Garage conversion - inside…

[Familyhistory]

If you’ve converted your garage to a bedroom and en-suite - how did you make it feel like it’s not a garage!? I’m sure it’s all in the finish and furnishings?

And for much did it affect the house value…? (If you’ve effectively got rid of the garage?)

Bumping!

I had mine converted. It feels nothing like a garage now. Once it converted, it's just like another room. I have a sofa bed and shelves etc in mine. I have a laundry room and toilet coming off it. I'll see if I can find a pic.

My house is actually for sale. I'd hoped it would add value but prices are dropping fast atm in my area. Think agent might have priced it wrong.
The converted garage is the room with the donkey picture and sofa bed.
Cost around 13K.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/132394145#/?channel=RES_BUY

I converted my garage into another reception room, it was an internal garage and now just feels like a room. I don’t think it adds or reduces value as a garage vs another reception/bedroom is personal preference.

@crackthegg that looks great, really spacious and couldn’t tell which one was the garage room!

@Bumpingaway - a price change puts me off… but we have to live here in the meantime and it may as well work for us.

what do estate agents think please?

I'm interested too OP. It doesn't seem to have added value to mine as I'm having to drop the price nearer to one opposite without an extension or converted garage.

@Familyhistory if you are converting the whole garage then match the window in to the rest of the house rather than just filling the hole where the garage door has been removed. Make it look like it was never a garage.

Insulation, go above and beyond building regs which is the bare minimum. It adds value as you have an additional reception room, however it can decrease value if you have no off road parking left.

We converted the front of ours but retained a 1.5m storage area across the back of the garage where we stash tools and gardening stuff. The original pedestrian door still allows access to this space plus we have access from the converted part. We already have a downstairs loo so didn't add another.

@crackthegg your house is absolutely lovely but I don't feel like you are presenting it well. There is a lot of furniture pushed against walls, ie your dining table leaves a vast open space. People cannot visualise things, they need to see things laid out for them. It is why staging houses for photos works. Although you have covered what I assume is the tumble dryer in the donkey picture room you can see it on another photo, the word Candy and a partial door. I would have put some toys in that room to show its potential as a playroom. A room you can close the door on of an evening and not see the chaos left behind by children.

A family member had this done and it definitely didn't add value. I don't think it reduced the value either but it definitely put off a chunk of potential buyers who wanted a house with a garage.
I guess if you're planning on staying a fair while though you need to make the house work for you. If you are planning on moving in a year or two then you may be better leaving it as a garage.

I know.

I've been told off quite a bit on Mumsnet 😂 already.
Going to try and redo the pics.

Loads of interesting points! I agree with reducing the pool of potential buyers. We are in a popular commuting town with good schools so maybe this isn’t (too much of) a problem. There is a driveway for 2 cars.

I would love to add a rear external door to the garage to store garden things - but the rear is already got rooms coming off if it!

@TreeNaDo yes to matching up the windows.

Regarding insulation, I suppose that will make it cosy and less noisy too.

I do agree , but you have lovely views and a great garden, a few more staged pictures will definitely work for you.

I think the worst thing about conversion of my integral garage would be that it would turn it into one very long relatively thin room. Some sort of dividing wall would be in order.

I think it is better to leave as is and then give the choice to the people that buy it/actually want to do the conversion, rather than doing it as something to "add value" as it really only goes forwards (garage to living space) not backwards (living space to garage).

I'm planning to convert our internal garage... its not big enough for a modern car! (Had to fold the mirrors on a polo to get it in and out of garage!) Here you have to have a window large enough for a person to climb out of where the garage door was but no need for planning permission. We will still have space for 3 cars on the drive and a lot of people have converted our style of house.

I'm planning to move my utility room and downstairs toilet into the conversion so that we can enlarge the kitchen. There will also be plenty of space for storage.

People who say they want a garage usually want it for storage reasons, ie somewhere to put the lawn mower, children's bikes etc garages are often not large enough for modern cars. I think providing there is a shed then that can help with storage. I would rather have an extra room in my house that I can use rather than a room for a car if you can actually fit one in.

Sorry @Familyhistory mine was a double garage so one integral to the house with a room behind it and the other is like an add on so I actually converted it into one giant play room which the children loved.

You need to think very carefully about the layout and how it fits in with the rest of your house. For future resale, you need to consider that lots of buyers will be put off by a downstairs bedroom - if you can arrange the layout so that the bathroom is accessible to the rest of the downstairs rather than an ensuite, that makes it slightly more flexible for future owners who may wish to use the room as an additional reception room.

I doubt that it will increase the value of your house. Downstairs bedrooms (that aren't part of a self contained annex) will only appeal to a small subset of buyers so the additional bedroom premium may not apply.

We converted a single integral garage that was too narrow for a car into a snug / study. The builder matched the window that replaced the garage door to the other downstairs window into the living room, so the front of the house looked balanced. We still had an attached single garage for storage and a driveway that accommodated two cars.

It might not have added much value, but we had a lot of use out of the room (it could also have been used as a bedroom) but I think it made selling the house easier.

@TreeNaDo exactly why I want a garage. I don't think anyone actually store a car inside, unless it's a classic car. Ideally, you'll have enough space inside the house and a garage to store all your stuff. I don't like sheds as it's always a bit damp and mouldy. If the shed is to be big enough, then it'll take up a lot of our garden space. We got four bikes, a bike rack, a bbq, scooters, lots of gardening tools, many bags of composts, jet washer, lawn mower.

I think more people prefer an extra room but having a garage was on the top of the list when we bought the last two houses. Along with off street parking, three bedrooms, etc. I think now I'll add office space too.

@SpringBunnies this is why we retained the back section of both garages for storage. Depending on where access from the house is some people retain the front section complete with the garage door and build a wall to section it off especially when accessed from the rear. We already had the pedestrian access at the rear to the back garden and no access to the house. We had to knock through from the hall.

I agree some sheds can be damp and mouldy but not if you buy either a metal or a plastic shed as opposed to a wooden shed although if cared for a wooden shed can be ventilated and kept from being damp.

I think it needs to be thought about on a case by case basis as to the house and what you are up against house wise in the area if you come to sell in future. We chose this house due to it being detached and having room for a shed, a summer house and parking for 3 cars abreast. We have put a wall up between the two original garages so now have 2 extra reception rooms plus we have a study as well. It worked for us. But then I live up North where your money can go much further, it would buy a studio in London