Garage/utility/workout area/man cave

dunroving

... that is just some of the items on my retirement wish list! Am looking for ideas from anyone who has created something along the lines of the above.

This is not a typical "garage conversion" scenario, I have a blank canvas and maybe up to £15k-£20k to spend.

Background: Recently retired and moving to a 3BR semi in a nice quiet neighbourhood south of Birmingham. The house has room at the left side for a single width garage "plus". Many other houses on the street have built a standard single width garage, with either an open or enclosed side alley/entryway between the house and garage. My thinking is that an entryway is a waste of space - why not simply have a wider garage space (to fit more "stuff" in - sink, utility area, etc.), with a personnel door to the side of (or as part of) the garage door?

So, in order of importance, here are the features I'd like to include, with some background rationale - any observations about practicality or cost implications welcome!

Insulated. Doesn't need to be a living space, just not freezing in the winter.

Sloping roof, with loft/eaves storage platform.

Workout area: I ride a bicycle turbo trainer in my current house and currently have no obvious area to do that in the new house, so I'd definitely use it for that purpose, and potential other workout space. However, that won't require any infrastructure (other than a TV supply so I can watch sport while riding).

Toilet. The house has only one toilet and there isn't really anywhere obvious on the ground floor. The garage will be on the side of the house where the soil pipe runs.

Utility area, for washer, dryer, and sink.

Boot/soggy clothes/dog gear storage area. In my current house, I enter via the back door, so I am not dragging muddy feet onto the hallway, or teetering on a small mat removing wet clothes while the dog shakes mud on the walls!

Small shower room (house has one bathroom currently).

The garage would run along the left side of the house, from halfway along the side wall, thereby enclosing the side door to the kitchen (but not enclosing the side window that is forward of the kitchen door, to allow natural light into that side of the house). It will extend back beyond the rear wall of the house (so part of the right garage wall will be the wall of the house, but the back part of the right side wall will be new wall).

Part of me thinks I should just build a single-storey side extension to the house, but I think that (a) this would be more expensive and possibly involve more red tape), and (b) there might be some resale mileage in the space actually feasibly allowing you to park a car in there.

Have tried to attach a floor plan for the house to give an idea, but couldn't figure out how to do it.

gazzak_2

Nice budget. I built something similar at the bottom of my garden so that me or the kids could use it as a refuge/work from home office. Timber frame, 3m x 2m fully insulated with double glazed windows and door, (from a reclamation yard), with a cedar shingle sloping roof, electricity and internet plus a smart TV. Total build cost was about £2500 and I did everything myself. Stays warm with a small oil filled radiator on even the coldest days.

Now done I wish I'd done it double the size and had running water & a toilet. For your budget that's easily achievable for probably well under £10,000 if you do everything yourself.

Regarding location, I was informed that I needed to be at least 1 meter away from any boundary fence.

If you're not wanting to do it yourself get a builder in to quote you. Don't buy a pre packaged unit, the insulation will be useless.

dunroving

I can screwing a light bulb pretty proficiently, but would need a builder for something like this.

Forgot to mention I also need efficient bike storage for three bikes. ;-) some sort of wall- or ceiling-mounted storage gizmo needed.

dunroving

Thought I'd dredge up and update, as this thread doesn't seem to be setting the world alight!

I took a walk through the neighbourhood a couple of days ago. It was curious to me that of all the houses that originally would have had a similar width space to "my" (hopefully!) house, every single one of them had a side entryway between the house and a single-width garage. Most of the entryways were covered, although one or two were open entryways/side alleys.

Also, curiously, every one of them had a flat garage roof, but a sloping roof on the entryway, which would cause rainwater to run towards the flat garage roof (better than towards the side wall of the house, I suppose).

I am wondering why no-one has installed a slightly wider garage. This would give more internal garage space to, for example, have a workspace along the side, or a utility area. It would simply give more flexibility than having to go from the house through a door to the side entrway, and then through another door to the garage.

The reasons I could think of are:
Planning restrictions (can't see why this would apply)
Personal preference, or just copying what everyone else has done.
Cost. I'm presuming all these single garages are a standard size and have standard fittings, etc., whereas what I am thinking of would be more "bespoke" (can't stand that word for some reason).

Any other reasons other people can think of for not doing what I see as a rather obviously better way of doing things?

EssexExile

Because that's the way they were built & nobody has bothered to change it?

Everyone has different priorities, I have a large garage attached to the house. It's big enough to keep the car in & use as a workshop & I can access it without going outside. I wouldn't have it any other way but others don't seem to mind getting wet & windswept going outside to their car, scraping the ice off, getting it warm, etc or wandering down the garden in the rain to get to their shed to do some DIY.

dunroving

EssexExile wrote: »

Because that's the way they were built & nobody has bothered to change it?

