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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To want to convert our garage into living space?

118 replies

EmmelineLestrange · 24/03/2021 19:23

We (me, DP, and my 2 kids who are with us half the time and with their dad the other half) have a 3 bed house. It has a lounge, and a kitchen/diner. It's mid terrace, with a small garden at the back, off street parking outside the house for 1 car, and there isn't much storage space in the house. Low pitch roof so no opportunity to go up into the roof.

We have an integrated garage which is just used for storage, we don't put a car in there.

Kids are currently 12 and 9, and the lounge is a shared area to watch TV and they have their computer in there.

We are looking to either convert the garage into living space (probably a "grown up" lounge with a sofa bed to properly be able to accommodate guests), or to put a cabin in the garden, but that would be a lot smaller, take up a lot of the garden, and not get any direct sunlight.

As well as improving the living space for us, I'm mindful of what potential buyers might prefer in the future - this is not our forever home.

So, if you were buying a house, would you prefer it to have a garage, or another area of living space?

YABU - would prefer to have a garage
YANBU - not bothered about the garage and would prefer to have more living area

OP posts:
BooksMusicSnacks · 25/03/2021 09:05

We are planning to convert half of our double garage into bedroom with en-suite. Quotes all in are around £18k for the work. Estate agent reckons it'll add around £10k value to our house - they said losing half the garage won't work for some people who keep motorbikes etc - but for many people it would be very desirable as self-contained room or office - or even work space eg for beauticians (because of the plumbing). We have a shed, driveway parking and would still have a single garage. Estate agent said that more living space was quite desirable especially with people working from home more. Planning permission was simple and quick.

foxhat · 25/03/2021 09:11

Your house looks really quite small which makes me even more sure that converting the garage is the right thing to do. We did and we put a larger shed in the garden for some of the things stored in the garage.

foxhat · 25/03/2021 09:12

You usually need building regs not planning permission for this sort of work.

Hobbesmanc · 25/03/2021 09:14

Ours is integral but unusable for a modern car. It open into the kitchen so we've floored it and use it as a utility room and the treadmill is in there too. When we can afford it, we will take out the old up and over door and put in a window. There's already a window to the side so it would be nice and light

Original poster
EmmelineLestrange · 25/03/2021 09:54

Yes happy to get proper consent etc. I was aware that would be the case. And we would do a proper conversion and spend the money on it, I can’t see the point in doing a shoddy job and not using the room because it’s too cold!

OP posts:
Original poster
EmmelineLestrange · 25/03/2021 09:54

The house is quite small. This is the overall layout.

To want to convert our garage into living space?
OP posts:
Original poster
EmmelineLestrange · 25/03/2021 09:55

Main house is 1216 square feet. Garage is 118 square feet

OP posts:
Bluntness100 · 25/03/2021 10:16

I can’t see the point in doing a shoddy job and not using the room because it’s too cold

This is the key, there was someone posted their home the other day and the garage conversion was poor and likely devalued the property. The rooms need to be usable and look like an intergal part of the house, not just like you’re sitting in the garage, and like it was always planned that way, and you still need to be able to access the back garden without walking through the house.

That’s fundamentally where it goes wrong. People just open an entrance, floor it and plaster, add some lights and one small radiator and then hope it miraculously stops looking like the garage. It never ever does. Done properly it can look great. Done badly and you devalue the property.

Belindabelle · 25/03/2021 10:33

How would you feel about turning some of your utility into a wc or shower room and moving the washer/ dryer into a cupboard in the new room?

Also your hallway seems fairly big. Could you steal any space from there.

pointythings · 25/03/2021 10:37

We did it - our garage was too ridiculously tiny for a car, but has made useful extra living space. It's currently used by my foster son, so all 4 of us have our own bedroom. Ours was done in 2005, cost about £9k and worth every penny.

Bluntness100 · 25/03/2021 10:44

@Belindabelle

How would you feel about turning some of your utility into a wc or shower room and moving the washer/ dryer into a cupboard in the new room?

