Advice regarding partial garage conversion

lokz

Hello all,

Our house has an an internal garage, whose boundaries are part of the house. The garage is 5.4 m long, 3.4 meters within the property boundary, and 2 m projecting to the front.

The garage floor  is 2 bricks down the DPC . The house is 1 brick above the DPC.

I have started planning for the following extension initially , but have decided to only go for partial garage conversion in few months this year.

After doing some research and taking various factors into consideration, i have designed the following layout and wanted to do the conversion as below

I have started approaching tradesmen and builders for some quotes based on the above design.

The soil pipe is just outside the garage so is easy to get access to .

The water pipes and central heating pipes  need to come from kitchen back wall into under stair storage into the garage.

I am trying to go with the below requirements.

1) Adding a new doorway in the wall in hallway into the garage and provide with a proper lintel support

2) Install a new door provided by me to the doorway and fixing the wall cleanly by plastering and framing it properly.

3) Replace the existing long radiator with a short radiator in the hallway. (This requires to get the piping under the laminate floor . so I think they need to remove the flooring and install it properly)

4) Raising the floors of the garage  (2.6m X 3.4 m length of the garage ) to be of the same height with the house with wooden flooring and insulation.

5) Stud wall partition the existing garage to add a new bathroom of size 3.7 sq m as per above layout and require a fully tiled bathroom .

6) The partition should also have a door to enter into the bathroom

7) The bathroom ceiling should be insulated and dropped to install the ducting for exhaust and electricals.

8)The  bathroom should be properly insulated and fitted with proper boards and install all the fixtures ( shower enclosure, WC, vanity unit, radiator/tower rail, mirror ) with proper water and drainage connections.

9) All electrics needs to be taken care of.

10)The current window frame (120 cms ) in the garage needs to be replaced with 2 single windows (60 cms each ) where one  will be inside the bathroom and one outside the bathroom. To be replaced by suitable windows with Fensa standards.

11) New Water and drainage connections to be provided for a washing machine in the garage

12) Additional central heating connections to be provided into the garage for future use.

13 ) All the works needs to be followed with building regulations working with a building inspector.

What i found is, this is a project which seems small for many builders. So i am trying to approach bathroom fitters with decent reviews and recommendations for quotes. I have few questions for advice as  below ( as I am a total noob )

1) what would be a ball park figure if i provide , both the doors, shower enclosure unit, WC, vanity unit , tower rail, tiles for wall and floor.

2) Will i be able to get the above items ordered by the fitter ( so that I can save on VAT )

3) How  many days does this kind of project take.

4) Will I be able to request a broken down quote.

5) Is it worth to source multiple tradespeople and manage them  or should i go with some one who can source and manage.  what would be the % increase in cost in the second case? 

6) should i be more specific with requirements ( like specifying there should be   15 cms bearing for lintel, using 12.5 mm plaster board with 600 centres, using noggins, using cement board and green board, using extra support timber when installing any fixtures ) . Most of them i tried to research and find .

7) Will there be guarantee of the work normally provided ?

Thanks .

FreeBear

Quite a bit more work than your average bathroom fitter would normally do. Not sure I would trust one to do the whole lot. If you did find one, he (or she) would be put off if you go specifying construction methods down to the placement of every screw - Some level of detail will be needed, i.e. minimum levels of insulation and types of material.

A couple of comments on the design - You do not want to be dropping pipes under the floor for the radiator in the hallway. It will be a low point where sludge will collect, and it will be impossible to drain them down unless you have an access panel in the floor. Better to swap the door & radiator positions and perhaps move both further back. On the subject of radiators - Oversize them by 30-50%, and you can get to use lower flow temperatures once the other radiators get a similar upgrade. Lower flow temperatures means higher efficiency with a condensing boiler so will save you money in the long run (not much, but every penny counts).

The toilet is way too close to the (stud) wall - Great if you fall asleep and use the wall to lean against. Not so good if you move around or are left handed. There is plenty of space to be generous, so don't try to squeeze everything in to the smallest footprint.

lokz

FreeBear said:

Quite a bit more work than your average bathroom fitter would normally do. Not sure I would trust one to do the whole lot. If you did find one, he (or she) would be put off if you go specifying construction methods down to the placement of every screw - Some level of detail will be needed, i.e. minimum levels of insulation and types of material.

