Loft boarding rises in popularity in Worcestershire and Warwickshire

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We’ve been in the loft improvement business for more than a decade and, whilst we have always remained busy, we have seen the various aspects of our work rise and fall in popularity over that time. One general trend stands out and that is the increase in demand for loft boarding.

Up to a few years ago 75% of our work involved fitting fixed loft ladders and installing new hatches. Boarding loft spaces made up the other 25%. Throughout 2020 and 2021, our work has changed to consist of 50% boarding and 50% loft ladders.

Loft boarding creates a feeling of space

Talking with our customers reveals the reasons for the demand for loft boarding. Number one is the fact that we have all been spending so much more time at home during Covid 19. This increased time in the home has led customers to reassess the space they have and created a desire to free their living spaces of items that could be stowed in the loft out of sight. It is not just that customers have been working from home or were home-schooling children. As well as carving out specific areas for a home office or to exercise in, customers just simply wanted to create a feeling of space. 

Whereas before customers would fit a ladder and think about boarding the loft space themselves or getting us back at a later date to do it, loft boarding has become a priority.

“Customers are saying to us that what is the point of fitting a fixed ladder if they still have to be careful not to go through the floor when they are up in the loft,” explains Stuart Dyson, owner of Stu’s Loft Ladders. “Without boarding, it is almost impossible to effectively use the space in your loft.”

Take a look at our boarding page for more information or our Facebook page for examples of recent work and customer reviews.

How to make the most of loft storage – our top tips for Stratford-upon-Avon homeowners

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There is no doubt about it – boarding the loft and fitting a fixed loft ladder is a sure-fire way to create useable storage in your home, whilst freeing up living areas. For customers who have recently had their loft boarded by our team, or those thinking about it, these are our top tips for making the most of all that new storage space:

Box clever

Cardboard boxes may be a cheap and light option, but there is nothing more frustrating whilst searching for an item than to rummage to the bottom of a box to find it is not there. Instead, we recommend buying a set of clear, stackable boxes. Most DIY stores sell them and often have offers when buying more than one. We are all trying to avoid buying plastic, so make sure they last – the cheap, brittle kind can be a false economy and may crack and need replacing. 

If you do opt for cardboard or recycled plastic (which won’t be transparent), label the contents clearly. Group similar items together and write or tape a list of the contents on more than one side so that you can see the list easily, whichever way the box is facing.

Keep a lid on it

A certain amount of dust will fall onto whatever you store in the loft, so we recommend boxes with lids. Lids will not only keep the dust and grit out, but also provide a barrier to spiders and moths.

Honey, I’ve shrunk the clothes

If you haven’t tried vacuum packing clothing, then it is a revelation. Belongings that would fill an entire box, shrink down to a tiny size and, best of all, moths and dust mites can’t get in! Think of the space you could create in your wardrobe if you could take out some of your bulky winter items.

Shine a light

Searching around a loft with the torch on your phone is a tricky business. LED lighting options are now far more powerful than they once were. Look for battery operated lights that can be angled and attached easily where you need them. LED lights with a sensor will make life easier.

Bespoke options

You could consider having shelving built as part of your loft build or retro fitting some. We are often asked to build-in shelving to accommodate suitcases or sporting equipment.

If you would like a quote to board your loft or fit a fixed ladder, contact us now. You can see photos from some of our recent jobs on our Facebook page.

Loft improvements in Warwick, Redditch, Bidford and Stratford-upon-Avon – all in a week’s work for Stu’s Loft Ladders!

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June is generally a busy month. We are not yet into summer holidays and people are getting on with home improvements before they go away. This year, the effect of coming out of lockdown and people feeling more confident about having work done in their homes, means that our diary is packed. We are certainly not complaining, as we love to be busy! Last week’s loft improvement jobs show a good range of the services we provide.

Boarding in Warwick

First up was a loft boarding job in Warwick, boarding around central roof supports, but leaving the area up to the eaves. We also fitted an aluminium ladder, creating an easy loft access and storage solution. A happy customer and our week was off to a good start!

Partial loft board in Bidford-On-Avon

Next we visited Bidford on Avon for a boarding job. The customer only wanted a partial board, so we created a storage area in the middle section the loft. Another happy customer!

Loft boarding and timber ladder in Stratford-upon-Avon

On to Stratford-upon-Avon. Here we turned wasted space into functional storage with a timber ladder.  Again, the customer wanted boarding to the middle section only, but in this large loft, this still created a large amount of storage potential.

Redditch boarding to middle section of loft

Later in the week we were in Redditch. Again creating a useable storage area with a board to the middle section of a loft. 

Enlarging and moving loft hatches

Our next two jobs were all about loft hatches. In Bidford, we enlarged the loft opening for a client and fitted a new hatch. To finish the week off, we visited another customer to move the loft opening, which had been over the stairs. This is a common location for hatches in older houses and not one that is very safe. We turned the loft around to run the other way on the landing and fitted an aluminium ladder and plastic hatch. 

