Dormer loft conversion
A full-width rear dormer on a Victorian through-terrace, adding a double bedroom, an en-suite shower room and a new staircase while the family carried on living downstairs.
The brief
A young family had outgrown their two-bedroom terrace but loved the street and didn’t want to move. They needed a third bedroom with its own shower room, and they needed to stay in the house while it was built.
What we did
- Permitted development, confirmed with a lawful development certificate
- Steel beams and a new floor structure independent of the ceilings below
- Full-width rear dormer, clad in Welsh slate to match the roofs along the street
- New staircase built in the line of the existing flight
- Insulation to current regulations and mains-wired smoke alarms
- En-suite shower room with electric underfloor heating
- Fire doors to every habitable room off the stairwell
The tricky part
At roof level, both party walls had loose brickwork and failed pointing. We served party wall notices on the two neighbours, rebuilt the top courses and repointed both walls as part of the job, so the new steels had something sound to bear on. Both neighbours signed the notices within a week once we’d explained the work in person.
Result
Eight weeks from scaffold up to scaffold down. The family stayed throughout, and we only broke through to the existing landing in the last fortnight.
