Settle a row for me! Double garage conversion

[SnugSheep]

Would love your opinions on this!

Garage at the side of the house is huge - 20ft deep by 17ft wide. Thinking of converting it but don’t want to loose the space to store and access bikes, car crap, camping equipment, etc, at the front of the house.

So, wondering if it would make sense to keep the front 8ft x 17ft of the conversion as garage, then use the back 12ft (plus another 8ft) to make a useable room that can be accessed from the main house and that leads out to the garden. Would that be enough room for a pseudo-garage space if we’re smart with organisation?

Ideally, I’d like more space downstairs to accommodate growing kids - a playroom initially that’ll become a space for teens to watch TV/hang with friends/do homework etc. (meaning they won’t have to retreat to their bedrooms to avoid us) 😂 There’s potential for expansion in the kitchen but not as much, and I think I’d like a dedicated space for toys, etc, if possible.

Husband is resistant, and wants to keep the garages as is (and continue to fill them with useless shit probably)! But my argument is that we have a cellar, a loft, and more than enough garden for a bloody shed (though prob not a decent sized garden room). He has a lot of large tools but they’re for his job and he stores them in his workshop elsewhere! I think a good watertight shed would suffice for the mower and garden tools. Other domestic tools can be kept to what’s actually useful and stored in pseudo-garage.

Car goes on driveway. Never park it in garage anyway (insured for parking on street atm).

Would the decreased garage size put you off buying? It’s a long term home so not too bothered really if the house works better for our family, but I am curious of the potential effect on value and saleability.

Thanks!

We use our double garage for car storage. But also manage to store gardening stuff, cat stuff, dryer, paints. We boarded much of the roof space so that has tiles, spare boxes etc. It would put us off.

It would put me off - a garage is for cars. I know must people store crap in there, but I always put my car in the garage.

I’ve seen it done a lot on TV property shows, so think it’s not uncommon.

How soon are you considering reselling? Like if you're going to get multiple years of use out of it converted is that not worth a lot?

I also have a double garage. Currently 2(+1) children under 7. Am intending to convert half the garage (and maybe also have a sort of mezzanine over the part that remains as a garage/storage) so that the kids have a den/space which is attached to the main house whilst being slightly separate from it. Have a vision of a pool table, mini fridge, dart board and that sort of thing so they can hang in their with their mates. Want to do it in the next 5-6 years so we have it for the teen years (we'll have teens from 2032-2045 and judging by my sister's kids might have children at home till at least 2052) so to me that's worth more than any impact on resale.

Edited to say you're intending to keep some of the garage as a garage (as we are) so there would still be storage there. Perhaps it'll mean your home is attractive to large growing families in future. Who knows!

Thanks @socialdilemmawhattodo. I think I’m maybe underestimating how many people like to store their cars in the garage. We’ve got good options for storing everything else you mention apart from the car.

It wouldn’t put me off. That’s huge garage and even cutting it in half would still leave space for cars. I have a new build “double garage” that is half the size of yours and am considering doing the same thing. I don’t think anyone on our estate uses their garage for their car!

Give your husband the option. He can agree to either a garage conversion or a loft conversion.

We’re probably staying for the next 20 years, but I guess you never know what could happen!

@Allsigns snap! Your situation is a lot similar to ours. I just think the way things are we’ll basically have four adults needing breathing space at some point so might as well plan for it. 🤷‍♀️

Well either you need more living space or you don't and that's a decision that you have to come to between the two of you.

If you have a cellar and a loft why not convert them rather than the garage. Or add a summer house in the garden.

On to the practicalities, yes you can covert garages half way. A lot of people round my way have done that because they have integral garages so they leave the door on the front, have a space behind that for bins bikes etc and then have a room behind that.

The issue with it largely is can you actually convert the garage into a liveable space, both from a buildings regs perspective and from a sensible structural perspective. You could for example just put a wall up to cheaply separate the spaces, but with it being a garage it would still be freezing cold in winter without adequate insulation.

@BoredZelda thanks. I briefly thought of the loft but it’s not practical for us sadly. It’s a bit too small and would make our house too many flights to not be a pain.

No I wouldn’t divide it up the way you have suggested as you won’t be left with enough room for a car

If I needed the extra habitable space I’d switch it to a single garage converting the other single space
So if it’s 6m wide I’d start by splitting that in half and see what accommodation you can fit in 3m wide x the existing depth. Reduce that size if you can but not the garage size.

@GasPanic loft and cellar not convertible sadly. We’d knock garages down and begin again with a fully insulated design.

