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Yea, it is really difficult to take in sometimes. I design these things every day and sometimes I'll meet a fitter on site and they manage to lose me! Haha.
I don't know how a skylight or roof light above the stairs would relate to insulation. There are rules that limit how much glass you can put in (20% to 25% of the floor area off the top of my head - it's not something I've had to think about for a good while) but I dunno about the over stairs thing.
That said, personally I think a window over the stairs is a fantastic idea and try to specify them when I can. The difference it makes to the conversion is worth the extra cost (and they don't cost a whole lot). Without a window the stairs and landing in the loft can be quite dark and gloomy, but put a roof light up there and the light just floods in.
If possible it can be nice to have a bit of a gap between the stairs and the landing (like in the drawing I attached to my previous post) as it visually connects the first and second floors together and lets light come down onto the first floor landing too - more light in landing areas is always a good thing.
Fire doors/alarms.
You'll have to have interlinked smoke alarms in the hall and on the landings anyway - but if you've got modern doors you might not want to bother with having smoke alarms in the rooms. That would mean swapping them for fire doors. Personally I prefer the idea of smoke alarms anyway - given a choice between being outside the house and having enough time to grab the file of insurance docs, deeds, ID, bills and so on (you do have one, right?) on the way out - and having to just run because the fire's taken hold and you need to get out NOW - I know which I'd go for.
As for prices - that's all very flexible. It's a quiet time of year anyway (that'll change soon) and the whole recession nonsense doesn't help - some incredibly good firms I know are struggling for work and so have remarkably low prices right now... whereas at other times they can pretty much charge what they like.
Going with a loft specialist is (in my mind at least, though I've not had a conversion done) a good idea. If they've done plenty of lofts they should know what needs doing and do it well, the more "handyman" types might not be quite so good.
Going with a big firm isn't really an issue as long as the team they send to do the work are good and know what they are doing. I sometimes do drawings for a company who has about 8 teams on the go and they'll do anything from boarding out and installing a loft ladder to the most grand and complex loft conversions you can imagine.
EDIT TO ADD:
On the drawings front, if you did decide to get your own done - bear in mind you may need to pay for an engineer too. Some people include that in the drawing price, others do not.
Good luck anyway - as long as you have a contract that sets out time scales, payment plans and penalties if they fail to keep their side of the deal - you should be fine. All the best!
I don't know how a skylight or roof light above the stairs would relate to insulation. There are rules that limit how much glass you can put in (20% to 25% of the floor area off the top of my head - it's not something I've had to think about for a good while) but I dunno about the over stairs thing.
That said, personally I think a window over the stairs is a fantastic idea and try to specify them when I can. The difference it makes to the conversion is worth the extra cost (and they don't cost a whole lot). Without a window the stairs and landing in the loft can be quite dark and gloomy, but put a roof light up there and the light just floods in.
If possible it can be nice to have a bit of a gap between the stairs and the landing (like in the drawing I attached to my previous post) as it visually connects the first and second floors together and lets light come down onto the first floor landing too - more light in landing areas is always a good thing.
Fire doors/alarms.
You'll have to have interlinked smoke alarms in the hall and on the landings anyway - but if you've got modern doors you might not want to bother with having smoke alarms in the rooms. That would mean swapping them for fire doors. Personally I prefer the idea of smoke alarms anyway - given a choice between being outside the house and having enough time to grab the file of insurance docs, deeds, ID, bills and so on (you do have one, right?) on the way out - and having to just run because the fire's taken hold and you need to get out NOW - I know which I'd go for.
As for prices - that's all very flexible. It's a quiet time of year anyway (that'll change soon) and the whole recession nonsense doesn't help - some incredibly good firms I know are struggling for work and so have remarkably low prices right now... whereas at other times they can pretty much charge what they like.
Going with a loft specialist is (in my mind at least, though I've not had a conversion done) a good idea. If they've done plenty of lofts they should know what needs doing and do it well, the more "handyman" types might not be quite so good.
Going with a big firm isn't really an issue as long as the team they send to do the work are good and know what they are doing. I sometimes do drawings for a company who has about 8 teams on the go and they'll do anything from boarding out and installing a loft ladder to the most grand and complex loft conversions you can imagine.
EDIT TO ADD:
On the drawings front, if you did decide to get your own done - bear in mind you may need to pay for an engineer too. Some people include that in the drawing price, others do not.
Good luck anyway - as long as you have a contract that sets out time scales, payment plans and penalties if they fail to keep their side of the deal - you should be fine. All the best!
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