Get in touch for your loft improvement quote

As you can tell, we specialise in loft improvements and we stay busy through customer recommendations. We are taking bookings now for the rest of June and July. Get in touch if you need some help to unlock the storage potential of your loft! Or still not sure? Check out more pictures of these jobs and others on our Facebook page.

How negative space is a design positive for your home – creating calm interiors by boarding lofts in Warwickshire and Worcestershire

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Now that we can have friends round again, we may be looking at our homes with fresh eyes. Suddenly the piles of paperwork on the kitchen counter or overflowing bookshelves seem untidy. You may want your home to look more like the examples you see online – more inspirational and less, well, lived in!

Whilst we need to be realistic about how busy homes actually look compared to publicity shots, there is a professional design technique that we can copy to give our interiors the wow factor – the creation of negative space.

Negative space features in all design disciplines, from graphics to architecture and involves creating an empty area to better emphasise certain features. It may be that you have a gorgeous armchair hidden behind a coffee table piled high with magazines or in-front of a busy shelving unit. By taking out the surrounding visual distractions, the eye will be drawn to the shape of the chair making it a central feature of your design. The same might be true for a picture you love, or a light fixture – by imitating the techniques of the professionals you can create impact with the items you really love.

Negative space not only draws the eye to certain features in our home, but can also create a calm and harmonious space. If not every square inch is taken up with possessions, there is mentally room to breath and a sense of order in busy lives. 

Loft Boarding Installation
Think of what you could store when you create space like this

Of course we are going to suggest that loft storage is the answer as boarding lofts and fitting loft ladders is our stock-in-trade. Genuinely, we hear time and again from customers who have fallen back in love with their homes by creating proper storage. Suddenly there is an accessible place to put the items that they don’t want cluttering up their living areas. Sometimes this can be keeping a few favourite ornaments on shelves whilst storing the rest, or putting CD collections that have been digitised out of sight. After all, we don’t always want to part with items or need a “holding bay”until we are sure.

So if the lifting of restrictions and the prospect of visitors is making you reappraise your home, then give us a call. We are always happy to provide a no-obligation quote so you can see what good value boarding the loft provides. Contact us now.

For Stratford-upon-Avon homeowners, loft boarding can be the first step to regaining control of the clutter

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The Bank Holiday weekend is the perfect time to have a clear out and to take control of your possessions.

Often we can feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff we hang on to. Most of us have it – a dumping ground, whether that be the garage, utility room, cupboard under the stairs or spare bedroom. The place where we shove things that we may need later or don’t want to look at. Over time, that area can become overwhelming and we just shove things in and quickly shut the door.

If you don’t have loft storage, boarding the loft can be a positive first step in reorganising your home and sorting out the mess. Starting with a clean slate is an opportunity to tackle the problem areas in our homes. With a little organisation, the loft storage can be really functional. Think labelled boxes, shelving and enough boarded area to move around in between boxes so that items can be retrieved and returned easily.

Truss shelving is an inexpensive addition that creates an area for neatly storing boxes at the sides of the loft, leaving the floor area free to move around in. We can even build bespoke shelves so that items such as suitcases are off the floor and neatly stored.

If the mess in your home can make you scream, boarding the loft can be a positive first step to regaining control through proper storage

So, if you would like to create a little more order in your home, give us a call on 07712 327889 for a free, no-obligation quote. We cover Warwickshire and Worcestershire from our base near Redditch.

Partial loft boarding keeps customers in Chipping Campden and Redditch on budget

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We’ve been pretty busy this week providing loft improvement services. There seems to have been a common theme with customers choosing to board part of their lofts.

This has been the case at jobs in Chipping Campden and Hunt End in Redditch. It’s a sensible choice. These customers have thought about what they want to achieve within their budget and decided to board the central section of their loft space.

Chipping Campden new-build loft

In Chipping Campden we boarded the middle section of a new-build property. This was a large four-bedroom detached home and it made sense to only board part of the loft as this would provide ample storage space for the customer’s needs. We also fitted an aluminium ladder, which was lightweight, easy to use and within budget. The delighted customer couldn’t wait to start using the new space– in fact, we even moved her belongings up to the loft for her.

Redditch part board

In Hunt End, Redditch, our next job was in a 1980s three-bedroom home. Once again, a useful storage area was created by boarding a central section.

Before we started, the space in the customer’s loft was unusable with only the joints to stand on between rolls of insulation.

Boarding and ladder options to suit your budget

“If you would like your loft boarded, it is worth talking the job through with us,” comments Stuart Dyson, owner of Stu’s Loft Ladders. “We can work to your budget by boarding an area of your loft. An average cost of £35 per square metre will give you a good idea of what to expect. If you want to add a ladder, we have options to suit your budget.”

