Has anyone converted a garage into an extra room?

[pasturesnew]

If so, what room did you convert it into, was it easy, did it take long, were you happy with it, etc.? Thanks!

[chitchatterbox]

Yes! We converted ours into a playroom with a small toilet. It has been wonderful!

[Sidge]

I haven't but a friend converted their semi-integral garage into a dining room, adding a bay window. It looks lovely, means that their lounge/diner is now just a lounge and is huge.

I don't think the building work took too long once they had planning permission, just a few weeks.

[pasturesnew]

Sidge, yes, I just found out about the no planning permission thing, which is attractive as it's only building regs now I think? To my uninformed non-builder's eye it looks more straightforward than a loft conversion, not sure how true that necessarily is.

Chitchatterbox was the plumbing for the new toilet straightforward?

[Sidge]

I think they only needed planning permission because they were altering the front of their house by adding a bay window. I don't know if they would have needed it if they had put in a normal window.

This seems to say that you wouldn't need it for a straightforward conversion but I only skim read it!

[pasturesnew]

Thanks Sidge you are a star for that link

[NoHotAshes]

Those of you who did, how did you heat it?

[pasturesnew]

Excellent hijack NoHotAshes. I was thinking electric underfloor might be easiest, any experience anyone?

[hifi]

ours is an office /playroom.have 2 huge book cases down one wall, a desk for dd and another for us.keeps all the crap from any other room> dd sits and doodles whil,e in on mn.
wasnt a real hassle, had wooden floor put down, coving, curtains. also a cupboard built to put hoover etc in.

[jenniepanda]

We did this and it was the best thing I've ever done in the house. Converted into a dining room at the front and a small utility room. Heated with a radiator in each room run from the central heating. Only needed building regs and cost £6k all together. We did it 2 years ago and haven't looked back, it has made such a difference to our downstairs living space.

[jenniepanda]

Oh, and it took about 3 weeks if i remember rightly. Was finished the week before DD2 arrived.

[pasturesnew]

Thanks, all good food for thought! Utility space seems like a popular choice, assume that always involves plumbing. I'd like to include a loo if we do ours.

[midnightexpress]

Sadly not, but a friend of mine has a fantastic playroom converted from a garage to the side of her kitchen.

[GreatUncleBulgaria]

We did in our old house which had an integral garage, became a playroom with the washing machine and tumble drier in a large cupboard.

Am about to convert our current one which is not attached to the house. The plan is to turn it into an adult escape from the house room with sofas in, a desk so DH can work there (he works from home) and down the end where the up and over door is I'm having a row of kitchen units as a sort of utility area with the tumble drier, then those clothes racks you hang from the ceiling up in the rafters (has pitched roof and are going to keep it pointy) to sort my washing out in the winter. Am hoping to have a woodburner for heating.

[pasturesnew]

Thanks, so good you did it twice then!

[Seeline]

Just a note re planning permisson - if your house and/or garage is relatively modern (25yrs old or less) you need to check the original planning permission for the house as there may be a condition preventing the change of use. You would need to apply for permission for the relaxation of that condition. It's best to check with the COuncil.

[pasturesnew]

Thanks, good tip.

[MummyDoIt]

What effect does it have on your resale value? I've considered it for ours (would have playroom and loo) but I worry about losing value on the house. Houses with garages are at a premium in our town as most housing is Victorian terraces or flats. I've never seen one converted to anything else in my immediate area. Just wondering if potential buyers put more value on a garage than an additional room.

[Andthentherewerethree]

my mum and dad have, it used to be where my dad ran his buisness form home, but now hes got a warehouse and 'proper' office its been turned into a study/games room. has a fuzball table, desk with computer. a sofa and tv with dvd and xbox. all mainly for the grandchildren as thier house is large anyway.

my dad did it himself, he replaced the garage door with a brick wall and a large window. he laid a floating floor so was the same level as the utiliy room that it was off of. and he put central heating in as well, running a radiator from the existing heating system.

he used to be a plasterer in one of his first jobs though so is quite handy.

my uncle also converted thier integral garage as they had a small narrow lounge so knocked through to make a larger lounge.

[pasturesnew]

MummyDoIt - think it depends rather, lots of old garages are not really big enough for modern cars anyway so people often use them for storage rather than cars. I think off-street parking is more important so would not want to lose a driveway.

Andthen3 - interesting, another family that liked it so much it was done more than once. Makes me think that they must both be well-used.

[faraday]

We're thinking about doing this BUT we would still like a bit of a garage end where we'd store the bikes! Have seen this in other people's open garages BUT can't be sure whether they just used the back 2/3 as a separate room or knocked it thru to the rest of the house as it were as that 2/3 wouldn't constitute a very large area AND would have no windows!

[clam]

We've just done ours. Finished furnishing it last week!
Really pleased. Was wondering if it would adversely affect re-sale value of house, but as we're not intending to move, ever, is immaterial. We have parking for 4 cars on drive, and for everyone who wants a garage there will be another who wants an extra room indoors. Our garage was just a space for dumping junk anyway, and slightly too narrow to get the car in. We've been ruthless in getting rid of rubbish, built a bike shed at the side, and organised the shed and loft for everything else. We've also built in cupboards to the new room for electricity/gas meter, hoover/ironing board and kids' games etc..

So we have a TV, the Wii etc in here, plus a desk for work, and a sofa and chairs for chilling. AND, best of all, I can see what's going on out the front of the house now!

[pasturesnew]

Sounds lovely clam, your approach to storage makes good sense and sounds like it might be a poss solution for faraday, too.

[clam]

Our main reason for doing it was to avoid the situation where the kids have friends round and monopolise the sitting room, whilst DH and I skulk upstairs. Don't really want groups of teens in bedrooms either. So we now have an alternative reception room.

Took about 3 weeks to convert, plus clearing out beforehand and decorating and furnishing afterwards.

Really pleased with it.

[spiralqueen]

We're house hunting at the moment and have rejected all the houses with converted garages. Currently we just have allocated parking spaces which can be a nightmare with other people parking in your slots and DH is desperate to get a garage.

It's amazing looking at properties just how many have either completely or partially converted the garage. Some obviously look like they used to be a garage, others blend much better into the house. I'd be thinking about future kerb appeal if I was considering having it done.

[clam]

Therefore it depends on your circumstances. Our previous house was a Victorian semi in a built-up area where parking was a nightmare. We had a garage, however, and whilst we never actually parked inside it, we could always had the option of parking across the white line outside it as it was "ours." We would never have considered converting that.
But if you have a house in a quiet residential cul-de-sac, for example, with plenty of off-road parking (and kerbside too, for that matter) it's completely different.