Full / partial integral garage conversion

EachPenny

Doozergirl wrote: »

Your choice. Has your friend given you a price? Be careful of using friends, especially if they want to do it on the cheap. They might think they're doing you a favour but integrity is everything.

I agree. Someone who starts off a job with "don't bother with building regs" makes me wonder how they will finish the job.

troffasky

MrBrindle wrote: »

My friend who will be doing the works (he's actually building two houses himself) said don't bother with building regs! I don't think we'll take his advice, as we want the job done properly.

I'm not a builder, but from the few Approved Documents [ https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/approved-documents ] I've read, building regulations seem to this layman to be a "floor" below which one wouldn't want to go.

Read this:

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200187/your_responsibilities/38/building_regulations

before deciding whether to believe anyone who tells you that you don't need to follow them.

Lurk over in House Buying, Renting and Selling and you will see umpteen threads where lack of building control signoff has complicated a property transaction.

MrBrindle

Just jumping back on this as we haven't decided on what to do yet.

Due to financial reasons, we are now looking at a partial garage conversion as means of adding and extra utility area.

My questions are, will building regs pass a partial garage conversion? The room will just be a 3x3metre room off the kitchen, but we are hoping to take the fire door off and put a baby gate so the dogs can have their own little area in the house. We will then put the fire door in the stud wall which divides the garage.

Is this ok to do? And is it something that we should notify our house insurers of?

Thanks

Doozergirl

They'll pass it if it complies. I'm not sure it saves much money as you're introducing a new wall anyway so your wall area to cover is nearly the same as the full garage and the floor isn't going to be much different. The new wall needs to be of sturdy construction to maintain the firebreak (maybe, arguably the remainder may not hold a car anymore?) and insulated envelope (definitely).

Have you taken advice on costs?