Garage rebuild turning into extension

gracie83

Sorry if I am in the wrong place but I am just wondering if anyone can confirm what my builder has said.

We currently have a lean to garage which is attached to our house. The garage is getting very rotton now and really needs replacing. So we got a builder around to quote us for the job. As he talked the job when from what I hope for (a roof and three walls, the concrete floor is fine) to basically a full blown extension. The floor and ground will need to be dug up and insulated, the roof will need to be fully insulated, the walls will need to be fully insulated. He said it is cheaper to get rid of the garage door and just put in a normal door as the garage is too narrow to ever be used by a modern car. The garage will be warmer than house which seems a bit of an overkill for the place where we store the lawnmower, the chest fridge and our junk!

He said that it is impossible to replace the garage with a new lean to garage because it is connected to the house and building regs means it has to be insulated.

I know nothing about building so is this all true? We have not got our quote back yet but I am worried about the costs as this sounds like an extension to me!

Is it possible to just put a lean to garage up in the modern world?

tonyh66

the builder is having a laugh, he's quoting for an extension and is probably planning to rip you off. Find a local joiner or carpenter to look at the job. You don't say what the walls are made of?

phill99

He really is talking bow locks.


You don't need to insulate the floor, walls or ceiling of a garage.


Get someone else in.

Davesnave

gracie83 wrote: »

He said that it is impossible to replace the garage with a new lean to garage because it is connected to the house and building regs means it has to be insulated.

Impossible?

I had a rickety plastic roofed 'structure' as a lean-to at the end of my bungalow, the top part of which I demolished and rebuilt. Its used as a boiler room & workshop.

So, it now has a tiled roof and looks like a conventional part of the house, but the walls are only one block thick and don't meet building regs; nor does the floor.

The building inspector is perfectly cool with this, because it's an outbuilding. So is a garage.

J_B

If it's completely shot, maybe get rid and get a decent sized wooden shed to fill the gap.

A guy near here makes to measure - PM me for details

Doozergirl

We have had a (local authority). building inspector try to get us to change the angle of the roof of an attached garage. He said that someone might want to convert it in future and the pitch and choice of tile was awkward for them to meet regs if it were a room.

I emailed and asked him to quote from the relevant approved document put in writing that it had to be done to meet the regs for a garage. He backed down immediately.

It does not need to conform to regs at all but at least this builder was trying to do things right! It seems that BCOs can be awkward with it themselves.

gracie83

Thanks for the replies. Still awaiting the quote as builder is busy. The garage structure as it is a sloped asbestos concrete roof which runs the length of the house. At the front the entire wall is a double garage door. That the garden end the original brick wall/window has been partially demolished and a plastic and wood 'construction' has been added to extend the garage a few meters. The main wall of the garage is a shared double brick wall with my neighbour who has illegally turned his garage into living space which will complicate matters.

We need a solid brick structure as the boiler is going to have to be relocated into the garage.

I will definitely get some more builders to come around and have their say. I don't want to extend the house! I still have no idea of the costs but in our area we would never recoup the money spent. I just want a leak proof garage for the boiler, washing machine and to store garden stuff in.

Thank you again for the comments. Off to spend my bank holiday researching building regs and builder hunting.

gracie83

Just to update - I contacted the building control department of my council for advice - according to them knocking down an attached garage and replacing it with another garage is considered building an extension and has to be built to the specifications of an extension ie full insulation in floor, walls and ceiling.

I still cannot believe that an attached garage has to be built in such away - it seems such a waste of money for a storage room!

Davesnave

gracie83 wrote: »

Just to update - I contacted the building control department of my council for advice - according to them knocking down an attached garage and replacing it with another garage is considered building an extension and has to be built to the specifications of an extension ie full insulation in floor, walls and ceiling.

I still cannot believe that an attached garage has to be built in such away - it seems such a waste of money for a storage room!

I suppose you cannot do what I did with my lean-to, and just use the existing walls ?

In that case, I think I might go for a slightly detached garage/ boiler room.

At a guess, I'd say that there is long term thinking at work with the regs. Many people already convert their integral garage, and it's likely that many more will do so in future.

beaker141

gracie83 wrote: »

Just to update - I contacted the building control department of my council for advice - according to them knocking down an attached garage and replacing it with another garage is considered building an extension and has to be built to the specifications of an extension ie full insulation in floor, walls and ceiling.

I still cannot believe that an attached garage has to be built in such away - it seems such a waste of money for a storage room!

I think you might need some more research and maybe someone professional who has dealt with it before as this document suggests otherwise ;-

http://www.downdc.gov.uk/Online-Documents/Garages-and-Carports-Guidance-Leaflet-(PDF).aspx

"A n attach e d g ara g e is tre ate d in a similar fashio n to a n e xte nsio n b ut n ot all th e R e g ulatio ns a p ply. T his is b eca use th e g ara g e is n ot inte n d e d for h a bitable acco m m o d atio n, e g, th ere is n o re q uire m e nt for th erm al insulatio n; h o w e v er lik e oth er e xte nsio ns a g ara g e is re q uire d to b e structurally so u n d a n d h a v e a proper drainage system."

{forgive the dodgy text - thats how it copied from the pdf!}

Furts

gracie83 wrote: »

Just to update - I contacted the building control department of my council for advice - according to them knocking down an attached garage and replacing it with another garage is considered building an extension and has to be built to the specifications of an extension ie full insulation in floor, walls and ceiling.

I still cannot believe that an attached garage has to be built in such away - it seems such a waste of money for a storage room!

The answer is no. A storage room requires heating and ventilation, which are Buildings Regulations matters. Without either lawnmowers can go rusty, stored fabrics and clothing will go mouldy, papers and books get damaged by damp and so on. In addition we should all be future proofing and your council will think of this. Many people subsequently decide to make a storage room a habitable room which does definitely need insulation and heating, and even if you do not you should consider future purchasers. You have no idea what their intentions may be.