey extension as it would have IMHO produced more usable
space for about the same cost.

As for block paving, again the previous previous owners had it laid, I
quite like it now that it is weathered in and it matches the house
fairly well. You will need to pressure wash it every few years and then
re-point with dry sand which is a messy job but quite rewarding. I
certainly wouldn't lay gravel unless you have a level drive (I'm not a
gravel fan anyway).

wrote:
Hi, I`m intending to have some work done on my house, and I`m
wondering what effect the following things would have on the property
value.
Firstly, off-road parking is going to make a difference of some
degree, but what I`d like to know is how do the various options
compare, i.e. block paving, concrete, tarmac or gravel. Someone has
told me that "only block paving ads value", someone else has said "it
dosn`t make a difference as long as there`s off-road parking".
Secondly, what kind of per cent would turning the loft into a fourth
bedroom increase the value by?
Thanks
Mark