Thanks! I’ll look at how that configuration might work.

I have done this with a double garage, best thing we ever did. You need to consider the planning side which is usually change of use and even if like us you never parked your car in the garage they have to consider parking options. Our drive can hold 4 cars so not an issue.

We retained a storage area but it is at the back and had to convert the two garage doors into window because of where the access point was inside the house which was in the hall at the front. However a lot of people where I live do what you are suggesting but mainly on single garages. Retain the garage door and build an internal wall.

I chalked a line leaving a 6ft deep storage area across the back of the double garage and then moved all the shelving units into that area to see if it was doable. It left pretty much what you have said, my remaining space is 5.3m x 3.6m after the internal wall had gone up.

It started as a playroom for my young children and then into the secondary school years with a massive desk for laptops and all the stationery for school work. We put in a sofa, tv etc and now is a work space for my young adult children with musical instruments in there.

What I did do was bank the entire back wall with storage inside the playroom. We used Ikea Pax wardrobes and these held all the coats, shoes, bags, games, toys, 32" tv and Xbox inside etc. You want to be able to stash everything away.

Don’t know anyone younger than 80 who puts car in garage

would run a mile from a house with a cellar loft and double garage full of junk as I have never been in a house like that where basic maintenance was of a decent standard and I would be worried about the amount of stuff that would get left behind

Well, we considered this and went as far as architect’s plans. It would have been ferociously expensive. You can’t just stick in a wall: you need a damp course, new cavity walls (which make the space smaller), ceiling etc. It’s far more complicated than converting a whole integrated garage into habitable accommodation.

I should add that the benefit of converting the garage meant any friends were all downstairs, not upstairs in an attic or in cellar where they could get up to who knows what. It also meant I could monitor homework and what they were playing on their computers without having to go upstairs all the time.

A car does not need its own room, it isn't the 70s where cars don't start on cold mornings.

There are a lot of videos on youtube showing garages being converted and what goes into it. It isn't rocket science, just go above and beyond with insulation and building regs are low for this sort of thing

Building reg requirements aren’t lower for a garage conversion. It’s being converted into a habitable space and requirements are the same as for any other habitable space

Thanks @MaturingCheeseball. my post was probably a bit misleading as we’re debating an extension rather than a conversion really. I’m just keen to understand whether the garages are worth keeping as is.

@GarageConverted yep. All great points and a big reason why I want to do it (and why DH will eventually think it was a good idea after all) 🙄😂

@DrPrunesqualer I wasn't saying they were lower for a garage conversion just that the buildings regs are shit for insulation rules. Integrated garages tend to have double skin brick whereas standalone garages are single brick. A good builder will beef up the insulation but that will cost more.

@SnugSheep Just start moving the stuff around in the garage, mark out the space if you can. No one made your Dh king. Your children might be young but by the time they hit early secondary they are adult sized and you want them to have their own space which isn't their bedroom. In this house bedrooms are for sleeping in, all tech entertainment is downstairs. No sneakily setting an alarm to wake up at 1am to game with your mates in your bedroom like my friend's son did.

My youngest was 2 when we moved here and is now 20 so that room has seen a lot of changes but it has grown with them and I don't have train track laid out in my lounge

That’s what we have done and it is enough space for a garage but reliably informed by estate agent relative that garage conversion tend to put a lot of buyers off. Ours isn’t a full conversion and it would be easy enough to take down plasterboard etc and revert back.

Could you get an extension near the loft attic and then convert? How much roof/floor space do you have? Also

I genuinely don't know anyone who uses their garage for a car. Most have their cars on the drive and the garage is either full of junk, half full of junk and half converted or fully converted. Even my gran has converted half her garage into a utility, with the rest used for storage. .

Depends on the area you live in. In safe, highly sought after areas you might actually make more money with a full garage conversion because people can just park on their driveway & you’ll be able to build in storage solutions. Try and talk to an estate agent first before confirming anything.

@Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain loft is small and fiddly thanks to style of house, plus there are some restrictions due to conservation zone, but that’s not the main issue. It’s just too many flights up. Me and DH agree we wouldn’t want the kids up there really, even if it was possible.

@pottylolly good point. Mostly no garages or single garages on our street and nobody seems to use them - cars on driveway/street, some v.expensive models too. 🤷‍♀️

Thanks I read your post incorrectly

I dont agree that there’s anything wrong with the current standards though. Good levels of insulation keep heating bills and energy usage down.
That’s got to be a long term plus for everyone.