Up the shared stairs · TF
Top-floor and loft flats in Putney
Two or three flights up, with the staircase getting meaner as it goes. Top-floor conversions in SW15 have a particular signature: the last flight was added long after the house was built, and it was added to whatever space happened to be left.
A wardrobe that clears the first turn frequently will not clear the second. That is the top-floor problem in one sentence.
What a top-floor move involves
The flights get worse as you go up
This is the thing outsiders miss about the housing stock here. A Victorian terrace was built with one decent staircase to the first floor and a narrower one above it, and when the loft was converted a third flight was fitted into whatever space remained.
So the constraint on a top-floor flat is almost never the first turn. It is the second or the third, where the treads are shallower, the width is less, and there is frequently a slope overhead taking away the headroom you needed to tilt something.
We measure all of them. Measuring only the bottom flight is how firms end up with a wardrobe stuck on a half-landing.
Crewing for the climb
Volume tells you how much there is. Height tells you how long it takes and how many people it needs. Those are separate calculations, and a top-floor flat needs the second one done honestly.
An under-crewed van on a three-flight job produces a very long day, a tired crew and the conditions in which things actually get damaged. We would rather quote the right crew and be a little dearer than quote light and finish at eight in the evening.
Loft slopes and the headroom trap
Where a flight runs up under a roof slope, width and height stop being independent. You cannot tilt a tall item to get it round a turn if the ceiling comes down to meet you, and the usable diagonal collapses quickly.
It is the one situation where a piece that measures comfortably on paper genuinely will not go. We look for it specifically.
The good news
Top-floor flats hold less than the floors below them. Lower ceilings, fewer and smaller rooms, and owners who have already learned what fits. In volume terms these are frequently the smallest jobs in the building, which offsets some of the climb.
Top floor and loft flats
Questions about top floor and loft flats
01 Is a top-floor move much slower?
Longer, yes, and that is reflected in the crew rather than hidden. The distance from door to vehicle is what costs the time, and on a third-floor conversion it is considerable.
02 Will my furniture come down the loft flight?
Measure the narrowest point and the headroom together and send us both. Where a slope is involved, the two interact and a piece that looks fine on width alone may not go.
03 Should we sell things rather than move them?
Sometimes, and we will say so. A piece that took four people to get up there and does not fit the next place is a strong candidate for not making the journey.
04 Do you need more people for a top-floor job?
Usually, and the quote says so. Under-crewing a climb is how days overrun and how damage happens.
05 Can you use an external lift?
Occasionally, with the freeholder's agreement and the space on the street to set one up. It is a planned operation, raised at survey.
Which floor, at both ends?
That and the two addresses. If you can also measure the clear diagonal at the turn in your staircase, we can usually answer the furniture question straight away.