Experience of temporarily converting detached garage?

[BoneAppleTeaa]

We have a garage which is separate from our house but semi detached in that the other half of the structure is our neighbours own garage.

Has anyone any experience of doing some kind of conversion for this type of garage? We’re looking at a playroom / hobby space.

Aware that building regs and maybe planning permission would be needed, but looking for practical advice and cost if anyone has anything to share!

How new is your house? If it’s 1970s or older the garage probably contains asbestos so I wouldn’t convert it into a playroom!

Good question, I should have mentioned! Built in 2017.

You need to consider planning regs, how will you heat it, does it have running water for hand washing etc.
The garage will likely not be insulated like a house etc so more susceptible to damp, especially if you have body heat in there and then lock it up.
That's not to say you shouldn't do it, just consider these possibilities first.

Thank you Reluctantbettlynch

It won’t need water, but already has power. Capacity to improve insulation etc

I know nothing about how you would go about converting a garage but if you normally keep your car in their check your insurance , you may need to update it to say it's now kept on the drive / road which would cost you more.

We have a 1930s detached garage just to the side and rear of the house so it takes up a chunk of the back garden. It’s too small for a modern car. We had it stripped to its bare shell and then new roof, complete insulation, plastering and electrics. New windows plus a regular door instead of garage door. We use little plug in radiators. No water or anything so didn’t need any regs.

We use it as a spare room/hangout room for the kids, plus I use it for workouts. It’s very multipurpose.

Oh and we also had it cladded on the outside so it looks pretty!

Impropriety Do you recall how much it cost?

AlCalavicci no cars will be displaced :)

I did this with my garage. Changed the roller door to a window and door and clad the area in between. Sold the electric roller door on gumtree and bought the replacement window and doors there too- about same price for new as for the old. Boarded it out and put insulation between walls and plasterboard. Damp proofed. Carpet with thickest underlay. Plug in electric heaters. Very thin led ceiling "office" lights (ceiling is quite low. I'm very happy with it. Cost £2500.

We've just finished ours. Building officer came out just before Christmas to do his final inspection and issue our certificate.

Ours was a long single car garage for 1960's, double depth but single width. We converted it into a study/ home office to the front and large utility space to the back flowing off the kitchen to the back.

We checked with our local planning department and they confirmed that due to laws on development softening, even though we were changing the front face of the building, no planning was required.

They have issued us with a certificate of lawfulness (I can't recall exactly the name) so we can put it in with our selling pack when the time comes to sell.

We did need building control. We didn't need technical drawings as ours was a pretty straightforward single story conversion.

The building control officer was assigned and was helpful. He had to be present at various stages of the conversion to tick various boxes. He was happy to have a photo trail of our work and pop in when he needed.

Initially we got quotes for builders to convert it but they were coming out at £14,000 more that our estimate by the time they added VAT and profit.

So in the end we employed a bricklayer directly and he did the bricking up and fitted doors and windows (these were signed off by building control, you don't need specialist fitters for a conversation). We also got in a local plasterer and an electrician in as these skills are beyond me. The electrician completed his certificate and this also has to go in your seller pack.

We cracked on with the rest.

We now have a lovely warm office, huge utility space, and a fibreglass roof that should last 50 years. It came in at a tiny £13,700!

I'm pleased and would do it again. The thing that really helped was once building control realise you are doing it mainly yourself they are very much more hands on. We were carefully guided through all the stages as they need to inspect them.

@BoneAppleTeaa
An I am glad I didn't want it sat shivering on the drive while your DCs played in its house

Ours was £15k but that included a very large deck as well. The builder had the windows and doors knocking about spare from other jobs so we worked on using what he had and he didn’t charge much for them. This was in late 2017.