Half garage conversion

[Craig24]

Hi,

I’ve recently moved into a new house, it’s a typical 1930s semi with attached garage. It currently has a door into the garage with a simple sliding wooden door.

I want to convert half the garage into a utility room, it would be about 2.8m x 2.8m.

I understand this would need to go through building control. I just want to understand if they would insist on insulating the floor, as the floor height is already the same height as the house and digging it all out for a tiny utility room might not be worth while cost wise.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

 

[stevie888]

The regs do recognise that some upgrades woud not be cost effective and don't therefore insist.

IIRC they lay down a 7 year payback on the possible savings vs cost but I have never had an issue in 20+ years of designing. You can always stick a bit of extra insulation in walls or ceiling if necessary, but often the window is smaller than the normal max size so heat loss is saved there.

You may well be required to fit a proper fire door if you go through BC. TBH many wouldn't bother with regs for this kind of job.

 

[Craig24]

I was thinking of just doing it, but wasn’t sure if it would affect the sale or insurance one day, we hope to live here atleast 10 years though, probably longer

 

[noseall]

Hi,

I’ve recently moved into a new house, it’s a typical 1930s semi with attached garage. It currently has a door into the garage with a simple sliding wooden door.

I want to convert half the garage into a utility room, it would be about 2.8m x 2.8m.

I understand this would need to go through building control. I just want to understand if they would insist on insulating the floor, as the floor height is already the same height as the house and digging it all out for a tiny utility room might not be worth while cost wise.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Floor (thermal) - no. But they may insist it meets moisture resistance one way or another. Walls - definitely. The door into the utility can be a regular door. Any door into the remainder of the garage will need to meet Part B. It will need extraction.

Most people would go through reg's on this.

 

[robinbanks]

I wouldn’t bother with regs, I’d just put up a stud wall in the garage. I don’t see any reason why you’d need to make any changes at all to the insulation or moisture barrier int, your tumble drier/fridge-freezer/washer may already be in the garage and they certainly won’t complain if you don’t insulate the floor they already sit on; keep a sense of perspective - you’re building a utility room, a smaller version of a garage, inside a garage. This isn’t a snug to hide from the kids, with a home cinema setup and a trove of rare books, log burner and a rack for temperature sensitive wines

If you’re bothered about selling in future it’ll take about 30 minutes and a sledge hammer to remove the stud wall again if the buyer is kicking off about it

 

[mrrusty]

I understand this would need to go through building control

Would it? It's a garage where people store and do all sorts of things. If you divided off the back and put a workbench in and a couple of woodwork tools would you need building control? Or perhaps you want a little art space for pottery or sculpturing, or perhaps you are a photographer and want a little darkroom space, or want to install some kit to help you fix and restore motorbikes?

As long as it isn't a habitable room with heating connected to the house, you're not going to sleep in it or do any "living", then IMHO it's just a garage being used for one of the umpteen uses that people use garage space for, especially if the stud wall can be easily taken down and the garage put back to its garage use very easily.

As its an attached garage, it should already meet all the fire regs for an attached garage. I'd just do it.

 

[Craig24]

Thanks all, it already has the boiler so I was going to add a radiator for clothes drying. I’ll just crack on

 

[mrrusty]

so I was going to add a radiator for clothes drying

That really is not a good idea. If your damp clothes have 0.5 litres of water in them, where do you think that water goes to once the clothes are dry? - the only place it can go is in to the fabric of your house, or conceivably out the window, if there's a good draft, but that isn't very efficient. I think a vented tumble drier would be more efficient!

Also, causing an increase in water vapour in an otherwise cold garage is a sure means of creating condensation that will rust anything else stored in the garage!