A Case Study In Getting Extra Storage Space Under The Eaves In Your House

 

Mr and Mrs Harrop were looking for extra storage space under the eaves in both of their spare bedrooms. This is because their grandchildren stay over regularly and they really needed to make use of this hidden and unused extra storage space. Mrs H was particularly keen about having additional storage space for all the toys as well as hanging room for clothes!

Inside both of the spare rooms there was a studded wall running along one side of the room covering the space under the eaves of the house. This was the perfect space to install extra storage, or so we thought from previous experience!

woodwork exposed under eaves

A Tricky Challenge

However, what we thought would be behind the studded wall was different to what was actually behind the wall. Usually in older houses there is pearling running along the top of the eaves to support the roof truces which usually leaves a big open space underneath to work with. But in Mr & Mrs H’s house this wasn’t the case.

Once we removed the studded wall we found more roof truces supporting the existing roof truces.  This limited our options on what we could achieve. We would have to cut round each support individually as the supports cannot be removed because they are a crucial part of the structural integrity of the house.

In the first bedroom Mrs H wanted sliding wardrobes with a big open space behind to be able to store toys and things away that otherwise get left lying around forgotten about. This was simple enough. We framed out the space under the eaves maximising the space, and then in front we built a frame system which would then support the sliding doors.

In the second bedroom, Mrs H wanted wardrobes either side of a double bed which could contain plenty of hanging clothes. This was a little trickier! Once we removed the plasterboard we were able to build a base on the existing floor whereby we could build up from. However, because the existing roof truces weren’t square (TYPICAL ROOFERS!!) it made extra work for us to ensure the wardrobe was square. Once we built the wardrobe we inserted hanging rails either side to maximise the amount of hanging space that was available.

extra storage space under the eaves with hanging rail

During this job we encountered a few extra problems that we had to solve: The removal and repositioning of plug sockets to ensure there was still access to electricity in both rooms. Also where we had removed the plaster when taking out the existing wall create a rough edge against the wardrobes this was easily solved by a quick re-plaster and skim from Toby.

electrics and plaster work on extra storage space under the eaves

So, after much effort, imagination and skilful endeavours we were able to create extra storage space under the eaves in the two bedrooms for Mr and Mrs H.