Creating an access door to garage

[Mamaohana]

We’ve got an integral garage but annoyingly there is no access from the house. The only way to get into the garage is through the main vehicle entrance which isn’t very convenient. We’d like to create a doorway from our hallway directly into the garage. Has anyone done this? We would need to move a radiator but other than that is there anything else we’d need to consider? Would we need a structural engineer, building regs, plans etc? Could we have a standard door or would like need to be an external one or a fireproof one? Any idea of reasonable cost? Thanks for the advice

Yes, it'd have to be a fire proof door. I used to live in a house with a door to the garage, very handy. We didn't put it in though, was already there. Is the wall a supporting wall do you know?

Yes, a fireproof door. It needs to have a particular rubber seal around all four sides that melts to seal the door in the event of fire.

Also worth checking if you need a step over threshold into the garage - you used to so that if you spilt petrol in the garage it wouldn't swap into the house. And I think the door is supposed to have a self closer on it (for the inspection at least).

Thank you - a fireproof door would look ok as I think I can get one which matches my existing internal doors. Would this bed sufficient to keep the cold from the garage out of the hallway? I think the garage floor is lower than hallway so should be ok. Not sure about wall, might be load bearing as has a wall above it upstairs.

We have an internal door between our conservatory and house (which will be going when we get to that bit!) and it's bloody freezing!

We had a door from our house to garage.when looking i didn't want one but actually it was fantastic especially as my youngest would only nap in a buggy so she slept in there.

The floor of the garage needs to be lower than the house and it needs a self closing door. The wall is likely to be load bearing so you will need a beam.

Those of you with internal doors - does it let the cold in and the heat out? I know with conservatories you have to have an external door between the main house and the conservatory to stop heat loss and I’m surprised this is not the same? Unless a fire door has the same thermal properties as an external door?

The fire proof door was thick and heavy, I didn't notice a cold issue.

As an alternative, is your building configuration such that you could have a door at the back/side of the garage opening into your back garden? Would improve the access without letting the draughts in.

Yes it was more than just a standard door. I did have a draught excluder in front. But mine was done by the house builder so maybe not that great.