Garage Conversions – The Complete Guide
When you think of your garage do you think of parking space for your car or do you think of a dumping ground for anything and everything?
A lot of houses these days, especially new build houses have a garage but also a driveway so the garage rarely gets used for parking your car. If this is the case for you why not make better use of that room and turn it into an extension of your home.
Families and possessions are continuously growing, for myself alone my family has grown by two people since moving into our current home and converting our garage has made such a huge difference to how we use our house and spend time together. Not only is it a great addition to the home it’s also one of the most affordable and time efficient ways to create extra space without taking away from any outside space that you have.
It is a great alternative to having to move house to find that extra room you are craving, you save yourself the endless costs of a house move you will save on solicitors fees, stamp duty and also the hours spent finding a new home in the first place.
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Add Extra Space Easily
Integrated and attached garages are usually fairly easy to convert into part of the main house. We would knock through the wall to join together the garage and the main home, usually through a hallway or perhaps into the kitchen area to make a big kitchen diner.
A detached garage has a multitude of options, from being a self contained annexe or home office, even an outside bar.
A single garage usually offers around 15m2 of floor space. We’ve created home offices, utility rooms, studies, playrooms, guest bedroom, and downstairs showers and WCS.
Double garages give you even more scope, they usually offer approx 30m2, it could create a bigger living room, and ensuite bedroom with walk-in wardrobe or the wonderful kitchen diner you’ve always dreamt of.
Do You Need Planning Permission for a Garage Conversion?
With the majority of garage conversions, as the work is internal you won’t need formal planning consent and it will be considered permitted development.
There are of course always exceptions so it is always best to check with your local authority to make sure that your permitted development rights haven’t been removed. You can find more details on permitted developments at Planning Portal.
For your peace of mind, you can always apply for a lawful development certificate.
Satisfying Building Regulations When Converting Your Garage
The building inspector from building control will be looking at a few main areas to make sure the conversion has been done to a high standard and to make sure it conforms to building regulations.
Some of these areas are structural safety, damp proofing, ventilation, fire safety including escape routes, insulation, energy efficiency, electrics and plumbing. It is important to use the correct installers with the correct accreditations for sign off the work.
When it comes to building regulations it can sometimes be a little bit of a minefield, not knowing if you need planning permission, structural engineers or if you can simply proceed with a building notice, Here at West Yorkshire Garage Conversions, we are a specialist in this field. We can hold your hand through the process to ensure a smooth journey from start to finish for your garage conversion.
Once the appropriate document has been processed we liaise directly with building control on your behalf to ensure that everything is up to standard and can be signed off accordingly.
At West Yorkshire Garage Conversions the services we offer, all of our gas engineers are gas safe registered and electricians are part p registered. A garage conversion must always comply with current building regulations.
For the majority of conversions, the building notice is all that is required. This is where you Inform your local authority of the intended work 48 works before said work begins.
Garage Conversion Costs
As long as the structure is in a decent condition you should find that this type of garage conversion will be much more cost-effective than carrying out a loft conversion or extension.
A typical 15m2 internal garage in decent condition can be renovated for as little as £6000 approx £400 per square metre.
Detached garages can be significantly more due to getting the services into the building can be trickier, however, don’t be put off by that and please do give us a call for a personalised quote on your garage conversion in West Yorkshire and the surrounding areas.
Additional lighting, decoration, integrated speaker systems, kitchens, bathrooms etc are all possible extras that we can look at doing, why not head over to the dream gallery to see the possibilities available and let your imagination run wild!
What Work is Involved with Garage Conversions?
The first part of the conversion is to make sure the walls and roof are watertight before moving inside to begin works.
Most garages are concrete which is perfectly fine to handle domestic use however garage floors do tend to be lower than main house floors so more often than not it would need levelling to make the floors flush and avoid a step down into your new room.
We have two options with regards to the appearance of your new room from the outside.
Option one is to keep the front section of the garage as storage by installing a partition wall partway into the new room, this option does not change the appearance of your house as it will still have the original garage door.
Option two takes the garage door out and build a new external wall with matching brickwork to the rest of your house and installing a matching window.
Integrated garages are usually built the same as the main house so nothing may need to be done to the walls. We will build a timber frame which will then be plasterboarded and skimmed, the timber frame allows us to add extra insulation if needed.
If we are working with an integrated garage a door into the main house will be installed, this will match the rest of the internal doors, a fire-rated window will also be installed if leaving the storage space at the front of the garage.
If you have a free-standing garage different door options will be available depending on the final look you wish to achieve.
We will install an appropriately sized radiator to heat the new room and install led spotlights as we find these give off the best amount of light and they can be easily installed into the ceiling structure.
If you like what you see and would like a no obligation free quotation please get in touch!