Wartime 1.5-storey homes in Manotick are everywhere. Steep roofs, small footprints, attics big enough to dream about but never quite usable as-is. The family in this house had three kids and a primary bedroom on the main floor that backed onto the kitchen. They wanted out.
The attic had a ridge height of 11'4" at the centre, which is the only number that matters when you start an attic conversion. Below 9'6" at the centre and you are working too hard for too little. This one had room to spare.
Final scope: two new dormers, a 320 sq ft primary bedroom, a 140 sq ft ensuite, and an 80 sq ft walk-in closet. 540 sq ft of new conditioned space carved out of the existing attic. Timeline: 16 weeks from permit issue to final inspection.
Why dormers and not a full second-storey lift
The owners had quoted a full second-storey lift with three different builders, and every quote came in at a large multiple of a dormered conversion. We could have done that work too. We talked them out of it.
The existing roof structure was sound. The footprint already gave them the room they needed if we converted the volume above. A full lift would have triggered foundation review, full Part 9 envelope upgrades for the new walls, a new HVAC system, and 10 to 12 weeks of the family living offsite.
A dormered attic conversion uses what is already there. The existing rafters become the structure. The existing footprint stays. The family stayed in the house the entire build.
If your attic has 10 feet of clear height at the centre and decent ridge length, a dormered conversion will get you 80 percent of the result of a second-storey for 35 percent of the cost.
The two dormers, sized properly
Front dormer: shed-style, 14 feet wide, 7 feet tall at the back wall. Houses the new ensuite and gives the bathroom a flat ceiling over the vanity and shower zone. Two casement windows facing the street.
Rear dormer: shed-style, 18 feet wide, 7 feet tall. Becomes the primary bedroom. Three windows looking out over the back yard and the river beyond.
Shed dormers, not gable. Cleaner roof line, easier to flash, give you a flat ceiling instead of a triangular peak that wastes the volume you just paid to add.
The dormer rule we follow
Make the dormer at least 12 feet wide if you can. Tiny dormers cost almost as much as wide ones because the framing, flashing, and waterproofing labour is roughly the same. The marginal cost of an extra 4 feet of width is small. The marginal value of that 4 feet of usable floor is several times larger. Widening a dormer is almost always the best money on the job.
The layout
The stair landed in the centre of the attic, opposite the back wall. From there:
- Turn right and you are in a small landing with a built-in linen closet and a reading nook tucked into the eave
- Continue forward through a 32-inch door into the primary bedroom (320 sq ft, king bed, two side tables, reading chair, three windows from the rear dormer)
- Off the bedroom: a walk-in closet, 80 sq ft, fully shelved by our cabinet shop in painted MDF with one row of drawers
- Through a pocket door from the closet: the ensuite, 140 sq ft, with a 60-inch double vanity, walk-in shower, and toilet behind a half-wall
The reading nook in the eave is the detail every guest comments on. We built a 5-foot wide bench seat into the lowest part of the slope, with two drawers underneath and a small custom window at the side. A modest line item that sells the whole conversion.
The materials
The owners wanted "warm modern, not farmhouse." We picked:
- Floor: 7-inch wide European white oak engineered plank, matte UV oil finish. Carries up the stair and across the whole new space
- Walls and ceiling: Benjamin Moore White Dove on the flats, same colour on the slopes. One colour everywhere makes a low-ceilinged space feel taller
- Bedroom feature wall: custom V-groove panelling behind the bed, painted out the same as the walls. Texture without colour contrast
- Ensuite floor: 4x12 zellige-look ceramic in a warm cream, herringbone
- Ensuite shower: 12x24 marble-look porcelain on walls, slip-rated mosaic on floor, linear drain
- Vanity: in-house cabinet shop, painted MDF in a deep olive (Farrow & Ball Treron), brushed brass pulls, Caesarstone counter
- Windows: casements with simulated divided lites, white interior, charcoal exterior to match the existing house trim
The hard part: stairs
The original house had a 32-inch wide stair to the attic with a 7'8" headroom at the bottom. Code minimum is 6'8" for new stairs and 6'5" can be allowed for renovations of existing. The owners wanted the stair widened to 36 inches and the headroom raised.
To get the stair right, we lost a 4x6 corner of the kid's bedroom on the main floor. The kid was eight. She did not love it. We rebuilt that bedroom with a custom built-in desk and bookshelves into the corner we created, and she changed her mind in about a week.
This is the kind of trade-off every attic conversion has. You cannot just drop a new staircase in. Plan for the impact on the floor below.
Where the budget goes
We give every owner a detailed written breakdown before work begins. Here are the scope lines that make up an attic conversion, ordered roughly by how much each one drives the budget, so clients understand exactly what is included.
- Demo, dust protection, temporary stair, debris removal
- Two dormers framed, sheathed, flashed, sided, roofed — usually the largest single line
- New windows (5 total) and trim
- Stair rebuild including main-floor patch
- Insulation (R-31 in slopes, R-50 at flat ceiling), vapour barrier, drywall
- HVAC extension, dedicated zone for upper level
- Plumbing rough and finish, ensuite fixtures
- Electrical rough and finish, dedicated panel feed
- Tile and stone supply and install
- Custom vanity, custom closet, reading-nook bench
- Floor finishing throughout new space and stair
- Trim, doors, paint, hardware
- Permits, BCIN drawings, structural engineer
- Project management, contingency, final cleaning
What moves an attic conversion budget most: the number and size of the dormers, whether the stair has to be moved, the ensuite finish level, and the condition of the existing structure. We value-engineer each of these with the owner before the proposal is fixed.
What this style of project is good for
If you have a 1.5-storey wartime, post-war, or older two-storey with a steep roof in Manotick, Westboro, Alta Vista, or Bells Corners, the attic might be the cheapest square footage you will ever buy. Three things to check before you call us:
Ridge height. Stand at the centre of the attic. If the ridge is at least 9'6" you have a viable conversion. Above 11 feet you have a great one.
Ridge length. You need at least 24 linear feet of ridge to make a primary suite work. Less than 18 feet and you should think about a single bedroom or an office instead.
Stair location. If your existing stair lands in a usable spot, you avoid one of the bigger cost drivers on the job. If it lands at the eave wall, you will need to move it, and that means losing space below.
What the family says now
Six months in, the things they thank us for are not the things we expected. The reading nook in the eave gets daily use. The walk-in closet eliminated three pieces of bedroom furniture they used to step around. The ensuite is the only bathroom in the house with a heated floor and they have a quiet running argument about whether to retrofit one in the kids' bathroom too.
The thing they barely talk about is the bedroom itself, which is fine. Bedrooms are supposed to disappear once you live in them. They sleep, they wake up, they look out the back window at the river through the trees. The whole reason for the project.
Want to know what your attic can become? See our attic conversion service or call 613-862-4555 for a free in-home assessment.