Living in rented property with a garage. Any way I can use as an office and temporarily divide?

[RememberTheSunnierDays]

For background, we’ve been here for three years and given what’s currently happening and our increased costs with childcare come
September (currently on mat leave until then), we wouldn’t have a large enough cushion for our comfort should anything change to move to a bigger property. We will be here for the next two years before we buy.

We are considering trying to split the garage in our rented place so we can use as an office as we will both be WFH for the foreseeable future. With two under five in a three bed house, it’s just too much of a squash for that amount of time.

I can’t find any information other than for proper conversions for homeowners, but wondered if we could construct a temporary wall which could be taken down when we move or like a gazebo type thing which we could stick in the garage so it feels more like a working space, than a place for everything else we use occasionally?

I’d also like to make the ceiling in that part of the garage less attractive to spiders as it’s slats at the moment with a boarded bit sat above it (Big gaps for spiders to drop on my head mid zoom call 😬).

Has anyone got any experience of this at all?

Thanks

I bought a temporary room divider off amazon to make my dining room separate which worked great for me. Unfortunately you would still need the gazebo lid or alternative to prevent spiders dropping.

Cant see anything in your post about consulting your landlord about this, have you? even a temporary structure may negate his/her insurance or mortgage, I don't think you should be thinking about this until you do unless there is a clause in your tenancy agreement that says you are allowed to do this if you are a good tenant and there are no issues that need to be considered they may even be willing to pay for it.

@Pipersouth that’s a good idea. I’ll have a look.

@oldsu nope, haven’t contacted him yet. There’s no point having a discussion until I can share a solid view of what we feel we would like to do, with links to things in an email.

The garage is detached from the property.

Can you not just get some room screens, Wayfair, ikea?

🤷‍♀️

www.gooutdoors.co.uk/15905531/westlake-utility-house-15905531/?istCompanyId=c2ec8a5d-93c1-4850-a97a-f4d89d7c99c8&istFeedId=2755fba0-7dfe-46a9-bfd0-09b37aed8b93&istItemId=wapipiiai&istBid=t&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuarz17qR6gIVzcqyCh1uUw6DEAQYBCABEgLqyfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

We have put stud wall in our garage with a door in it. So there's a metre wide section at front for bikes and we use the other part as utility/storage as we have no loft. It's got a door off the hallway so different - but I think you could put some rugs down and oil radiator in there. We also painted the walls white and the floor has concrete paint. It's a sensible use of space.

I believe pp idea is excellent! I'd also splurge on some camo gear so I could pretend I was in MASH during my coffee breaks 😁

We used kallax as a room divider.
You can also get those interlocking foam tiles for the floor

Great suggestions, thanks.

I’ve been up several times which gave me time to do some research and for what we want, this may be the best option from B&Q

www.diy.com/departments/karalis-cut-out-adjustable-height-room-divider/1012710_BQ.prd

The garage has electricity and a door with a window, plus with us being in a new build it’s slightly insulated but would still need heat on cold days. We could easily use this to make some space and move all the other stuff on the other side. It would make it feel like a room :)

How long are you wfh for?

We could be WFH permanently in a 2 bed house. With a child!

Sorry my post wasn’t helpful :( I just wanted to vent.

How’s the Wi-fi in the garage? It sounds like a fab idea I love it! Our neighbour is wfh in his van.

Gazebos have a roof so spiders would fall onto the gazebo roof and not on your head if you sat under it.

Our garage is dark - do you have lighting in there?

I’m a bit jealous at your plan btw

The room divider looks good. I would agree ikea Kallax are good for storage.
Get some rugs from ikea too.

@Teacuplady86 don’t worry at all! Times are hard and I have no idea how people are managing with working and kids. We were fortunate (or not?!) that I’m on mat leave so my partner is the only one working at the moment. Prior to mat leave I worked from home a lot and only went into the office as required, but the nursery was my office. Currently partner working in our bedroom whilst I entertain and attempt to homeschool, which is tricky with such a big age gap - eldest is 5 and baby is 10 months.

I was stressing how we would manage as we don’t have a second reception room to use as an office or playroom (what I would give not to have a living room full of toys). Anyway, that’s a completely different matter.

WiFi should be fine as I’ve worked in the garden in the past.

I think we are going to wait to see what September looks like for school, as I’m happy to have a temporary desk in the living room if my eldest is back in and baby will be in nursery full time. We would need to utilise the garage should we not be able to have both in full time and just being in a different space to the kids would be amazing!

@ converseandjeans, that’s something to think about. My partner wants to use a wardrobe and shelving unit to divide the space, but I used to share a room with my sister and when we fell out we’d divide the space with our wardrobes! I’d like it to be as nice/decent looking as possible considering how long we’d be in there.

A garage will need a lot of heating on a cold winters day - they are usually single skin construction. Would you have sufficient sockets in there for all your office requirements and a couple of heaters? It wouldn't be safe to run all these off one socket, so the electrics may need an upgrade, and it's going to cost a fortune in leccy too.

@Reedwarbler we are on laptops and they only get plugged in as needed. You’re right about the temperature though. We’ve been measuring up tonight and my partner is really on board with making it a nice working space on a small budget.