I am thinking of turning my integral garage in to a workshop. I intend to remove the up and over garage door and replace it with a brick wall , small window and a door.
Do I need planning permission, and would the building inspector need to be involved. ?
Yes, you need planning permission, and this might be refused if there is not sufficient off-street parking remaining.
You will need to comply with current Building Regulations for habitable rooms.
Owain
Agreed that this is likely the case, particularly as you say, adequate parking space.
Have I missed something? As far as I am aware, a workshop is not a habitable room.
If he bricks the door up and puts a window in, and there is access from the house into it, it's a habitable room, regardless of what it's called.
Sorry, you are probably right. Whilst reading the OP's "integral" I was wrongly thinking "attached". Duh! Yes, the key issue might be whether there is access from the rest of the house.
Probably such things as windows (emergency exit in case of fire etc.) whatever local building regulations deem necessary! Also are there any insurance implications for such a change? e.g. To continue or renew insurance is an engineering inspection/report needed?
You will need Building Control involved.
It is not just a case of running some brick across the door way and filling in with a window.
You will need to put in a proper footing and if there is any front wall to the garage either side of the existing door and it is 9" solid brickwork then that'll need to come down and a cavity wall built. All walls, floor and ceiling will have to be brought up to current regs re: insulation.
mark
I don't know about that - presumably the current integral garage already has access from the rest of the house? So that can't be a defining characteristic of a habitable room. Probably best to ask the question of your local planning department - hypothetically and anonymously in the first instance ;-)
Cheers Richard
i agree, unless regs changed fairly recently my partial revamp left one "room"/space unisinulated, unheated, with new window and velux and BCO was not interested at full plans or inspection stages.....all behind an internal door off the main staircase....
Definitely worth a call to BCO even on a "hypothetical query" basis... some BCOs will even come out and look with you for nought (especially as they are probly "quiet" these days...
JimK
This some info I extracted from a Council site :-
/"Domestic Garage Conversion Information/
/ /
/This guidance note is intended to help anyone intending to undertake domestic garage conversion work.
Garage conversions require a Building Regulation application i.e. a Full Plans application or Building Notice submission, where the intention is to provide: /
Nowhere does it mention a workshop I'm pleased to say, as I am also about to convert my garage.
Don
You may call it a workshop but if it creates a "room" then that will be regarded as habitable; although you might put a workbench in there
*now* there would be nothing to stop a future occupant from repurposing the room with a carpet and settee.Internal access from the house is not a criterion as such, but if you were to replace the garage doors with a pedestrian door only and there were *no* internal access then you would be on stronger ground arguing that it was a storeroom because it couldn't reasonably be used as part of the domestic dwelling.
If/when you sell your house an extra habitable room is likely to add more value than a workshop, as the general population appears to have a greater affinity for fluffy cushions than for wood-shavings.
Perhaps we really need a subgroup uk.d-i-y.houses-with-workshops-for- sale
Owain
Yes, point taken, however a conservatory is a "room" and I would argue that it is much more habitable than a garage workshop despite the fact that it requires no PP or BR if within fairly wide parameters.
Yes, I have no internal access door, and I would like to replace the old draughty steel garage door with an insulated stud wall containing a pedestrian door and a DG window. Maybe it would be better if I called it a storeroom?
Fluffy cushions would be strictly prohibited in my Workshop, err Storeroom and I am of an age where selling the house is not on, I'll only be leaving house in a wood/chipboard box,
Good idea. By the way I also have a car port and 2 extra parking places off road so parking spaces would not be a problem I think. Cheers Don
criterion as such, but if you
uk.d-i-y.houses-with-workshops-for-
spaces would not be a problem I think.
I believe the key word and test is "habitable" - if it's unheated (by anything other than plugged in heaters :>)), then I doubt anyone could prove it were habitable..... if they did then by that same measure any space not directly exposed to weather would be "habitable" surely? garage, shed, loft
Anyone have an offical BCO standpoint ? perhaps ping Hugo Nebula?
JimK
A conservatory is definately not a "room" by virtue of the fact that it has to have translucent walls and roof and be thermally separate from the house. So they're hot in summer, cold in winter, and thanks to Google you don't want to be shagging in it when the satellite goes overhead.
Owain
On Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:25:06 +0000, Donwill had this to say:
Well a workshop's a sort of playroom, isn't it?
;-)
A conservatory is definately not a "room" by virtue of the fact that it has to have translucent walls and roof and be thermally separate from the house. So they're hot in summer, cold in winter, and thanks to Google you don't want to be shagging in it when the satellite goes overhead.
Owain
I would be delighted to see such a photo should I ever build a conservatory.
Adam
*that's* why they sell those conservatory roof blinds! :-)
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