GS Renovation builds loft conversions in Southgate, where N14 is largely interwar semis and detached houses laid out on wide plots between Trent Park and Enfield Town. Hipped roofs are the norm, which makes hip to gable with a rear dormer the conversion that gives the most room for the money.
Squaring off a hipped N14 roof
A Southgate semi usually has its roof hipping in over the side wall, which cuts the usable width just where a bed or a shower would go. Rebuilding that hip as a full height gable wall recovers it, and a rear dormer behind gives standing height across the back of the plan. On the wider detached houses in the area there is often enough width for two rooms and a shower room rather than a single bedroom suite.
Interwar roofs here are usually purlin and strut construction, which helps, because the frame can be restructured around a new floor without stripping the whole roof. The cold water tank is removed and the house typically moves to a combi boiler or an unvented cylinder. New floor joists are sized by a structural engineer and carried on steels spanning to the party wall and the new gable, clear of the ceiling joists below.
Enfield Council, conservation areas and the shared wall
Southgate sits in the London Borough of Enfield, so Enfield Council decides planning. On a semi-detached or detached house the permitted development volume allowance is commonly cited as 50 cubic metres, subject to matching materials, obscure glazed side windows and nothing projecting forward of the existing roof plane. Parts of Southgate lie within conservation areas where those rights are withdrawn, and an Article 4 direction does the same, so the address is checked before design.
We advise applying for a lawful development certificate where a scheme goes ahead under permitted development, because it is the evidence a buyer's conveyancer will want. Building control approval is separate and always needed, covering fire escape, stair rise and going, insulation, ventilation and the floor structure. On a semi the steels bear into the wall shared with your attached neighbour, which is notifiable under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996; we prepare the notice and you serve it.
- Velux and conservation rooflights fitted and flashed
- Building control inspections booked at floor, steel and completion
- Water tank removal and conversion to a sealed system
- Dormer cheeks, flat roof and leadwork detailed to last
- Staircase design to Part K, including the landing below
Trusted Loft Conversion in Southgate
Southgate roofs are big and generally straightforward, which is precisely why the detailing is what separates a good conversion from a leaky one. GS Renovation builds the gable, the dormer, the floor and the stair to the engineer's design, and manages Enfield building control and the party wall notices alongside. Fully insured, with the certificates handed over on completion.
- Straight advice on what is and is not worth spending money on
- Photographs kept at each stage for your records
- New floor structure carried on steel, never on the old ceiling joists
- Rated 4.9 from 31 reviews on MyBuilder
- Ridge height measured before any design work is commissioned
- Dust screens and floor protection in occupied homes