Loft Conversions in Braintree

The first question in any Braintree loft is whether the roof gives you usable height, and the answer changes from one street to the next.

Cut roofs, trussed roofs and what each one allows

The Victorian terraces near the town centre and the older houses in Bocking almost always have a traditional cut roof, built on site with rafters and purlins. That leaves a clear central volume, so the work is mainly new floor joists carried on steels, a staircase, insulation and the openings for light. Houses built from the seventies onwards, which covers much of Great Notley and the estates out towards the Freeport, tend to have trussed rafter roofs instead. The W shaped webs fill the space, so those conversions need the trusses replaced by a new structural floor with fresh support for the roof above. It is more engineering, but it is predictable engineering, and the finished rooms often come out squarer than anything under an old cut roof. Bungalows in the villages around the town frequently hide the best volume of all, and they can gain a whole floor without touching the footprint.

Dormers, rooflights and how it reads from the street

Rear dormers do most of the heavy lifting, because they add the flat ceiling area that turns a low roof into a proper bedroom. On semi detached houses a hip to gable change usually comes first, squaring off the side slope before the dormer goes on. Terraces with a back addition often suit an L shaped dormer that picks up the return. Where a property sits in a conservation area or is listed, the front elevation needs a lighter touch, and conservation style rooflights fitted flush with the slate or tile are normally the sensible answer. We look at what neighbouring roofs already carry, since a design in keeping with the terrace tends to travel through planning far more smoothly than one that stands alone. You can see the range of work we take on for homeowners across Braintree.

Stairs, escape routes and the regulations behind the plasterboard

Loft conversions are governed by building regulations even when planning permission is not required, and those rules shape the design more than most people expect. You need workable head height over the new staircase, a protected escape route down to the front door, fire doors to the rooms off it, mains linked alarms and insulation that still leaves a ventilation path above the rafters. In a terrace, party wall notices are usually part of the process too. The staircase is the real puzzle, because it has to rise from a landing that was never planned for it, and where it lands often decides whether a bedroom below keeps its full size.

Finishing the new floor properly

Most conversions we build include a shower room, which means running hot, cold and waste through an existing house without carving up the ceilings below. Water pressure, boiler position and cylinder capacity all need checking before the layout is fixed, so our bathroom fitting is planned into the conversion instead of bolted on at the end. Because building, plumbing, electrics and finishing all sit with one in house team, there is nobody to chase between stages and no gap where a trade blames the last one. Read more about the loft conversions we build, or talk to us about yours. Quotes are free and we are fully insured throughout.