Loft space is one of the most ignored places in our house that we only use for storing old and junk items. But, if you convert the loft or attic of your house into a clean bedroom, office or gaming room, it can provide you with some extra usable space in your house. You may decide to extend the kitchen or build a conservatory to create more space, these are all big jobs and require serious thought.
Now, converting the loft into a bedroom or extending the kitchen is not an easy job. It needs a lot of planning. It is like restructuring a part of your house from scratch. You need to hire an architect, get the planning permissions, decide your budget, and consider many other factors.
Focusing on the budget is important, there are some construction costs that need to be analyzed properly before investing. Let us dive into the construction costs that you need to factor before investing.
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is defined as the structure that is built around a building to provide a platform for workers for cleaning, building, or maintaining the building.
Now, if you live in the UK and extending your home, scaffolding is an essential part of it. Moreover, there are numerous things that govern the overall cost of the scaffolding. The cost of scaffolding may vary from £40 to £150 in the UK. Here are some of the factors that govern this cost:
- Length of hire: Total time for which the scaffolding is required.
- Location: The location of the house plays a great role in deciding the cost. For example, the prices of scaffolding in Essex are much lower than in London, so pick who you choose to use wisely.
- Height: If the height of your home is more, the requirement of poles and wooden planks will also be high. Hence, more cost.
- Dimensions: The dimensions of your attic will also hike the cost.
- Ease of access and others: If you house if easily accessible for the builders, the cost will be low and vice versa.
It is crucial to note that you get all the material required for the loft conversion locally. Material like timber, steel joints, plasterboard, etc. needs to be purchased locally for decreasing the overall cost.
Utility Cost
In the list of loft conversion costs, there is a utility cost that covers all the necessary utilities that are needed in the loft. It is pretty obvious that we never pre-plan the attic part of our house.
So, if you are converting your attic into a bedroom or gaming room, you need to make arrangements for utilities like plumbing, electricity, gas, heating, etc. You may also need to get the electrical system of your house upgraded or newly installed if you are extending your living space.
Using stainless steel sheets for roofing can prevent decay of materials because of their leak-proof characteristics, saving you money in the long run.
The cost of such utilities cannot be decided before the project begins. First, you need to get the permissions based on your loft conversion preferences. Post this, when the conversion of your loft or attic starts, you can estimate the cost of utilities. Hence, you need to save some part of your budget for the utilities.
Skip Rental
It is pretty obvious that there will be a lot of debris and waste when your loft will be converted into a bedroom. The waste could be in the form of wood, concrete, glass, etc.
You need to plan the disposal of this waste before you start the building process. And to do this, you can rent skips from the local waste management companies. No matter if you are in Yorkshire, Manchester or hiring a skip in Nottingham, you will get same-day delivery of skips provided you order it before 12 PM.
Moreover, there are also choices in the type of skips. Also, you can opt from:
Mini skips: These types of skips are useful for small types of projects. For example, the dimensions of a mini skip offered in Nottingham are Length 1.2m x Width 0.91m x Height 0.76m. This is equivalent to around 20 wheelie bean bags.
Midi skips: The midi size skip is equivalent to around 35 wheelie bean bags. It can be used for medium-sized projects. The dimensions of this skip are Length 1.83m x Width 1.29m x Height 0.97m.
Maxi Skips: This type of skip will be ideal for your loft conversion project. The dimensions of this type of skip are Length 2.60m x Width 1.52m x Height 1.22m. The space of this skip is equal to around 60 wheelie bin bags.
Note: The dimensions of the skips may vary.
The cost of hiring a skip vary based on the size, for example,
- A Mini skip can cost from £90 and £130 for a week. And a bit more in London.
- A Midi skip can cost you between £200 and £250. However, in London, it will be a bit high.
- A maxi skip will cost you from £250 and £340 in other cities, whereas in London it is £387.
Discovering Dry rot or Decay
It could be frustrating to know that the surface or wall of your loft is damaged. This adds up extra cost in repairing the surface before converting the loft. Now, you will not be able to do find out about this any time before the loft conversion process begins.
The damage to the loft can be in the form of dry rot or wet rot. And to discover them, keep the following points in mind:
Wet rot can be identified by:
- Darkened wood w.r.t surrounding wood.
- Soft and spongy surface
- Shrinkage
- Musty smell
- Cracked experience
Dry rot can be identified by:
- Fluffy white mycelium spreading on the wood.
- Mushroom like fruiting body.
- Red dust from spreading spores
Repairing of these decays can also add cost to your overall process of a loft conversion. The prices of wet rot treatment may vary from £12.50 (5 litres) to £28.50 (1 litre) of concentrate dual treatment in the UK.
On the other hand, the rates of dry rot treatment are less that varies from £10.50 (5 litres) to £12 (1 litre).
Final Words
So, here are all the construction costs that you need to factor before starting. Make sure that you get your project inspected by a professional so that he can give you an idea about the whole process. Based on that, you can change your loft conversion preferences to fit it into your budget. Study the described factors carefully to analyse the total cost of the project.