Garage conversion and house value

Woolsery

A minority of people worship their car or feel it's not safe on a drive. Modern cars don't need garaging and older ones were done no favours being put away wet.

If you can get the living space you really want without the hassle and uncertainty of a move, go for it, with the proviso that the basics of the building are suitable. There are various ways of making the thermal efficiency meet building regs, so do homework, make sure it does and get the nice bit of paper to prove it. Good luck.

Ducktard

We bought a 4 bed semi in a nice area in 2016 and converted the garage to a room and a downstairs toilet and shower room. We also pitched the entire garage roof. Cost circa £30K including a wall down and an old toilet out in kitchen and a new kitchen in.

I have mixed feelings as the space wasn’t really used after (bar the bathroom) and it was a decent chunk of cash to do the whole job. Looked very nice though and the pitched roof gave good kerb appeal.

We sold in early ‘21 for £££ but that was probably more to do with the bonkers market. 

Slinky

The people who bought our last but one house converted it from a kitchen/breakfast room with adjoining utility area, put the kitchen where the breakfast room was and chopped the garage in half putting the utility stuff into the garage. They left the garage door on with storage behind it. They moved walls to have the dining room at the end of the kitchen, but ended up with a large empty looking space between the two areas. So they lost space in the garage for pointless space in the kitchen. Couldn't see the benefit gained. The garage was big enough to get a car in as I used to park in it.

andyf1980

No hope of fitting our car in the garage!

We are planning to convert and put a suitable shed in our garden; luckily it is a good size garden. 

Section62

leila96 said:

That’s a very interesting point, and something we should probably explore! Most of the same houses on our street have done garage conversions, so I’m hoping it is possible!

Check the situation with planning.  You may need planning consent to change the space, as well as complying with building regs.  The fact other people in the street have done conversions (with/without planning consent) doesn't automatically mean you'll be allowed to do the same.  Also check for covenants.

I would be another in favour of keeping the garage if you have space to build at the rear of the property.  Spending money increasing the footprint of the building is likely to equate to greater value than spending the same £££ on converting existing space.  How the existing garage is built will have a significant impact on conversion costs per square metre.

Noneforit999

If its a new (ish) build house you may want to check any covenants as some state the garage must remain a garage, although how enforceable this is I don't know.

I am not sure its going to add much value to the house but if its going to add additional space you are going to get use out of and you are ok with it adding no/little monetary value, I would just go for it.

If its a single skin garage, it may take a take amount of insulation material to get it up to regulations, assuming you are going via building control etc. 

In regards to people using garages for cars, the vast majority do not as the garages are often too small for modern cars. Ours is 3m wide internally (entrance is narrower) but trying to get a 2 year old out of a car seat with the door barely being able to open is not something I have any interest in doing on a daily basis. 

Woolsery

Noneforit999 said:

I am not sure its going to add much value to the house but if its going to add additional space you are going to get use out of and you are ok with it adding no/little monetary value, I would just go for it.

If its a single skin garage, it may take a take amount of insulation material to get it up to regulations, assuming you are going via building control etc.

A single skin garage will need extra insulation to meet regs, but it's do-able in a variety of ways. In our case we worked out the loss of internal space and it was acceptable. The cost of a pitched roof was also OK and enabled other things to happen, but every build is different.

OP has already covered your other point, which is that they'd rather not move, which also has a considerable cost. If a family have a house they like and good neighbours, schools etc, staying put can make more sense than taking a chance on something else.

We were able to stay in our last house for 21 years because we re-purposed the garage space there too. With an intimate knowledge of the location, we knew the chance of another 1/4 acre south facing plot was virtually zero.

jonnydeppiwish!

We have an internal garage and are about to convert it into a study and utility room. It’s too small for any modern car (well maybe not a Smart car!).

Financially, I think it makes sense - £10k to complete including BR, probably put £15-£20k on the value.

Unless you have a large garage then it’ll just get used as a dumping ground and, imo, an expensive waste of space.

Look at who would want to buy your house - family, downsizer etc and this should allow you to make a more informed decision for you.

jrawle

One other consideration, you say it's a detached house, but is it "link detached" by the garage? If so, turning the garage into a room means the house is no longer detached in my view, and that would most definitely put me off buying it.

I also once viewed a house with a garage conversion which put me off the house. In that instance, the boiler had been in the garage, so it was now effectively in the living room (the garage has been knocked through with no wall or door between). That was a complete no-no for me!

I don't think you will have a similar issue as you are going to be extending the kitchen, but I would say ensure that the resulting layout makes sense. From the sound of it, I think it will be fine, but I have seen plenty of garage conversions where the resulting layout is weird, and that may put off buyers.

RogerBareford

leila96 said:

Ramouth said:

I would look at it from a different point of view.  You are not adding area to the building so assume it doesn’t add or subtract value from the property (this may not be quite right but i would doubt it is much either way).  

Asses what the extra space is worth to you.  £50 a month, £100 a month?  Then look at what the extra borrowing will cost you.  E.g. £15000 over 15 years at 2% would cost you around £100 per month.  Would a bigger kitchen make you happier than £100 worth of other ways to enjoy yourself every month?

It would 100% make us happier, it would make it more our ‘perfect’ home that we would be happy to stay in for the next 15 years. Currently our garage is a dumping ground of stuff we don’t even need, so it brings us no additional happiness. 

I would say that the fact it is definetly what you want and will be staying there for 15 years then you should go for it.

If you were moving in less than 5 years and weren't sure then it wouldn't make sense but when your planning on staying for such a long time in a home then it's worth making it how you want it even if it doesn't add any value.

Personally i use my garage as storage for items such as tools, bikes and other items i don't use often but want to keep in decent condition. I prefer the garage over the wooden shed for these items but if i had a concrete shed then i wouldn't be as concerned by the loss of the garage but there still needs to be access for bikes and other items to get from the shed to the road.