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How Much Does It Cost To Have A Loft Boarded?

More often than not, several homeowners fail to realize there’s so much value sitting right under their roof - the loft. When a loft is boarded, there are so many juicy benefits that can be derived. It can be used as a storage room, spare bathroom, home office and several more functions. Therefore, if you really wish to maximize the space under your home’s roof, you’d have to considering boarding it. So how much would it cost to have your loft boarded? Here, you’ll discover the cost of boarding your lofts so you that you can set a budget and start to plan.

The cost of boarding a loft is actually affordable for several individuals, simply because you’re allowed to floor as much or as little as you require. And while you’re up there flooring and fitting the loft boards, you can as well decide to upgrade the insulation of the loft too. This way, you be able to prevent heat from escaping through the roof of the house which helps improve energy efficiency and ultimately, save you some money on heating bills.

If you’d prefer to make it a DIY project, the cost of 18mm chipboard is about £8 to £10 per sheet sized 2400m x 600m. Meanwhile the insulation boards should range between £18 to £22 for a sheet.

For a professional service, you’ll be provided with a quote for both the materials and labour. The amount will be based on the number of boarding required as well as the method selected. For an average storage space needs, flooring size of about 15m2 is suitable. The price for this quantity would be between the range of £50 to £700 for the counter barren method or above £1000 for a more sophisticated method.

When your driveway is suffering from depression, it becomes unsafe for driving (a danger zone) and ugly - no homeowner wants that! Unfortunately, most driveways won’t hold flat for long as they tend to develop cracks and potholes pretty quickly. Here, we are going to take you through how to fill asphalt driveways’ depression so as to ensure the sinkholes in your driveway poses no threat to you or your loved ones, while also beautifying your property. The approach to be used depends on the intensity of the depression. If its only a few cracks and holes, this can easily be repaired with some equipment. But if otherwise is the case, then calling a reliable professional will be your best bet. In this article, we’ll show you how to repair dips in your asphalt driveway relatively quickly.

✓ Pick a date with warm and sunny weather. This is because if you work in a cold weather, chances are the materials will freeze and hence, unusable. So find a day when the temperature will over 50 degrees Fahrenheit and below 80 degrees Celsius and when there would be no rain. We’ll advise a day between May to October.

✓ Prepare the area. Remove all loose stones, soil, dirt as well as vegetation from the holes. Once done, you can then proceed to washing the area with a pressure washer or sweep with a broom.

✓ Apply a thin mixture of asphalt to the area. Use a flat stirring stick to coat the low driveway area with a thin mixture of asphalt.

✓ Tamp the asphalt repair mix. Purchase the right kind of asphalt to repair the driveway. Fine aggregate asphalt mixture is more suited to filling small holes, whereas the coarse aggregate is more suited to filling larger holes. Apply layers ( about 2 inches each time) of the asphalt repair mix to the sunken area and use a shovel to give it a smooth finish. Once done, simply make the area smooth and protect it with a piece of plywood. Do not walk or drive on the area for a couple of days.

How Much Do Roof Rooms Cost?

The price of your roof room may vary depending on your location within the country. Other factors that can also play a key role in determining the price of a roof room includes the conversion’s type as well as the legal and technical issues it’s currently facing. Usually, the cost of roof rooms will range between £1,200 to £2,000 per square metre. The differences in the price per square metre is influenced by the size of the alterations to the roof, the type of roof room to be constructed, the access, location as well as the finishing type.

• DORMER LOFT CONVERSION.

Here, one of the slopes of a pitched roof is substituted for a box-shaped structure. The outcome is a flat roof space which enables the fitting of full sized windows as well as the incorporation of several appliances. This is quite expensive as it involves a total rebuilding of one roof pitch alongside the complete internal works that are associated. The average cost of a standard dormer loft project will range between £25,000 to £50,000.

• HIP TO GABLE LOFT CONVERSION

Here a vertical brick wall is used to substitute the roof’s slope at the ending part of the terrace on detached buildings. The average cost of this type of roof room will range between £32,000 to £60,000.

• ROOFLIGHT LOFT CONVERSION

This basically involves fitting rooflight windows in the roof. Other improvements include flooring, plasterboarding, strengthening of the existing floor, as well as installation of rooflights. The average cost of this type of roof room will range between £15,000 to £25,000.

• MANSARD LOFT EXTENSION

This roof room can create an extra storey on top of an existing building as it makes a space featuring two or four external walls that are a bit sloped. The average cost of this type of roof room will range between £40,000 to £70,000.

How To Dot And Dab A Plasterboard

If you want a fast and simple way to achieve a smooth and sturdy wall which is decoration-ready, then dot and dab plasterboard is the way to go! It’s a relative simple process but can also be a bit challenging. Therefore, if you lack the necessary training or experience, hiring a professional would be a great step to protect your investment and guarantee the best results. Here, we’ll provide you with a deep insight into the plasterboard’s dot and dab procedures. Let’s have a look!

• At the thickness of the board with the adhesive, mark the ceiling and floor as well as the wall to indicate the centre of each board.

