Washington was designated a new town in 1964, and instead of starting from scratch the planners linked existing settlements with new housing areas known as villages. For years they were also given district numbers, which have since given way to names such as Albany, Concord, Oxclose, Fatfield and Rickleton. The result is a town where most homes date from the 1960s onwards, with an older core at its heart.
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Why does a modern estate roof need re-engineering?
Because many houses built in Washington from the new town years onwards have trussed rafter roofs. These are factory-made frames, usually set about 600 millimetres apart, with diagonal timbers in a W pattern running from the ceiling to the rafters. Each frame works as a single engineered unit, and the diagonals fill the loft so there is nowhere to stand or walk through.
Why the timbers cannot simply be cut
Every web, rafter and ceiling tie in a truss carries part of the load. Removing even a few diagonals without replacing their job can let the roof spread or sag. The ceiling ties are also slim pieces sized for a plasterboard ceiling, not for a bed, a wardrobe and people moving about.
What the new structure looks like
A structural engineer designs a replacement frame before any timber comes out. That usually means steel beams spanning between the gable or party walls, sometimes with posts down to load-bearing walls below, plus new floor joists laid independently of the old ceiling ties. Once the steels and joists are in, the diagonals can be removed and the rafters supported from the new structure. Building regulations approval covers the calculations, and the inspector checks the steelwork before it is boxed in and fire protected.
Is there enough height under a shallow roof?
Sometimes there is, and sometimes the roof has to change shape. Many estate houses were built with fairly low pitches, which keeps the ridge low and leaves only a narrow band of standing room down the middle. The new floor joists also sit a little higher than the old ceiling, taking more height away. As a rough guide, we look for around 2.2 metres from the top of the existing joists to the underside of the ridge, measured before any work. Where the loft falls short, a dormer is usually needed to make the room usable, and in a few cases the space is better kept for storage.
Dormers and Gables for Detached and Semi-Detached Homes
Detached and semi-detached houses make up a large share of Washington, and their roofs often suit the bigger conversion types. A rear dormer squares off the back slope to give full standing height across most of the floor, which is often what makes a shallow roof workable. Where the side of the roof is hipped, a hip-to-gable conversion extends the ridge out to a vertical gable wall and frees up room for the staircase. The two are frequently combined, and on a detached house with hips on both sides the same approach can sometimes be applied twice.
Under permitted development, detached and semi-detached houses can gain as much as 50 cubic metres of roof volume, provided conditions are met such as matching materials and keeping the dormer set back from the eaves. Some estates carry planning conditions that removed these rights when the houses were built, so we check the planning history of your address before you commit to a design.
Where rooflights alone can work
On steeper roofs, a Velux conversion leaves the shape of the roof as it is and suits a study or a single bedroom. The truss replacement work still applies, so the structural cost does not disappear.
Converting an Older House in Washington Village
The original settlement around The Green predates the new town by centuries, and Washington Old Hall, linked to the ancestors of George Washington, stands at its centre. Its conservation area designation dates from 1975. Older houses here usually have traditional cut timber roofs with purlins and rafters, which can be easier to convert than a trussed roof, but planning is stricter. Dormers and other roof enlargements need a planning application in a conservation area, and Sunderland City Council, the planning authority for the town, expects materials and window positions to respect the character of the street.
Which room makes the best use of the space?
On most estate houses, an extra bedroom served by a compact shower room gives the biggest gain, especially where children are sharing. A home office suits a smaller loft, or a household where someone works from home most of the week. For an en-suite we plan around the soil stack and existing water supply, and on a trussed roof we can often position the bathroom where the new steels leave the best headroom.
The staircase is often the hardest part to fit in a compact Washington semi. Landings tend to be small, so the new flight usually rises above the existing stair, and we check it keeps the headroom building regulations require. Fire safety rules mean the doors opening onto the stairway below may need upgrading, and linked mains smoke alarms go in on every level.
Around the Town and Further Afield
We work in every part of Washington, from Usworth and Biddick to Harraton and Lambton, and in neighbouring Sunderland, Chester-le-Street and Gateshead. The full list of places we cover is on our areas served hub.