A couple of comments on the design - You do not want to be dropping pipes under the floor for the radiator in the hallway. It will be a low point where sludge will collect, and it will be impossible to drain them down unless you have an access panel in the floor. Better to swap the door & radiator positions and perhaps move both further back. On the subject of radiators - Oversize them by 30-50%, and you can get to use lower flow temperatures once the other radiators get a similar upgrade. Lower flow temperatures means higher efficiency with a condensing boiler so will save you money in the long run (not much, but every penny counts).

The toilet is way too close to the (stud) wall - Great if you fall asleep and use the wall to lean against. Not so good if you move around or are left handed. There is plenty of space to be generous, so don't try to squeeze everything in to the smallest footprint.

I thought the same when couple of bathroom fitters said they can do it all. As I am not in a hurry, I think I can wait and get more quotes from few others.

Currently all the central heating pipes in the ground floor seemed to be under the floor as the pipes are not visible to me .  so I assumed they need to be under the floor straight away.

I didn't understand the comment regarding oversize of the radiators. Do you mean increase the size of the radiators?

Thanks for the advice regarding other items.

Albermarle

I didn't understand the comment regarding oversize of the radiators. Do you mean increase the size of the radiators?

Yes, with larger radiators you can reduce the boiler flow temperature. The radiator will feel less hot but will give out a similar amount of heat as a small radiator with a higher flow temperature.

With a lower boiler flow temperature, a condensing gas boiler will run more efficiently. Also Heat Pumps work with lower flow temperatures, and often larger radiators have to be used with heat pumps to keep the house warm.

gwynlas

You will need building control sign off  as a change of use. Are you just using the remainder of the space to house washing machine? Having an external garage converted into acconmmodation four years ago cost approc £30K all in but that was employing a builder who subcontracted trades and included new frontage.

lokz

gwynlas said:

You will need building control sign off  as a change of use. Are you just using the remainder of the space to house washing machine? Having an external garage converted into acconmmodation four years ago cost approc £30K all in but that was employing a builder who subcontracted trades and included new frontage.

This year i have only planned for the bathroom . I would like to extend the garage to the front as I have a long driveway (depending on the planning application)  and planning to do that part next year (Also the budget constraints) .

TELLIT01

You may have problems getting planning permission for extending the garage forward of the current building, but that's for investigation at a later date.

Yorkie1

TELLIT01 said:

You may have problems getting planning permission for extending the garage forward of the current building, but that's for investigation at a later date.

I was going to mention this - many planning documents don't encourage or allow forward extensions like this. You might want to have a look at extension applications on your local council planning portal, to see what has been applied for and/or granted - adjusted - refused.

lokz

What i found is, this is a project which seems small for many builders. So i am trying to approach bathroom fitters with decent reviews and recommendations for quotes. I have few questions for advice as  below ( as I am a total noob )

1) what would be a ball park figure if i provide , both the doors, shower enclosure unit, WC, vanity unit , tower rail, tiles for wall and floor.

2) Will i be able to get the above items ordered by the fitter ( so that I can save on VAT )

3) How  many days does this kind of project take.

4) Will I be able to request a broken down quote.

5) Is it worth to source multiple tradespeople and manage them  or should i go with some one who can source and manage.  what would be the % increase in cost in the second case? 

6) Will there be guarantee of the work normally provided ?

Thanks .

Any advice on the above questions?

lokz

@Doozergirl  Can you please advise on my original post. I learned a lot from your comments. Thanks

mexican_dave

Answers in no particular order: 2) Can't see how you can save VAT, all costs are passed to the end customer; 5) If you want to manage the project, but have no construction or trade experience, you risk micro-managing the tradesmen and risk them leaving. The extra cost in you managing the project will be measured by the addition costs you might incur from the mistakes made in poor communication and sequencing; 4) Quotes, as you have a plan and clear (albeit modified) ideas of what you want, then for you should provide a schedule/specification of what is being priced (trade by trade if necessary) to price against that (see also item 5); 3) This could be a 2-month project, but it depends on the tradesmen following efficiently one-after-another and setting & drying times; 1) Without knowing the quality of your items (specification) then at a guess it could be of the order of £10k, for the new shower room. 6) I don't think any tradesmen give guarantees, there are good honest tradesmen and there are rogues!
To be clear on "permissions", as this shower room is within the existing building envelope, only Building Regs apply. Once you extend the building then Planning Permission applies. I agree you should try and build a generous space rather than a tight space.