Our home is built in to a hill.
At the front there are two floors, garages only the ground floor and above the garages two bedrooms and family bathroom - directly over the garages.
The rest of the house forms a "L" shape on the hill.
Anyway I would like to transform the garages in to a man cave, TV, workbench, office - for working from home, sofa. The size is about 18.5 ft wide and garage 1 is 15 ft deep, garage 2 is 20 ft deep. There are two separate doors but these are effectively one large rooms with a fire board between them.
There are two ageing softwood brown doors with small ineffective windows.
One other concern is the house is split level so the garages would add another floor - 2.5 floors in total so 3 from a building regs point of view.
Has anyone converted integral garages before - what building regs are required etc?
Thanks, Z
|
Son converted garage into a playroom for the kids.
Planning permission was required as it faced the street - straight through no issues.
Windows, insulation, fire regs etc were considerations.
He kept 1 garage as storage.
Building difficulties next to nil, other than trying to match the rest of the house bricks. 10 years ago & the builder was 4 weeks (1 man & son + others he brought in for electrics, heating etc)
Warmest room in the house.
|
Only two initial questions need to be answered at the outset.
1 are you going to do it DiY?
2 is a builder going to do it.
if 2, the builder will sort out plans, you present them to council to see if planning approval required, builder will build to regs, and get them checked by inspector, you move iin.
if 1, you need to start persusing the building regs now.
If it were me, I'd go 1, but then I am quite handy diy wise, a good planner, a good pm able to employ and manage the few trades i'd need, and being retired I have loads of time and the interest to do it.
|
Thanks.
It does technically face the road but there is almost 100 ft of private woods between the actual road and the front of the house and its 20/30 ft higher than the road. I was hoping to avoid the expense time-wise, of planning permissions.
I work full time and whilst I can do DIY, I don't enjoy it or get easily distracted so will employ a builder.
There are fire-doors between the garages and the house, that lead to a small hall and stairs. Will another fire door be required in the hall - making a safe space between 2 fire doors?
|
>> Thanks.
>>
>> It does technically face the road but there is almost 100 ft of private woods
>> between the actual road and the front of the house and its 20/30 ft higher
>> than the road. I was hoping to avoid the expense time-wise, of planning permissions.
As a general principal* if there is no movement of the front elevation of the dwelling, out further, or up higher than the general profile, then planning permission is not usually required under permitted rights.
Building regulations however, are very much in force here, and will need to be checked by your LA, who may also wish to change the rateable band of your house - upwards.
And, if you later wish to sell, you will need to prove that building regs approval was signed off.
The builder should take care of all that, make it part of his scope and approval part of a staged payment.
*in designated areas, that changes. You sound like that does not apply.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 4 Jun 20 at 10:16
|
|
Oh and its just not fire doors. No doubt you will be providing much more power and lighting. This will need to be done to regs, and the whole system (including the rest of the house) signed off by the sparks with a certificate.
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 4 Jun 20 at 10:18
|
|
Oh and here's a design tip. Someone I know converted a double garage into living space, but at the front left one of the up and over garage doors, behind wish was a 6 foot deep "service area" for bins, bikes, - stuff like that.
|
For this house for the last 33 years I have only ever used builders that are personal friends - working on a time and materials basis, after they have given me a ball park price for the job. On a fixed price deal if the builder encounters problems ( of their own making or there is no opportunity to recover additional costs from you, they will likely as not cut corners). Selecting a builder on a lowest quote basis may not always be the cheapest option.
I have always done the Planning / Building regs/structural calcs separately so you have control.
It all depend on how much oversight and project management time you intend to put in. If you are working from home it will be an ideal opportunity to upset the builders from constant supervision:)
Last edited by: sherlock47 on Thu 4 Jun 20 at 12:16
|
>>Selecting a builder on a lowest quote basis may not always be the cheapest option
Agree with that. It's my home. I want it done properly with the consideration that it will be an area that will be used day to day as an office / den. A quality though not a luxury (frightened to have a cup of tea / beer in case it spills) area.
It also needs to be light - so I am looking at replacing the tatty softwood garage doors with hardwood and lots of c12 inch glass cut outs.
|
>>Building regulations however, are very much in force here, and will need to be checked by your
>>LA, who may also wish to change the rateable band of your house - upwards.
As I understand it, the council will place a marker on the property details and changes in council tax bands will apply from the next time the property is sold - unless that has changed?
|
>> As I understand it, the council will place a marker on the property details and
>> changes in council tax bands will apply from the next time the property is sold
>> - unless that has changed?
That's still the case, some places have an 'improvement marker' against their entry in the Valuation List. The footnotes say this shows that improvements have been made to the property that might result in the Council Tax band changing if a relevant transaction takes place, for example, if the property is sold.
And strictly speaking it's the Valuation Office Agency (part of HMRC) that does the valuation and not the council.
|
>> As I understand it, the council will place a marker on the property details and changes in council tax bands will apply from the next time the property is sold - unless that has changed?
We moved house recently, but as far as I can remember that's what happened in the 90s when we bought our previous property. It was upped from band E to band F.
No idea whether the system has changed since, though.
|
Two near neighbours have converted garages (one integral, one attached) to living space removing the up/over door and replacing with normal domestic windows to match rest of house. One uses it as a through kitchen/diner/sitter the other as an office.
If either required PP we were not informed it was sought. Both done by same builder, first is a professional in that field and was engaged by second to do his for him.
Another has done what's mentioned above; put up a studded wall/plasterboard/skim but leaving a few feet at front as 'shed' for bikes etc.
|
Thanks for the tips re the storage area. Will certainly consider it, though will have to weigh it up against space / light requirements and a huge shed or two at the side of the house.
Would like to keep the garage door look (a bit like a mews) - There are two separate doors with a thick pillar between them. (4 opening "leaves" IYSWIM), so there would need to be a lot of cut outs in them for glazing.
There should also be at least one entrance from the outside for OAP parents and inlaws to access the house without having to climb a steep circular path.
|
Miss Z said she's moving back!
Carp! ;-)
She's just had her new Core Trainee job confirmed in surgery at our local hospital and has announced that she expects to move back home rather than renting (she said she was going to rent). It was put on hold subject to CV19.
She's not having my new den!
|
|
Turn it into a self contained studio apartment and charge her rent
|
>> Turn it into a self contained studio apartment and charge her rent
>>
Sod that, with Mrs Z, Master Z and Miss Z at home, I think I will move in to any studio apartment!
Last edited by: zippy on Thu 4 Jun 20 at 17:12
|
A few years ago I converted a covered porch into a room by building a low wall, installing UPVC windows and a door.
At the same time I filled in the entrance of one side of a double garage - a one metre high wall and UPVC window above to create a workshop with an internal wall separating it from the other garage.
I did some research at the time and concluded thhat I needed neither planning permisionn or building regs approval:
- no change to position/footprint of house
- not in a conservation area
- garage already had power and light, porch already had lighting
- not listed building
There are a number of permitted rights that you need to look at. In particular I found that there is a distinction between a habitable room which has to be compliant with building regs etc (normally) - insulation, lighting, plumbing etc and (say) a garage. I also retained the original front door so that the "porch" remains an enclosed porch, not part of the main house.
If I later wanted to convert these rooms to "habitable" I would probably need to do some further work. It will also require careful description when/if I ever sell the house.
|
Converting Garages to Man Cave - Falkirk Bairn