Stu’s Loft Ladders works throughout the West Midlands in a 20-mile radius from our base in Studley. We are always happy to provide a no-obligation quote. Call us now on 07712 327889.

Spring means time to look up with loft storage in Warwickshire and Worcestershire

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Spring is on the way! With lock down measures set to ease over the coming months and, hopefully, not long until refuse and recycling centres start opening again, it’s the perfect time to have a clear out. If you are tackling a project like sorting out the garage or shed, you will be left with some items that you want to keep, but don’t want to have hanging around taking up space.

With a loft ladder and boarding, you could keep those items in the loft and be able to easily retrieve them when you want them. So, if you only use your camping equipment or sun shade for the beach once a year (well we can dream during lockdown) then you could have them out of sight in a properly boarded loft. The same goes for sentimental items like photos that you will put into albums one day or CDs that you no longer play, but can’t part with.

Not boarding your loft = wasting space

We can’t say it enough – if you have a loft that is not boarded then you are wasting space in your home. At an average cost of £35 a square metre, boarding might cost less than you think and enable you to revolutionise the way you organise your home. All those items that you are keeping for occasional use or for “one day” won’t need to crowd your living areas. You could swap over your winter and summer clothes, vacuum packing them for protection. Think about how much nicer it would be to organise your wardrobe space and see what you have to wear. Our customers nearly always have plans for what they will store in their loft and it always amazes us from fishing gear to dance trophies. Really the possibilities depend on you.  

We are taking bookings now and provide no-obligation quotes for jobs throughout Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. Call us on 07712 327889.

Our challenge to Warwickshire homeowners: control the clutter by boarding your loft

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It’s not quite time for spring cleaning, but during this winter lockdown space is at a premium in our homes. Our houses have become multi-functional spaces. Bedrooms are offices and the kitchen is a classroom. When the living areas are cluttered and everyone is at home vying for a spot to work or follow a hobby, home might not feel like a haven.

Boarding the loft can offer a way to take control again. You could gain an extra 50% of floor space to use as storage. Make good use of that storage and it could transform your home.

We all think that we should have a good clear out, but it’s not always possible, whether for sentimental or practical reasons – there are some items that we use infrequently, but want to be able to lay our hands on quickly should the need arise. Proper storage is the alternative to either looking at items every day or getting rid of them completely.

Truss shelving for loft storage

Recently, we have been creating a lot of truss shelving during loft boarding jobs. A raised board that sits in the V of the trusses, the shelf creates a handy storage area. This allows our customers to keep boxes neatly at the sides, leaving plenty of floor room to access them. No more having to pick a path around a pile of precariously stacked boxes. It’s these details that make the difference between using storage effectively and not being able to find what you need, when you need it.

So control the clutter and take back your home.

Customers in Warwickshire maximise loft storage with made-to-measure shelving

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Truss shelving – not something you’d think that you’d get excited about! You may be surprised because our customers throughout Warwickshire and Worcestershire do.

Bespoke loft storage solutions

Truss shelving is bespoke shelving that we create to fit on the webbing on the loft trusses. It is an optional extra for customers when we board their lofts and one that is very popular. The shelves create room for boxes in what would be wasted space. This means that the floor space is freed up. It is an important consideration to leave enough floor space otherwise accessing belongings becomes difficult. Often you don’t need to bring down an entre box and its useful to have room to comfortably browse and retrieve a particular item.

Skilled carpenters

We are carpenters by trade and so everything we do is bespoke. We don’t use ready-made kits that are one size fits all because houses don’t come in one size. What we leave customers with is tailored shelving that makes the most of the space they have – we all know how precious storage space is in our homes.

Contact us now to find out more.

Loft boarding transforms space in Bidford-On-Avon

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We love a before and after photo. If you follow us on Facebook, you will see that the photos we share on our page show the difference that loft boarding really makes. Over the course of a day, customers see one level of their home transform from wasted space to useable storage.

Wasted space to useable storage

These photos show far more vividly than we could ever describe the incredible change. In the scheme of home improvements, boarding the loft is relatively inexpensive, but the options it gives you are immense.

Loft insulation is marvelous stuff, but trust us, as people who spend their days working in enclosed environments with it, it is not something you want to get on your clothing or transport back down to your living areas.

New build in Bidford-On-Avon

This particular job was in a three-bedroom, semi-detached property in Bidford-On-Avon, Warwickshire, an area where we often work. It was a new-build home, so high levels of insulation – fantastic news for heat preservation, but not so good for storage.

If you look at the after photo you will see that we completely tidied the loft area. No more scratchy and unpleasant insulation fibres to worry about, only a neat area for boxes and room to move about whilst accessing them.

The result – another delighted customer!

Message us now for more information.