Garage conversion - replacing the door as a first step?

stuart45

Agree with Section62 about needing a plan. Especially if you get different sub contractors doing small parts of the job at various stages of the job.
They might not be thinking about how their work ties in with the rest.

Section62

_Sam_ said:

Wondering would it be possible to start a garage conversion with replacing the up and over door with the front door, before doing any other works?

I forgot to ask earlier... have you had the garage ceiling checked for asbestos?  It was very common to fix asbestos sheeting to integral garage ceilings to act as a fire barrier for the room above.  An integral garage with a projecting flat roof sounds consistent with a build date where asbestos was in use.

If you do have asbestos that is one of the things you'd probably want removed before the front door is done - it would make it easier for the asbestos removal contractor to work, and minimises the risk of your new door getting damaged.

stuart45

Having the front door on early in the job risks damage if materials are being taken in and out through it.

_Sam_

Section62 said:

Do you know where the foul and surface water drainage are?  Sometimes they are routed under the garage floor - you'll want to rule out that possibility before starting work.

Both of these are on the opposite side of house from where the garage is.

Section62 said:

The issue will be about how the porch area relates to other parts of the house - if your design treats the porch area as one using any permissible lower standards, you may (probably will) need to separate that part from the rest of the house by (for example) an exterior grade door and/or wall insulation.  You have some options, but those options may have consequences for other parts of the project.

The porch area will not have any special relation to the rest of the house as far as I know, just an ordinary porch area - we do plan an external grade door there (in timber). This, however, will be about 4 feet away from the front door, so a "later step" project in that sense. 

Section62 said:

I forgot to ask earlier... have you had the garage ceiling checked for asbestos?  It was very common to fix asbestos sheeting to integral garage ceilings to act as a fire barrier for the room above.  An integral garage with a projecting flat roof sounds consistent with a build date where asbestos was in use.

If you do have asbestos that is one of the things you'd probably want removed before the front door is done - it would make it easier for the asbestos removal contractor to work, and minimises the risk of your new door getting damaged.

There is what looks like plasterboards on the ceiling, and the electric up and over door is relatively modern (10-15 years old maybe). It is possible that the garage was checked when the door was installed. However the house has textured ceilings everywhere and even some walls, so I'm very aware about the risk of asbestos and will check the garage to be safe before doing anything. Just hoping there will be none as extra expense removing it.

_Sam_

  stuart45 said:

Normally a foundation is dug out and built up in masonry to DPC level to sit the new door frame on.

Thank you Stuart I can see DPC from the outside, around the garage door area it sits at about 1,5 bricks up from the ground.

Would we need to arrange a builder to construct this, or would the company that are installing doors be able to do it? I read that if the doors are fitted by a "competent registered contractor" then the contractor would issue a certificate on completion for the purposes of BR.

_Sam_

stuart45 said:

Agree with Section62 about needing a plan. Especially if you get different sub contractors doing small parts of the job at various stages of the job.
They might not be thinking about how their work ties in with the rest.

I understand that getting a structural plan for the full conversion drawn up would be useful. However, from what I read so far these are recommended for complex conversions. Because our conversion is straightforward, I find it very difficult to justify the expense. 

Rather than relying on different contractors to think about the overall project, I hope to research what work is necessary at each step of the conversion, and then arrange contractors accordingly. Or is this really not possible to achieve, and drawing the full structural plans is the only way forward? 

stuart45

It's possible to do from a building notice. It's obviously more difficult if you're not experienced in the construction trade, but not impossible.
With a building notice, you won't need such detailed plans, but it's a good idea to have reasonable plans so you work things out in advance.
With the door, you might need a builder to do a foundation first.

_Sam_

Thanks! Thinking as the garage is integral, it's likely the house foundations continue in the space where the garage door is, but presumably this will need to be checked before instructing the builder to dig for foundations that may already be there...

I'm awaiting quotes for replacing our existing concrete driveway with gravel, and once the concrete is out I'll be able to dig down next to the garage door to check the foundations. I guess this would probably be a good time to give a notice to BC regarding the conversion, so that they come out and see the foundations (or builder's work if no original foundations).  

_Sam_

grumbler said:

If you convert it to a living space, the floor will definitely need good insulation that will lift it up, I guess, 100mm at least.

This might be an interesting one! I had a quick look in the Building Regulations, and there is one point where they say if achieving the required U-value "is not technically or functionally feasible" then the element should be upgraded to the lowest U-value that is technically and functionally feasible. 

The current floor of the garage is only 1.5 maybe 2" lower than the rest of the house floor, and I wouldn't like ripping it out and digging to allow for the required depth (there is also a note in BR about "a simple payback of 15 years or less"?), nor raising it above the level of the rest of the house (a trip hazard?)

When we invite the BCO to see the foundation under the door I'll ask them about the acceptable height of insulation and whether "not technically or functionally feasible" exception could apply. If they say no and require us to either dig or raise, that would be the end of it - we'll do the rest of the conversion as planned but install no heating, and have a proper door separating the conversion from the rest of the house. This way no "change to energy status" should apply.

Only need this space to use as a hallway/utility after all.

Section62

_Sam_ said:

When we invite the BCO to see the foundation under the door I'll ask them about the acceptable height of insulation and whether "not technically or functionally feasible" exception could apply.

Which aspect of the foundation were you expecting the BCO to come and look at?

This is an example of why making the right choice between plans and notice is so important.  I mean this in the nicest possible way _Sam_ but you have a massive learning curve to climb if you want to manage this project yourself with very little prior experience. You've self-assessed your conversion as 'straightforward', but from the few things you've described so far there are some less straightforward things you'll need to deal with.  One of the not-straightforward things is that you intend to do the project yourself over an extended period of time - this inherently carries risks that aren't present in a typical 'straightforward' project (i.e. one a builder will complete in a week or so).

If you read through the threads on this forum about projects that went wrong, the recurring theme is about communication and clients not being clear about what they want.  If you get a builder to come in to deal with the foundation under the door (and as yet you don't really know what is there) then there are critical pieces of information you need to give them so they build what you need.

The catch here is some of the details depend on what the BCO thinks about other aspects of the project.  You'll need those nailed down so you can give a specification to the builder for building the foundation... but if you are waiting until the BCO comes for an inspection before those aspects get discussed, then the builder may have done work already which is wrong and has to be rectified.

As you are working on a tight budget it is more important than ever to make sure work is done right first time.  The place to make savings is not on the design and project planning.  These are absolutely key to stopping the project going out of control.

At the moment you are allowing the door replacement to lead the project... this is a back to front approach and I'd urge you to take a step back and give the whole project a lot more thought before committing anything to it.