Garage Conversion

[Simon]

Hi. I'm thinking of converting part of my garage into living space and would like some advice. I'd like to do as much of the work as possible myself, but I'll probably need to bring experts in for some parts (my plastering and bricklaying is functional, but not pretty!). Here are the facts.

Double width garage with two single doors. I want to convert one side. Area is probably about 20ft x 12ft Need to remove one garage door, brick up the hole and put a window in. Create partition wall between two halves of garage, with a new door in the partition wall giving access to the new smaller garage. The fusebox is in the room, so wiring should be straightforward. Need to bring radiator feeds into the room. Need to board ceiling

What sort of cost am I looking at if did these jobs myself or asked a builder to do them? E.g. is there a good rule of thumb pricing for brickwork or partition walls?

What sort of pitfalls should I look out for?

Would I need planning permission for this?

Thanks in advance

[manatbandq]

Normally no, but you need to contact your local council as there may be specific planning conditions on your development which require you yo keep the garage as a garage to reduce on street parking.

You need to ensure that anything you do meets building regs.

MBQ

[Andrew Gabriel]

I think that's the case in most urban areas nowadays. There's normally a requirement for some number of off- street parking places depending on number of bedrooms and the location, and a garage counts for this purpose.

My neighbour had permission refused to convert their garage because that wouldn't leave them with enough off-street parking for the number of bedrooms they have. (The fact the garage is never used for parking is not relevant.)

[Tony Williams]

Will the partition wall between the living space and the garage need to be fireproof?

[Simon]

We should be ok on those grounds. We only ever park our cars on the driveway - we could probably fit about 5 cars on the drive at a push! Our driveway is set at a sharp angle to our very narrow single track road, so parking on the road has never been a possibility. The garage isn't really visible from outside our property.

[Simon]

We are lucky in that the previous owners were the architects who designed and built the house. There are a few obvious potential areas for expansion that they recognized when they built the house. There are a couple of areas of 'loft' space above the garage that could be converted, so they built reinforced lintels into all the walls where you might want doorways, there are proper flooring joists in the space above the garage and the garage walls are double thickness.

[Simon]

Is that a standard requirement? Does it just apply to living space alongside the garage or above it? I expect there must be many houses that have a living space above a garage just separated by plasterboard and chipboard.

[Chris Bacon]

Is *what* a standard requirement?

[Peter Crosland]

Before you do anything else go and brush up on the building regulations. The insulation requirements are very high and becuase garages often have negligible amounts of it you casn expect to have to insulate the floor, walls and roof. It would be worth going and talking to your local council's building control staff because they will expect the work to be done to the correct standrad.

You might do. The quickest and most certain way is to ask you local planning depeartmet.

Peter Crosland

[PC Paul]

Very very few are!

[Simon]

Sorry, I guess I answered Tony's question with a question. I was hoping that I could build a stud partition wall between the new living area and the remaining garage area. From Tony's reply I assume that it may be necessary to build a fireproof (brick) wall between the two.

[nafuk]

A worst case scenario is is was badly built with rubbish in the floor then a thein ish layer of concrete so you have to replace the floor. However, sounds like you should be ok. You'll need a brick partition but you can do this. Use conrete blocks, or if you have plenty of money, use lightweight blocks. You can get insulated light weight blocks which together with a layer of celotec and then plasterboard shoulb meet the required U value. Light weigthblocks are easier to use. Wall ties every two courses and 2 blocks wide. Do same for garage opening and put in a window. All DIY stuff except perhaps the outer leaf of bricks in the garage opening. If this is rendered on the outside then you can use blocks for the outer leaf also. Extedning rads piping is easy with pushfit and plastic piping (new rads will require thermostats). Applying for planning permission and building permission yourself on this type of job is relatively easy. Make an appointment to see a planning officer and get in early (my Building Control Officers are avaialble 8:30 -10, then they are out doing inspections) to see the BCO, pick up the forms and apply etc. then DIY or get ina bricky/builder.

[Markoz12]

I converted my garage earlier in the year into a music room. It is a single brick garage. I added two 9" x 4" airbricks (one high up on one side and one lower down on the other side) I have studwalled the room, insulated it with 75mm insulation and plasterboard panelled it. It has been papered and painted. The agarge has a flat roof and the garage doors have been blocked up and stud walled also. Access is from a sliding patio type door from a flat that is attached to the rear of the garage. (This was already in the building when we bought it last year as the flat and garage were a recording studio) I have no damp problems but the humidity is quite high at about 60% with the current warm weather we have been having. Can you advise me on how to reduce the humidity further? Do you think I need more ventilation? Larger or more airbricks? I have a central heating radiator fitted in the room for the cooler weather. I have an air conditioner but I do not want to run that all the time. Thanks.

[Rob Morley]

A dehumidifier would work better than an air conditioner at reducing humidity, because that's what it's designed to do :-)

[dennis]

They are the same thing. A dehumidifier just lets all the heat out the back. Good in the winter not so good in summer.

[Rob Morley]

They use similar hardware to do slightly different jobs.

[<me9]

At this time of year the outside humidity can be quite high, together with high temperatures. A dehumidifier will reduce the humidity at the expense of increasing the temparature. Aircon will reduce the moisture content in the air in the same way, and will also reduce the temperature.

[Rob Morley]

Reducing humidity increases the ease with which we lose body heat by sweating, so we may feel cooler even though the temperature has been increased slightly by a dehumidifier.

[Peter Crosland]

Do you have a completion certificate from Building Control?

Peter Crosland

[<me9]

It doesn't feel like that with my dehumidifier. However, my air conditioning reduces the humidity more than it reduces the temperature, and makes the living conditions much better. Dehumidifier in the winter, and aircon in the summer.