• Ensure the wall’s height is 15mm more than the plasterboard

• Make a mixture of the adhesive and achieve a thick consistency. Apply a consistent layer of the mixture around the wall’s perimeter, edge of the ceiling and any other openings with the use of a trowel.

• Select dabs that are about 250mm long and 50mm to 75mm wide and apply the adhesive in them. Make use of 3 vertical rows for individual boards. Also ensure to apply, at skirting level, a band of adhesive.

• Position the board’s reverse side against the dabs, and laying against the packers. Then make the board align with the ceiling and floor marks with the help of a straight edge.

• Raise the board till its tight against the ceiling with a board lifter. Once done, use the plasterboard to wedge the board into place before you remove the board lifter.

• Repeat the same process for the remaining parts of the room. Once completed, make sure the adhesive is set before you remove the boards.

How Much Plasterboard Do I Need?

Although many people especially contractors have a tough time estimating the number of drywall or plasterboard needed to complete a project, it’s a rather simple task if all factors are taken into consideration. If you’re able to follow the same procedures taken by professionals to count dry wall sheets, you’ll be in the right direction. Let’s have a look at the procedures to follow!

lTake Square Footage Measurement

• Measure the square footage of the area where the plasterboard will be fitted.

• Multiply the height by the width of each wall or ceiling area.

• Add all quantities to obtain a total square-foot amount.

lCalculate Drywall Sheets

• To calculate the number of drywall or plasterboard sheet is very simple once you’ve gotten the total square footage.

• To get started, simply divide the total square footage of area by 32 (that’s if you are using a 4 by 8 sheets) or you can also make use of 48 to make the division (only if you’re making use of the 4 by 12 sheets).

• The answer you get after the division will give you the full number of plasterboard sheets that’s required to complete the project.

We’d recommend you include an extra 10 to 15 percent of whatever you calculate to take care of the possible odd cuts and wastages. This implies that if your total area is 1600 square feet while incorporating 4 by 8 sheets, simply divide 1600 by 32 which equals 50 sheets, now take 10% of 50 which equals 5, then add back the 5 extra to the 50 sheets earlier calculated to get 55 sheets. If you wish to estimate the cost, simply multiply the number of sheets gotten by the price per sheet. Do not forget to include delivery charges and local taxes.

There are many different types of extension. For example, you could install an orangery, flat or pitched roof extension, over-structure extension, single or double storey extension or a glass box extension. Which one of these is most suitable will depend on your existing property.

Are you considering converting your garage into a more usable space in your home? If yes, then you’d probably want to know if you’ll require building regs before converting the garage. The answer to this question is yes. Although you may not require planning approval to convert your garage into a more usable space, but you’d usually need approval under the Building Regulations.

When re-structuring your garage into a habitable space, the following should be taken into consideration: structural alterations, ventilation, moisture proofing, insulation, fireproofing, escape routes as well as the submission of a building building notice or full plan application to the local council in order to inform them about the planned project.

• Walls

You’ll require an approval if you plan to infill the garage door with a window and a new wall. This is because the garage may have been built of a shallow slab which implies that a new foundation would be needed for the new wall construction.

• Floor

Even though there’s a high possibility that the garage floor is strong enough for domestic use since its designed to withstand the weight of vehicles, you may however need to upgrade to make sure it suitable for both thermal insulation and damp proofing. In addition, there may also be the need to to alter the floor level in such a way that it matches that of the remaining parts of the house.

• Ventilation

According to the Building Regulations requirements, there’s a need for adequate ventilation for each individual rooms which includes garage conversions for general health purposes. What’s going to determine the ventilation level that’ll be required is the frequency at which the room is used. Ventilation can be provided through purge or simply opening the window or via trickle ventilation.

Sand is a very important element in bricklaying as far as a mortar mix is concerned. Generally, the quality of the sand is the major factor determining the quality of a plaster mix or mortar mix. It’s recommended that the sand should have enough ‘fines’ (- 75 micron material) to get a good plastic mix with a water content that’s less than 350 litres/m3. Generally, a mortar mix or plaster mix is made within the range of one bag of cement to 200 to 300 litres of damp sand.

Apart from experience the next best indicator of the quality of sand is a field test. In other words, if you do not have the required training or experience in bricklaying, the best bet to determine the amount of sand for a good quality mix is by carrying out a field test. Let’s have a look!

• Get about 50kg of sand and air dry it.

• Scoop 25kg of the sand, 5 kg of cement as well as litres of water ( with 1 litre and 1.5 litres of the water in different containers).

• Mix the cement and sand to form a smooth, uniform and consistent colour.

• One after the other, mix the the sand - cement mixture in the three quantities of water. Do this until you’re able to achieve a mix that’s workable enough to use as plaster.

With that done, you should take note that if 5 litres of water is sufficient then the quality and quantity of the sand is perfect. If you’d require 6 litres of water to get a mix workable as a plaster, then both the quality and quantity of the sand is average. However, if you’d need 7 litres of water to get a mix workable as a plaster, then the quality of the sand is poor. Any requirement of water above 7 litres implies a very poor quality of sand.