It is difficult to get beautiful interior design in your home without dealing with the subject of storage. Without an adequate solution, our rooms soon become full of clutter, and it spoils the whole ambiance. Storage is a dull subject, but a necessary one to address nonetheless. We will take a look at how to use your loft to make life easy today. There Is a massive wasted space up there, and you can put it to use.
Planning Permission
As long as you do not convert the loft into a habitable room, you do not have to seek planning permission. You can continue with this project without fear of prosecution.
Dealing With Light
Natural daylight is valuable in the loft so that you can find the things you seek quickly. The answer comes in the form of roof windows from Alsford Timber and others online. I spoke to a friend who told me that they come as pre-assembled units. You only have to remove some roof tiles and create an internal frame between the rafters. Then you fix the unit in position and add some flashing to make it watertight.
Install the cables for the lights before you lay the floorboards or cover the underside of the roof. The number of fittings will depend on the size of the loft, but it will benefit from at least three.
A Sound Floor
Even though you do not intend to live up there, you cannot skimp on the quality of the flooring. Safety is an issue here. Luckily, you can buy packs of chipboard that are for this purpose. They are cut into 600mm sections so that they will fit through the hatch. Cut them to size where necessary and fix them to the joists. Make sure there is plenty of insulation below them because you cannot add it afterward. Drill holes in the boards and use screws to secure them. If you try knocking in nails, you are sure to damage the ceilings below.
The Roof
I advise you to add insulation panels between the rafters before you cover them with boards. Plasterboard is the perfect product for the internal cladding, whether you intend to skim it over to a good finish afterwards or not. It is inexpensive, and you can cut it with a saw or craft knife. I think that if you went to all of this trouble, you should employ a plasterer for a day to finish the job.
You can now connect the lights up and use the room for an ideal storage space. Search online for high-quality racks that come in kit form. Remember that anything you take up there must be able to fit through the hatch. Because young children won’t be able to access this room, it is a perfect place to hide all of their Christmas presents away from prying eyes. That is an issue with which we all wrestle at the end of the year.
I converted my loft in this way, and it is by far the best home improvement. Our house is clutter-free, and I know where to find things when I need them. It is an enjoyable project, so why not take a look in your loft? It could change your life.
