Garage Conversion

[SimonJ]

Hi All.

What are the practicalities of converting a kitchen into a garage?

I am looking to buy a house, and have to have one with a garage. One which I am looking at, which is going for the right sort of money, has no garage, so I am thinking of moving the current kitchen into the dining room, to create a kitchen diner sort of thing, and converting the kitchen to a garage. The house is in need of fairly extensive renovation, so moving the kitchen will probably not be any more work than repairing the current one. Also the back of the house, where all the work would be, still has the old single glazed wooden/rotten frames, which will all need replacing.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not much work at all.

Steel lintel inserted below any first floor stuff over the door, and attention to gas and soundproofing the garage so exhaust fumes don't percolate upwards.

And probably a new door into rest of the house.

[Rod]

Doesn't the garage floor have to be lower than the rest of the house's floor?

[Cash]

The door must be at least an 1/2 hour firecheck fitted with intumescent strips (and I believe it can only be fitted into a separate hallway rather than directly into a room) - and the job is subject to Building Control regulations - and possibly planning ones as well.

Cash

[Palindrome]

I'd suggest phoning your local Building Control Officer. Ours are extremely helpful and knowledgeable. If the house is one of many similar ones, they will probably already know enough to advise you as to the difficulty of conversion. You would, after all, have to get their approval for such a project.

-- Sue

[Colin Wilson]

Bugger, that might knacker some plans I had as well - we're a few weeks away from completing on a repossessed house, and there's no entry to the house via the garage at present.

We wanted to create one in a *perfectly* placed blank bit of wall into the kitchen...

I wonder if a standard double-glazed front door would class as 1/2 hour fire resistant :-}

[Cash]

Possibly [and only possibly], but only if fitted with georgian wired glass - and the door and frame are *not* made of PVCu - and it would still not pass building regs if it goes directly into the kitchen.

My advice would be to contact the Building Control Department of your local council and initially get some general advice on the subject (to me, that would be absolutely essential by the way) as you will also need to comply with certain fire regulations.

Cash

[John Rumm]

The ceiling of the to be garage will need an extra layer of plasterboard and skim to meet fire control requirements as well.

Moving a kitchen will probably involve electrics and hence stir the part P dragon. Which if you need to involve building control anyway may not be much of an issue.

[geoff]

Don't forget we;re talking R of Ireland here ...

[Colin Wilson]

It'd go into a bit of an ante-space with doors leading to the downstairs WC and kitchen, but no door to a utility room.

I've fired off an email to them with a rough floor plan, see what they say... i've uploaded the same rough layout here:

[John Rumm]

Ah, if so scratch the part P nonsense. Still do the extra fire proofing though!

[The Natural Philosopher]

Why?

Thy generally ARE, because they are not damp proofed & above soil level etc. etc.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not sure that the directly into a room is such and issue..but he could be right

Do you REALLY want to peer into yuur garage over breakfast?

[Rod]

In looking for the proper answer (rather than what I assumed), I found this:

"Self-Closing Devices will no longer be required in houses, with the exception of the fire door between a house and an integral garage."

Then what I was looking for:

"An Integral Garage within a house currently requires a 100mm step to prevent the spillage of fuel and vapours entering the dwelling. A new alternative approach is to allow a sloping floor in the garage, encouraging any spillage to run away from the internal door."

But on reading, could that step be a wall rather than a step down? I remember there was a thread some time ago but have forgotten if that was a valid interpretation.

However, I then read rest of thread and realised RoI... But the logic applies, whether or not the actual regulations do.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I stand corrected..;-)

Didnt think anyone DID park oil tankers in their garages these days..

Sti'l chipping out the floor if its solid, and laying a new one a bit lower, is no big deal.

Ask the BCO...

[fred]

In article , Colin Wilson writes

That's not a utility room, that's a corridor with a washing machine in it ;-)

I've seen a similar situation in an architect designed house so imagine it is ok, perhaps the prohibition is for entry into 'proper' rooms (kitchen, lounge, bedroom etc).

[SimonJ]

Who is? I'm certainly not, I'm talking England.

[Cash]

Thank you for that - and I won't be too far off right! ROTFL

Cash

[Cash]

Not really - it's to do with the spilling of flamable liquids - and in the case of a car powered by LPG, if there there is a leak there, the gas being heavier than air will sink down below the level of the house floor lessening the risk of an explosion.

Put succinctly - its part of the fire regs for attached garages.

Cash

[Colin Wilson]

No, it wouldn't be in direct line of sight unless you had the kitchen door open - the dining room is on the other side of the kitchen.