Also your hallway seems fairly big. Could you steal any space from there.

The issue is, it’s hard to tell from the floor plan but it looks like space for only one entrance to the room, and you don’t want to have to access the room via a loo or a utility room. It would only work if the two rooms had two seperate accesses.

I also think fundamentally the utility is best placed where it is. Next to the back door and making the noise separated from the living areas.

CatRatSplat · 25/03/2021 10:44

We did it and it's been amazing, especially during lockdown (hopefully never again!). Could you look at light tunnels to help brighten it up?

Original poster
EmmelineLestrange · 25/03/2021 10:46

@Belindabelle

How would you feel about turning some of your utility into a wc or shower room and moving the washer/ dryer into a cupboard in the new room?

Also your hallway seems fairly big. Could you steal any space from there.

The utility currently has the boiler in, which takes up quite a bit of room, a washing machine, sink and some useful storage. My worry about converting it is that we lose some useful cupboard space, but I can also see that we could gain quite a bit of storage if we do as others have suggested and create an area in the converted garage as storage.

The hallway upstairs is big, it’s a wasted space for sure, but the downstairs one isn’t that big and is used for coat and shoes so don’t think we could gain much space from there.

OP posts:
Original poster
EmmelineLestrange · 25/03/2021 10:48

I also can’t describe it very well but when you go into the garage from the internal door, you are faced with the underside of the stairs going up. We could probably box that bit off as storage, as it can’t be used for much else, but makes entry into the new room a bit tricky

OP posts:
Original poster
EmmelineLestrange · 25/03/2021 10:48

@CatRatSplat

We did it and it's been amazing, especially during lockdown (hopefully never again!). Could you look at light tunnels to help brighten it up?
I’ve never heard of light tunnels so will look into that, thanks.
OP posts:
Scarlettpixie · 25/03/2021 10:50

I would do it. You could have a big cupboard at the back of the new room for storing ‘indoor’ stuff and a shed in garden for ‘outdoor’ stuff.

Bluntness100 · 25/03/2021 10:52

I’ve never heard of light tunnels so will look into that, thanks

You will have, it’s just a small window in the roof.

oreo2020 · 25/03/2021 10:52

Couldn't live without garage because of bicycles and motorbikes but if you could convert half and leave the other half as a garage that would be a good option.

CatRatSplat · 25/03/2021 10:54

Some light tunnels are more tunneling, than just a light in the roof, using mirrors to bounce outside light in too

Felifox · 25/03/2021 10:56

I would keep it as a garage as I live on my own. But as long as you have parking I can see it being useful as living space, especially as many people might work partly from home in the future.

Belindabelle · 25/03/2021 11:06

I would really try and get a WC into the utility area. There is plumbing and a window plus it’s near to the front door.

Obviously it has not bothered you but if I had a young family I wouldn’t fancy having to take a toddler up and down to the toilet whilst in the kitchen or garden. Come to think of it my menopausal bladder wouldn’t like it either.

Only suggesting this as you mentioned you plan to sell in the future.

nokidshere · 25/03/2021 11:09

Yes we did this with our integral garage. We removed the garage door and had windows put in to match the rest of the house, raised the floor to the same height as the hallway. It's an excellent use of space. We filled it with desks and full height storage. We keep books, photo albums, stationary, wrapping paper etc, all those things which normally take up space elsewhere.

Henry176 · 25/03/2021 11:14

I am currently sitting in what was a garage, we managed to get a fairly big room for me to have as a computer room /art studio, and a seperate "utility" room for washing machine, freezer, etc. To be honest we could rarely be bothered to put the car in the garage anyway.

nokidshere · 25/03/2021 11:23

I tried to do this but the bastards denied planning permission

If the garage is integral you shouldn't need planning permission just building regs.

Whatwouldnanado · 25/03/2021 11:28

We did this, end of terrace so knocked through from our hall to make it bigger then split the remaining space in two. We now have a second loo and shower off the hall and a workshop accessed from our utility. Cost about 8k all in and we love it.