Looking into a loft

Expert Advice George Clarke On Loft Conversions

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Date Published:
28/10/2008

Are you planning a loft extension? Before you call in a company, employ an architect or rip out the roof, read on - George Clarke, resident expert of The Home Show and a highly respected architect, tells us exactly how to make your big spend a successful one.

George Clarke, presenter of The Home Show

1 Get Into The Loft And Make Sense Of The Space

The big one is to plan and design it properly. People find it difficult to visualise a three dimensional space in a loft. If you look at it on a plan it can seem bigger than it is. Get up there and you’ll bang your head.

What I always tell clients to do is to get up in the loft, no matter how miserable and dingy and dark it might be, take a measuring tape and a piece of paper to make sense of space and to start thinking about how the space is going to work, because you’ll realise there’s only so much usable space – in other words, where you’re going to get head clearance.

Looking up into a loft

2 Plan How To Use All Your Space

Where there isn’t headroom use it for storage. Use the eaves space for low-level shelving, low-level bookcases or cupboards. Get as much storage as you can. Even if I put shelving into the eaves, I’ll put hatch cupboards behind them, because you can get suitcases in there.

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Comments

  1. How do I apply to be on your next series of the Home Show? How much money do we need to have? Thank you Dorina
    Posted by Dorina Flores Laird on 10/12/2008 21:05:49
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  2. I paid an architect last year to make drawings for a loft conversion. I paid a deposit and the remaining money when he delivered the drawings. He said you can go ahead and start the work as it is lawful what he had put in the drawings.the money paid included application to the council for planning permission. one year later I did not have the loft converted and still waiting for planning permission.I rang council and they said it was unlawful what architect did and also I am in a conservation area. How do I get my money back?the architect should have known this before he made me pay for drawings.
    Posted by Alex on 27/11/2008 13:44:09
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  3. Your show this week has filled me with inspiration. My mother-in-law passed away recently and my daughters want me to move into her house. I feel I can only do this if I radically change it inside and make it mine. Your idea for the loft space was just brilliant and now I just need to find someone who could do it for me! Keep up the good work...you are refreshingly different from other make over programmes. Thank you
    Posted by Linda M on 22/11/2008 09:00:39
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  4. Great show George..... even my husband sat down to watch which, is a first! We have a 10 year old property that we have out grown but in this present climate moving is not an option.... only problem our eldest son is due home from university in the summer but his borther has moved into his bedroom...........how can we apply to come on your show?????
    Posted by Linda on 19/11/2008 21:16:15
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  5. Great programme, George. A real change from get-rich-quick makeover shows. You made a big point at the start about wanting to replace the PVC windows with more environmentally friendly wood, but I think the budget issues prevented this. Can wood really be as robust, secure, maintenance-free, and as economical as PVC, especially for larger bay windows from Georgian through to 1950s properties? It would be great to see your expert advice on this. Hope the rest of the series is as good as the first show.
    Posted by Alan on 08/11/2008 17:03:48
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  6. I thoroughly enjoyed the programme last night. What a nice guy. It makes a change to have a genuine person who cares about people. He is really passionate about his voacation. he had some brilliant idea's. Obviously from his training but there has to be some common sense there as well. Loved the accent too. He can come and do my loft extension if he wants to. Sheila.
    Posted by Sheila Toes on 06/11/2008 11:57:09
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  7. Re: The Home Show, Wednesday 5th November. I could not believe you knocked the WC and Bathroom into one. Five people in the house and only one WC, and that in the BATHROOM! Some hopes of ever taking a bath or shower uninterrupted. Grampa.
    Posted by Grampa on 05/11/2008 23:04:42
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