This terraced house has stairs rising from hallway and cutting across the middle of the house between two sitting rooms. This is repeated from first floor to attic leaving a loft cut in half with very little floor space at the full height level.
We have money to put a full width dormer on the rear of the loft but would like to have a shower room up there. This would go at the front but there is only a corridor width of space at either end of the hole for the stairs.
Is there a way of getting a shower room in? Should we look at turning the two stair cases with half landings so the stairs stay on one side and give more floor space in the loft? Am assuming we have to do both for this to make any sense when it's finished.
I believe the direction of the boards, and so the direction of the joists is a big deal.
This one shows the best example of the effect I was trying to explain. I do not have a shot that shows how the handrail goes past the ceiling, but with a little imagination you could picture what the rail would have to do if the stairs were much wider at the bottom.
Best Answer
If the stairs to the attic don't match the stairs to the second floor you're most likely going to wind up losing floor space on the second floor. How much depends on how many steps change direction. If you do change the first-second floor stairs to match you're going to lose some room in one of the sitting rooms. That might not be a bad thing because really... how lazy do you need to be to have two rooms dedicated to sitting? :) Your heart and your doctor will be happy but your renovation budget... not so much.
As to being able to fit a shower room... That can't be answered without seeing the floor plan.