Headroom
MeasuredWhat matters is not the height at the ridge but how much floor area stays genuinely usable. We measure from the structural floor to the underside of the rafters and subtract the planned build up straight away.
Loft conversion, Heinsberg
Unused space becomes a room you live in.
The cheapest floor area in most houses is already sitting above your head. MK-AUSBAU insulates the roof space, lines the slopes and hands over a finished room, with no extension and no move.
- Trading since
- 2016
- Based in
- Heinsberg
- Trades
- Insulation, drylining, floors, doors, decorating
Section through a pitched roof M 1:50
01
What could your roof space become?
Before anyone talks about insulation materials, there is a better question: what is your house short of right now? The answer decides the headroom, the daylight and the whole build up.
One open room under the slope, with the shape of the roof left visible. It needs the most generous standing height and the best daylight, and the fewest partitions.
Quiet, self contained and a long way from the noise downstairs. A properly decoupled partition and enough sockets pay for themselves quickly here.
Reduced height matters least here, because the bed goes against the low side anyway. What counts is shading and a build up that holds up through the summer.
Music, a workbench, sport or model making. If it is allowed to get loud, we design the sound insulation into the walls and the floor from the start.
Not every roof space has to become a bedroom. A dry, insulated, properly boarded storage area with a real staircase is a gain in its own right.
Whether your roof actually allows one of these uses depends on its height, its structure and local building rules. After the site visit we tell you plainly what works and what does not.
02
From roof tile to finished room
A loft conversion is not one job but a sequence of layers. Pick a layer to see where it sits in the section and what it does.
The covering, the battens and the rafters are already there and they stay. We check from the inside whether the roof is watertight and whether a sarking membrane is present, because everything above that decision changes the build up. The covering itself belongs to the roofer.
The real boundary between inside and outside is formed between the rafters. Fibrous insulation fills the bay without gaps, instead of rigid boards being wedged in, because every open joint is a weak point nobody can see once it is closed up.
A vapour control layer is taped airtight over the insulation, then counter battens carry the services, then the boarding goes on. From here the roof slope has become a wall that can be filled and painted.
Partitions, suspended ceilings, the floor build up and internal doors turn an area into a plan. This is the trade MK-AUSBAU works in every day.
Filled surfaces, paint, floor covering and hung doors. What is left is a room that gives no sign there were once bare battens and cold air up here.
The drawing shows a typical build up for a pitched roof. Your own structure decides the actual one.
Section through a pitched roof 02
03
Now and after
The same section, twice. Drag the slider to move between the state today and the converted room.
Drag the slider or use the arrow keys
Now
Cold roof space
Open rafters, draughts between the tiles, stifling in summer and cold in winter. The area exists and still goes unused, because nobody can live in it.
After
Insulated living space
Filled bays, an airtight layer, smooth slopes and a floor build up you can stand on barefoot. The footprint of the house has not changed. The usable floor area has.
A drawn comparison, not a photograph of one particular project.
04
What gets settled before the work starts
Six things decide whether a loft conversion makes sense and what it costs. We look at all of them during the site visit, before anyone talks about materials.
Roof shape and pitch
RecordedGable, hipped or mono pitch, plus the angle and the rafter spacing. Together they decide how much insulation fits between the rafters and where an extra layer becomes necessary.
Existing build up
Opened and checkedIs there a sarking membrane, is insulation already in place, is there moisture in the timber? An old roof without a membrane needs a different build up from a recently recovered one.
Daylight
PlannedWithout daylight a roof space stays a storage room. Where windows are missing we record what is needed and coordinate the installation with the roofer. Shading is planned in from the beginning.
Access
AssessedA loft ladder is enough for a storage floor but not for a habitable room. We record which access is required and how much floor area it costs on the storey below.
Services
CoordinatedPower, heating and sometimes water have to reach the top of the house. We lay the routes in the counter battens before anything is boarded and agree the sequence with the other trades.
Where we do not decide ourselves
Whether your floor carries the extra load, whether the roof structure may be altered and whether the conversion needs consent is not answered by a fit out contractor but by a structural engineer or the building authority. During the site visit we tell you when such a check is needed rather than glossing over it.
05
Do you insulate the ceiling or the slope?
The most expensive mistake in a roof is made before the first bag of insulation arrives. It comes down to a single question.
Will the space under the roof be heated and lived in?
No
Cold loft
The space stays unheated and will not be converted.
Then the insulation belongs on the top floor ceiling.
- The ceiling area is considerably smaller than the roof area of slopes and gables, so it needs less material for the same effect.
- The cold roof space stays cold and is no longer heated for no reason.
- A concrete ceiling is insulated from above. A timber joist ceiling has its voids blown full, so the draught under the boards stops.
Yes
Converted roof space
The space will be heated and lived in.
Then the roof slope is the outside wall and has to be insulated.
- There is no top floor ceiling left in this situation. The boundary between inside and outside runs along the slope itself.
- Insulation goes between the rafters, and where their depth falls short, a further layer is added beneath them.
- An airtight taped vapour control layer follows on the inside, otherwise moisture travels into the structure.
How we insulate
Between the rafters
The standard answer in a converted roof. Fibrous insulation is cut to fit each bay so that it sits against the timber over its full face and no air gaps remain.
Blown insulation
For closed voids, such as the space under the boards of a timber joist ceiling. The material is blown in and fills what can no longer be seen, without lifting the floor.
The bag method
In old roofs with no sarking membrane the insulation must not touch the tiles. A bag is fed into the bay, inflated and then filled. The result has no joints and keeps its distance from the covering.
