Convert your loft for more living quality

There is an enorm­ous poten­tial of liv­ing space, espe­cially under the roof, which can be unlocked by a loft con­ver­sion. How­ever, such a pro­ject must be metic­u­lously planned and executed with mater­i­als that are not harm­ful to health, so that the res­id­ents can enjoy the new space for many years to come.

Build­ing land and liv­ing space are becom­ing increas­ingly scarce and are there­fore expens­ive. In addi­tion, rising interest rates on con­struc­tion loans are caus­ing prob­lems for many applic­ants. One way to gen­er­ate more liv­ing space at rel­at­ively low cost is to open up unused space reserves. Apart from base­ments, many attics are par­tic­u­larly suit­able for this pur­pose.

After cal­cu­lat­ing the fin­an­cial expendit­ure, the next step is to care­fully check the exist­ing build­ing fab­ric. How stable is the top floor ceil­ing? What con­di­tion is the roof truss in? Is the roof cov­er­ing water­tight and will it last for a few more years? Inter­ested parties are best advised to cla­ri­fy these and oth­er ques­tions with the respect­ive experts. An (interi­or) archi­tect, a civil engin­eer or a build­ing sur­vey­or can provide valu­able assist­ance. Hir­ing a spe­cial­ist also makes sense, because a loft con­ver­sion usu­ally requires the coordin­ated work of sev­er­al trades.

Tip: If you use the ser­vices of an energy con­sult­ant, this is sub­sid­ized by the BAFA, short for Ger­man Fed­er­al Office for Eco­nom­ic Affairs and Export Con­trol, by up to 80 per­cent. The BAFA also provides grants for indi­vidu­al meas­ures that improve the energy effi­ciency of build­ings. Con­cern­ing the energy optim­iz­a­tion of the build­ing envel­ope – and this also includes roof insu­la­tion and the install­a­tion of new win­dows – 15 per­cent of the eli­gible costs are cur­rently reim­bursed.

After check­ing the build­ing fab­ric, the next step is the plan­ning pro­cess. How will the future liv­ing space under the roof be used? As a home office or as a sep­ar­ate liv­ing unit com­plete with bath­room and kit­chen? In this case, it is neces­sary to pre­pare and install the sup­ply lines for elec­tri­city, water, sewage and pos­sibly also tele­phone and inter­net. Fur­ther­more, it must be cla­ri­fied wheth­er the exist­ing space and incid­ent light under the roof are suf­fi­cient or wheth­er win­dows (don’t for­get a shad­ing device!), dormers or a raised knee wall are required. Atten­tion: All meas­ures that change the extern­al appear­ance of the build­ing are usu­ally sub­ject to approv­al.

The first step in a loft con­ver­sion is the prop­er pre­par­a­tion of the top floor ceil­ing or the attic floor. This is done, for example, by installing a dry screed with lev­el­ling fill. At the end of the con­ver­sion, the actu­al floor cov­er­ing can then be laid. When con­vert­ing the attic, it is always essen­tial to install thermal insu­la­tion. This not only keeps the heat in dur­ing the winter, but also the heat out dur­ing the sum­mer months. Roof insu­la­tion, how­ever, is best left to a pro­fes­sion­al roof­er. Along with the insu­la­tion mater­i­al, it is also neces­sary to install a vapor bar­ri­er to pre­vent thermal bridges where humid­ity con­denses and ulti­mately causes mold growth. Fur­ther­more, con­nec­tions to roof win­dows (e.g. sky­lights) and roof pen­et­ra­tions (e.g. for a satel­lite dish) must be tightly sealed. In addi­tion to thermal insu­la­tion, there should be suf­fi­cient pos­sib­il­ity for cross-vent­il­a­­tion to ensure a good indoor cli­mate of the attic. If roof win­dows already exist, it should be checked wheth­er a replace­ment makes sense so that the insu­la­tion effect is not wasted. If neces­sary, also the win­dow reveals can be insu­lated.

The next step in the loft con­ver­sion is the clad­ding of the insu­lated roof sur­faces and walls. Gypsum fiber­boards or plas­ter­boards are used for this pur­pose. These mater­i­als are also used for clad­ding any stud walls that were newly installed in the attic on a wooden or met­al frame. After that, all boards are lev­elled, plastered and painted. Finally, all oth­er crafts­men such as tilers, par­quet lay­ers and plumb­ers can com­plete the con­ver­sion.