Everyone has different priorities, I have a large garage attached to the house. It's big enough to keep the car in & use as a workshop & I can access it without going outside. I wouldn't have it any other way but others don't seem to mind getting wet & windswept going outside to their car, scraping the ice off, getting it warm, etc or wandering down the garden in the rain to get to their shed to do some DIY.

I'm pretty sure that originally, all these houses just had driveways and the garages have been added. Even though they are all the same essential plan, they are all designed slightly differently.

I get the individual differences thing, I was just struck by the fact that no-one on the street has varied from the garage + entryway plan when having a garage installed.

PatrickJohnson

Hi Dunroving, is there any update? I'm looking to convert my garage into a home office and I'm debating whether to do the work myself (with some, um, volunteers I can rope in), or hand it over to the garage conversion specialist I've cautiously approached.

I'm still not sure whether my time or my cash is most valuable! I'd love to know how you got on.

dunroving

PatrickJohnson wrote: »

Hi Dunroving, is there any update? I'm looking to convert my garage into a home office and I'm debating whether to do the work myself (with some, um, volunteers I can rope in), or hand it over to the garage conversion specialist I've cautiously approached.

I'm still not sure whether my time or my cash is most valuable! I'd love to know how you got on.

Sorry, I only just spotted this. Currently not much progress on this, for logistical reasons. I'm currently planning to get back to this over the Christmas period, with a view to getting quotes in the new year.

I have a bank of photos from Pinterest and places like that, and the ideas are taking shape. I've had a meeting with local planning officer during their weekly clinic, and my basic idea seems acceptable. Next door (the "unattached" side of my semi-detached) has a garage conversion, sloping flat roof. I'm hoping to run my extension at a similar height, sloping flat roof, which will give me some additional height (because my plot is about 30cm lower than his).

Overall plans not too different from my original post below. The plot size is ca. 6.7m x 3.7m, so interior dimensions probably around 6.2m x 3.2m, which allows plenty of leeway. Especially if my "extra height" plan works, I'll have a loft platform at the near end, either for storage or a short-term use sleeping area. Especially as there will be a small toilet/shower room,, that will increases the adaptability of the space.

I'll post a plan of what I am thinking, but have to remind myself what image hosting site I used last time!

OK, let's try this: https://ibb.co/ixa5SA

- to orientate things, the bottom of the slide is the front of the house, an the house is on the right (see "kitchen"). The windows at the top will look onto the back garden. A relative suggested switching the bike storage and workout areas, so I can ride my turbo trainer while looking out of the window onto the garden.

keith969

In my last house, I had a side extension built, the ground floor was a garage with double doors at the front, a door at the side to the garden, and a door to a small lobby between the kitchen and shower room.

Having no outside way from the front to the back garden was a right pain. For example taking big/heavy stuff though in a wheelbarrow was difficult due to the step on the side door.

So think carefully what you might want to get though it - your plan has a small door at the front, will that be adequate? What if you need to have work down at the back of the house and builders need to get through? It's worth considering the possibilities.

dunroving

keith969 wrote: »

In my last house, I had a side extension built, the ground floor was a garage with double doors at the front, a door at the side to the garden, and a door to a small lobby between the kitchen and shower room.

Having no outside way from the front to the back garden was a right pain. For example taking big/heavy stuff though in a wheelbarrow was difficult due to the step on the side door.

So think carefully what you might want to get though it - your plan has a small door at the front, will that be adequate? What if you need to have work down at the back of the house and builders need to get through? It's worth considering the possibilities.

Thanks, that is something that is on my radar. I have a friend who lives in a mid-terraced cottage in Northern Ireland who over the years has tracked her bin back and forth every week, through the house from back to front (through lean-to, kitchen, living room, and hallway), plus several tons of building and landscaping materials over the years! She is an unusually resourceful individual; I don't really want to do that.

I'm open to alternative styles of doors, but don't especially want to install a proper up and over garage door. Other houses in the neighbourhood also have to use the garage and a personnel-size door at the back to get things from front to back of their plot. Although I currently don't have a building in that location, there is a wall separating the garden and driveway, so I do currently have to get things through a regular sized garden gate.

I'm also thinking that this will be a utility building with some sort of utility flooring (i.e., not carpet), though I hadn't thought about the challenge of a raised door threshold ... will think on it some more.

keith969

dunroving wrote: »

I'm open to alternative styles of doors, but don't especially want to install a proper up and over garage door.

I had one of those, they are rather horrible imho. Draughty and awkward to use, so I replaced it with wooden doors (with windows). Much nicer and keep the garage much warmer.