Loft Conversion - Architect Visit

The Good News

Today the architect visited. I had asked for the same guy because he was a pleasure to work with last time. He had been off for a bit so I had to wait, but that was fine by me.

The Bad News

So it turns out that there's just not enough space to fit a second staircase above the existing one without losing the firstborn's bedroom. You remember - the 5 day project that took 6 weeks - THAT bedroom!

At first, I didn't accept that it wasn't possible and pushed back on it. I've heard that some people can suggest this purely because it's easier and I don't want to lose space just because it simplifies things for someone who doesn't have to live with the decision.

But, and this is why I like this architect, he patiently took me through the various rules, took a multitude of measurements and proved it to me. 

I'm still not prepared to lose a room though - especially not a room I just spent ages decorating and getting just how the firstborn wanted it. So we worked together on a different plan. We have two good size double bedrooms - the plan is for the second and third borns to have these rooms. But if we were to put the staircase in one of these rooms, there would still be a good size single bedroom so that's what we decided to do.

This preserves the first floor's room count. There will be some compromise required on the loft floorspace but I wanted to see what the plans looked like before deciding if that was a step too far or not, which is where we've left it. 

To be continued...