Garage conversion help ...

aboxa

Hi everyone need some advice on converting a current garage which is intergrated into a living area?? Havent had any quotes as to how much it will cost..but has anyone had one done???n can give me an idea of costings?

Current garage is part of the house and on the inside i can just see large breeze blocks and has garage door.

Have no experience in building but was thinking if i could attempt any of the work myself to keep costs down..if anyone has any advice in this area.. Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreaciated thank you

phill99

I run a property maintenance company and have done a few garage conversions. The last one was an attached garage and the customer wanted additional living space. The work included removing the up and over door, half bricking up the opening and putting in a DG window and the same to the rear access door, creating an opening between the lounge and garage including steelwork, installing 100mm battens all the way round the external wall, insulating and overboarding with plasterboard, skimming, lowering the ceiling, insualting and skimming, bifold doors between the old and 'new' rooms, installing an insulated suspended timber floor, provision of 6 sockets and 2 ceiling lights. The client just decorated. Was just under £8k.

PM me if you want some pics.

aboxa

Thanks for the reply....ok that kind of gives me an idea on price ..and 8k is kinda wayyyy out of my budget 😞....do you think as a complete novice can i undertake some work myself using the power of google??

bobthedambuilder

As a complete novice ... no. That would be quite an undertaking for even an experienced DIYer, and if you decided partway through that it was beyond you, you'd end up paying more to a builder than if he'd been in from the start - he'd probably want to strip out all you'd done and start again from scratch.

iamcornholio

A typical conversion - block up the front, install a window and a new door access to the house should be between £5k and £8k max. Materials only - £2-£3k for the basic stuff

You can do a lot of the work as DIY, as it is not overly technical, but it depends on your skill level

There will also be a Building regulation fee to the council of £250 -£350

aboxa

thank you for your advice ppl... really helps very much appreciated ... i had totally forgot about building reg fee also thanks for that reminder.. i may just get a builder to brick up the wall n fit window and cut out door which i presume will need beams to support and go from there as i have a very tight budget ..thank you

27col

When I did my garage conversion the inspector said that the foundation for the wall had to be the same depth as the existing foundation. I wasn't prepared to do all this extra work for the sake of a little wall only about a metre high.
Apparently it was ok to build a wooden frame in the door opening and insulate and clad it with tile hanging. This was very cheap and easy to do. and looks quite well I think.
This was a double garage which I converted into a flat for my son. I installed a shower and toilet and a kitchen. Also a new wooden floor laid on 50mm of polystyrene insulation. I fixed battens and insulation to the walls and dry lined them. The whole project came out well and didn't cost a lot. As I did this in 1993, any costs would be inapplicable this long after.


The double doors of the garage used to be where you can now see tiles and PVC windows.

aboxa

Wow that looks pretty impressive...and you did it all on a budget!! About the wall frame im thinking i may not be able to get away with doing that as there is a room on top of the garage if that makes sense...

tartanterra

aboxa wrote: »

Have no experience in building but was thinking if i could attempt any of the work myself to keep costs down

Do you plan to run your own electrical circuits into this area? Are you capable of this? What about extending your central heating? Can you calculate the load above any adjoining door into this area?

As you said, you have no experience. This is a professional job, best left to someone who understands the implications of what is required.

aboxa wrote: »

😞....do you think as a complete novice can i undertake some work myself using the power of google??

The power of Makita or Milwaukee would be preferable. Get a builder in.
I know it's not what you want to hear, but you shouldn't mess around with the structure of your house without the knowledge to understand the full implications of what you are doing.

If you want to save money, get a builder who will let you labour for them to bring down the costs.

aboxa

Yes i do agree with you on that one..i think the structural stuff building wall fitting the window and doung the door i will have to get someone in.in terms of electrocs and radiators defo will not be attempting this part either ..probly electricute myself haha.costs are a major factor so yes that may be an idea in terms of labouring for builder.also dont know if anybody knows but when normally doing my car insurance i store car in garage.as i will not have one but still have a driveway does your insurace increase???

cyclonebri1

I did my daughter about 3 years ago. It was slightly different as the 25 year old house was originally the show house on the corner of as new development, it had never hads a garage door fitted, simply the alluminium patio doors in a wooden frame. It actually looked awfull.

It had been used as an office by the guy that had it from new.
I did the whole lot and it cost very little, about £1000 in total.

We didn't involve BC it has to be said but the job was done correctly.
We had a head start as the room was plaster boarded out and skimmed but needed attention. The electric were in but all needed raising or lowering.

A new catnic was fitted over the new window as there is an overhanging "veranda" porch to that side, the window was quite expensive at £400 but we wanted a good match. The briucks were still available locally and were also a perfect match.

No new electrical circuits were needed so I moved these as needed.
The main reason for that being that there was actually a 10" step down into the garage from the hall, but given that the concrete floor was sound and flat we got away with fairly light timber joists as these could be supported on pads every couple of feet, green chipboard over.

The wall under the window was brick skin outside with 12" of polystyrene behind a timber fame and plasterboard, this was to keep the weight down but the insulation up.

The boiler was in the garage so it was a simple addition for a decent sized radiator as it only had an electric 1 previously.

SIL hade a contact who come round and skimmed it in a short day, cost us £45:money:

I'd love to post a pic as it came out so well and is indistinquishable from original. (don't have 1)


Please don't take this as advice to ignore building control, I mentioned it simply to explain why our costs were so low, and as the rooms use had not changed.;)