How to plan your loft conversion

Convert your loft to create a new playroom, office or bedroom with en suite

Safety considerations

Fire regulations should be incorporated in your earliest plans. Building materials must comply with standards of fire resistance; you will find the latest information online at www.ukbuildingstandards.org.uk. You will need to fit a smoke detector in the hallway; any building with a floor more than 7.5m above the ground should have a sprinkler system.

In a two-storey home, internal doors around the staircase must be replaced with fire doors to create a protected path from the attic down to the ground-floor exit; original doors can be upgraded by companies such as Envirograf.

If there are several rooms in your conversion, you need to provide an emergency exit to the roof. The easiest, most attractive option is to fit a fire-escape window large enough to climb through in each space. Purpose-designed windows are available from Velux.

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