Garage conversion - yes or no

[bedbuyer]

Have seen a few of these threads in the past. Can I have some opinions on whether we should do this or not:

Live in 4 bed detached house with large front garden, parking for 2 cars but could fit up to 5 cars if we changed the lawn into a car park plus we have our own off road layby for another car. Our 4th bed is quite small and we only have one bathroom plus a seperate extra toilet.

We'd like to change the garage into a room to use as kids playroom/ games room/ spare room plus install a shower room in it too.

The garage is a single garage with utility room on the back. We've got a cellar & a loft for storing "stuff". We'd have a garden shed for putting garden stuff in as we've got a big back garden.

Our house is quite wide so garage via utility is a route to the back garden but we also have a side access (passage about 6ft wide).

We plan to live in our house until our kids leave home at least (15 years if we are lucky).

MIL is spouting doom & gloom about the likely loss in value of house due to garage conversion which is causing me to wobble.

What do you think - yes or no

I would do it. In the unlikely event that you can't sell it in 15 years time due to the lack of garage then you can convert it back in a weekend using a sledgehammer. You need to live in your house the way that suits your family best, not the potential buyers.

Can you build a stand alone garage in the front garden or buy one of these oak framed stand alone garages - thats what we are doing? You will need planning permission to convert the garage.

It depends if buyers expect garages at that price range in your area. We did see a couple of houses in our price range that had converted the garage and it did put us off alot and we are not garage fans.

Ask a local EA, one told us never to convert a garage without building another one but it really depends if a garage is the norm down your street.

We are converting out garage - don't know anyone who parks their car in a garage - even when they have a huge one. You need parking & room to store stuff though - take care of that and you'll be fine. It's an odd thing putting a big ugly storage space garage at the front of a house - most of them really are ugly.

Planning permission is not required, it is classed as "permitted development."

You will need Building Regulations approval.

As to if it is worth it, well that is something only you and OH can decide. Often a garage conversion can make the house look unbalanced and 'obvious' but if you are not intending to sell for many years then why not make use of the space?

We did it about 5 years ago and right now ds is having a sleepover in there with his pal.
Our house is relatively new, and although we have 4 bedrooms, none of them are massive. The conversion allows the kids to have some space when their pals are round, and that's where we have the family pc and the games consoles etc. We've not regretted it for a second (the garage was a tight squeeze for the car anyway) and there are a lot of people in the area have done it since we did ours

Sounds similar to our scenario. We ket the utility room bit and converted the garage part about 4 years ago. We used to use the conversion as a dining room bur have recently changed it to playroom and have never looked back. The kids love it, and at times it is like not having kids at all as they all disappear into it and play nicely.

We live in a 1966 Wimpey 4 bed detached house. There is no way you can park a car in the garage. The only person who does is the pensioner 3 doors down who has a fiesta.

We have never looked back.