Wedging rigid boards between rafters looks finished quickly, but it leaves an open joint at every irregularity in the timber. That is why we work with fibrous insulation, which lays itself against the structure that is actually there.
06
The fit out, trade by trade
This is our daily work. You put together what your own project needs.
01
Drylining and acoustics
Partitions, independent linings and suspended ceilings. Where quiet matters we decouple the linings, so sound does not travel around the wall through the ceiling and the screed.
02
Insulation
Insulation to the slopes and the top floor ceiling, blown insulation into closed voids, and the airtight layer with every junction it depends on.
03
Floor coverings
Preparing the substrate and laying the covering: laminate, parquet, vinyl, carpet or tiles. In a roof conversion the build up underneath counts for at least as much as the covering itself.
04
Internal doors
Setting frames and hanging doors so they fit precisely and stay easy to use, including where a slope shortens the reveal.
05
Decorating
Filling to the agreed quality level, painting walls, slopes and ceilings, and coating timber elements.
06
Design floors
Polyurethane design floors with a three dimensional finish, when the room is to have a seamless surface of its own.
Not every loft conversion includes every one of these trades. What your project needs is agreed together after the site visit.
07
One contractor for the fit out
MK AUSBAU Innenausbau & Sanierung has worked out of Heinsberg since 2016. In a loft conversion insulation, drylining, floors, doors and decorating run straight into one another, and those are exactly the trades we carry out ourselves.
From the first conversation to the handover, I stand personally behind the quality of our work.
Maxim Kelm, founder and managing director
One sequence, one person responsible
Insulation, airtight layer, boarding, floor and paint have to arrive in the right order. Because one firm carries them out, there is no handover between those steps where something can be left behind.
Look first, quote second
A quote you can rely on is written on site, not over the phone. We look at the existing build up and tell you honestly when a measure is not worth it in your case.
A clean site in an occupied house
During a loft conversion you usually keep living on the floors below. Routes, dust protection and waste removal are planned in, and working hours are agreed with you.
What other trades do
Roof covering, carpentry to the roof structure, structural calculations, planning applications and the electrical, plumbing and heating trades are not part of our scope. We work alongside them, agree the sequence and tell you early who else you will need.
08
How a loft conversion runs
Six steps from the state today to a room handed over. No week counts, because no two roofs are alike.
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01
Starting point
You tell us what you have in mind and what the roof space looks like today. Photographs and a rough measurement are plenty to begin with.
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02
Site visit
We come out, measure the usable height, look at the rafters, the covering and any moisture, and establish whether a structural check is needed.
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03
Conversion plan
The layout, the build up of the slopes, daylight, access and service routes are settled. That produces a quote which sets out each trade separately.
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04
Insulation and build up
Filling the bays, sealing the vapour control layer, fixing counter battens, laying the service routes and boarding out. This is the stage nothing can be corrected in later.
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05
Interior fit out
Partitions, ceilings, filling, paint, the floor build up and internal doors. The area becomes a plan and the plan becomes a room.
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06
Handover
We walk through together, note and clear any outstanding points and take the site away. You get a room you can furnish the same day.
09
Materials, close up
Four photographs from the MK-AUSBAU material record. Select one to see it larger.
These photographs show materials and trade work. They do not document any particular project and are not a picture of a specific loft conversion.
10
Where we work
The firm is based in Heinsberg. Short distances across the district are a practical advantage: a site visit can be fitted in at short notice, and a question that comes up on site can be settled the same day.
Heinsberg district
- Heinsberg
- Hückelhoven
- Erkelenz
- Geilenkirchen
- Wassenberg
- Wegberg
- Übach-Palenberg
- Gangelt
- Selfkant
- Waldfeucht
And beyond
- Mönchengladbach
- Aachen
Live a little further out? Just ask. We will tell you straight whether we can take your project on.
11
Common questions about loft conversions
What we are asked most often before a site visit.
There is no single figure, because the state building regulations set requirements for habitable rooms and every roof structure is cut differently. What decides it is the area you can stand upright in, not the height at the ridge. We measure that during the site visit and tell you what is left once the build up is subtracted.
That depends on whether you change the external form and on your local development plan. As long as the work stays inside the existing envelope, the process is usually lighter than for a dormer or a raised roof. Only the building authority can answer this definitively. We flag it as soon as anything at the site visit points that way.
With a timber joist ceiling that is a question for a structural engineer, particularly when a storage floor becomes a lived in room. We open up the build up, record what is there and tell you when a check is needed. A fit out contractor cannot and should not replace that assessment.
Not necessarily. What matters is that the covering is watertight and whether a sarking membrane exists. If there is none, we insulate with a gap so that no material touches the tiles. If the roof is due to be recovered anyway, it makes sense to combine the two, and we coordinate with your roofer.
The biggest lever against summer heat is not the insulation but the windows. Once the sun comes through the glass, the heat is inside. External shading on roof windows does noticeably more than any change of material in the insulation layer, which is why we plan it in from the start.
In most cases yes, because the work stays confined to one storey. We protect routes and the stairwell, keep the dust in the working area and agree deliveries and working hours with you. Where a stage is loud, we say so in advance.
No. We work from the inside: insulation, drylining, floors, internal doors and decorating. Roof covering, the roof structure and structural calculations belong to other trades. We agree the sequence with them so the work fits together.
12
Request a loft conversion
Describe your project briefly. We will get back to you and go through the next steps.
- Phone
- +49 (0) 2452 8607038
- info@ausbau.nrw
- Address
- Am Diebsweg 17, 52525 Heinsberg
Prefer to talk?
A short phone call often settles more than a long form.