Hello all
We have a single garage which is attached to our (1965 built) semi. The garage frontage is level with the front of the house. At the rear of the house we have a large 'porch' which was installed in 1996 made of UPVc with a solid roof (this measures about 5ft by 11ft and was installed as the largest 'porch' we could build using a solid roof - apparently it would have been classed as a conservatory and needed a glass or perspex roof had it been any larger - or so the installation company said at the time).
This 'porch' was built backing onto the garage and side on to the kitchen like so:-
xxx_xx xxxxxxxxx x x x x x B x x A x x x x x x xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx C x
A = kitchen B = porch C = garage
We removed the old back door from the kitchen (which was very shoddy and had cheap locks) as the porch had a much more secure back door and it enabled us to have a small table and chairs for eating, as well as making our very small kitchen feel a lot bigger.
We would now like to make a doorway through from the porch to the garage, section off most of the garage and make it a proper usable room reachable via the porch. We would leave the garage door in place and build a wall inside the garage leaving the front 6 feet or so for storage. There would be no door through this wall, and the exterior frontage of the house would not change (eg it would still look like a garage).
Bearing in mind that the garage wall is only one brick thickness, so would need to be properly insulated, and that it has a solid wood roof with felt and tarmac (redone within the past 3 years)can any one see any pitfalls to this plan? Also:-
1) would we need planning permission and or building regulations? 2) Electricity meter is currently at rear of garage, could we box it in to look like a cupboard or is there some rule that says it would have to be moved? 3) We are very broke - is this likely to cost a bomb? Husband is very useful DIY'er and not afraid to have a go at things.Thanks in advance for any help or advice you could offer.
Lyn