Sloped roof dilemma! Advice needed

3 years ago

We’ve recently moved into our forever home. At the front of the house is a room which was labelled an ‘office’ but due to the head height from the sloped roof, it’s not really a usable space. However if it wasn’t for that, it would be a great size for either a master bathroom or bedroom (floor space 3.8m x 1.9m).

What options do we have? We thought either a bigger dormer to open the space (but the head height might still be quite low) or replacing the sloped roof with a wall to make it a proper room.

Does anybody have any advice? Or any ideas on costs of a project like this?

Thanks in advance!

Featured Answer

Jonathan

3 years ago

I agree with earlier comments. Building a larger dormer would gain you very little. To create extra space you will need to reconfigure the roof- personally I wouldn’t because you will change the appearance of the house and still only gain a modest amount for a large outlay. I would make the landing bigger and more impressive and spend the money you would have spent on the dormer on an improvement elsewhere

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Comments (17)

E D
3 years ago
Lovely and handsome house. Congrats. 👍

What’s next door to this space? It might be more practical to add this space to the adjoining room/space.
Daisy England
3 years ago
It is rather small inside. I too would have suggested a larger dormer but looking at the inside I don’t think it will be of much benefit. I think you may need to change the roof line completely to obtain a larger head room.
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you can pitch the perimeter and have a top to reduce the height when the pitch would have hit the house, so that isnt a problem. you should keep same pitch as the main roof to maintain a balance aesthetic. check the pitch in the loft space. a trussed rafters company can make roof structure or you can get a roofing carpenter to cut you in the roof. are you intending on increasing the ceiling height in the existing property , if you are then the roof would probably be best cut on site .
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Becky Maullin
Original Author
3 years ago
Thanks for the responses! I don’t think there’s enough head height to connect it to the bedroom next door to make an en-suite. The driver of this work is because the main bathroom is very very small so we wanted to potentially relocate it to the smallest bedroom but don’t want to lose a bedroom for the house value! The house is nearly 1,600 sq ft so it feels like it should be possible to have 4 bedrooms and a good sized bathroom but we are stuck :(
Alfie Simmons
3 years ago
There’s no easy layout fix there. You started by saying it’s your ‘forever home’, and continued that the main driver of all this is worrying about a possible dink in the house price from one less bedroom. If you don’t need or want to sell imminently, don’t worry, just do what’s right for you, not the next owners.
Appalled Person
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Can you gain some space from the hall landing? If you could best you could hope for is a long room 5 or 6 feet at it’s widest.. A full length flat roofed dormer would allow head height the length of the room. Whether it would look right from the outside is hard to know and would it be worth the expense?
CWD
3 years ago
When the fourth bedroom is so small, I always think of it more as "three bedrooms and a boxroom" rather than the four bedrooms that an estate agent might count - but actually you have three bedrooms and two box rooms! Changing the fourth bedroom into a really lovely big bathroom would be SO much better and you've still got the boxroom/office at the front which as you've pointed out isn't much use for anything else due to the head space. Am sure any future owners would agree - but since it's your forever home, you should definitely do what's best for your family - and chances are if it works for you then it will work for others too.
Jonathan
3 years ago
Perhaps you should be thinking about moving the stairs or building to the side
Sarah U-S
3 years ago
I agree with everyone else! Also - does your local area have similar houses? If so, this will be a common issue to the others too - so maybe go for a neighbourhood walk and have a look. If you see any alterations that look promising, you can often look them up on the local planning portal to look at their plans.
Victoria
3 years ago
I agree with Jonathan, is moving the stairs an option?
E D
3 years ago
I think OP has moved...

😄
westwest114
3 years ago
If you moved the wall further into the landing would this provide enough head room for an en-suite? If so this unusual space would look great .
Failing that I would be tempted to remove the wall completely and this would give a fantastic landing which could accommodate a desk. Hope you find your resolution!
michelles1234
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I agree, remove the wall completely. It would be a lovely landing and give more light to the upstairs. Then either take the wall down between the original bathroom and bedroom 4 to make a big family bathroom. Or make bedroom 4 into a bathroom and the original bathroom could be made into an en-suite for bedroom 2 as they are next to each other.
HU-530369836
3 years ago
The layout is very typical of the 1930's where the stairs is in the middle of the house and all corners of the house can be viewed on the landing, I had a similar project in North London. If your budget can stretch, I would have a double storey extension on the left hand side so it mimics the pitch roof gable design with the exposed timber frame and then you have a lot freedom to improve the dormer window. I would personally have a double height space entrance in the centre and turn the existing dormer space into a mezzanine. Obviously it depends on aspect, boundary distance and budget. Good luck!
amandagreenland
3 years ago
I would knock down the wall into the small study. Make the dormer into a large pitched dormer. Have an open plan office space on the landing and this will then create light into a otherwise dark landing. Landings can be great rooms even have a sofa if you don't need a desk.

With a house this size I would make Bed 4 the main bathroom and the existing bathroom an ensuite to bed 2.
anthea page
3 years ago
I think it would spoil the exterior of the house, could you move the interior wall instead?
PRO
C Dingle Builders
3 years ago
Hi

Can you not extend the ridge and build the gable wall up to the left elevation. If there room to do it that would solve the problem

Sloped roof dilemma! Advice needed

Jonathan

Comments (17)

E D

Daisy England

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Original Author

Alfie Simmons

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amandagreenland

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Sloped roof dilemma! Advice needed

Comments (17)

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