Are you tired of your garage being a cluttered mess? Do you wish to use it for more than just parking your car? If so, read on for tips on how to make your garage more livable. If you’re looking for things to outfit your entire garage, GarageSmart® got you covered.
By following these tips, you’ll be able to turn your garage into a functional space you can enjoy using.
Practical Advice for Transforming Your Garage Into a Comfortable Living Area
The potential uses for renovating a garage into a living space are endless. It’s versatile enough to serve as a teen hangout, a guest suite, or a private office. Converting your garage will not only give you and your family extra living space but will also increase the value of your home.
One study found that converting a garage yielded an ROI of 80%. Therefore, that is the best option for most homeowners. However, before diving in and learning to convert a garage into a room, remember a few essential points.
Consider cleaning, utilities, and making the garage feel like a home as you plan your garage conversion.
Prioritise Zoning Research
The legalities of transforming a garage into a habitable space are crucial. Unfortunately, due to the increase in home sharing, several municipalities have made it harder to obtain licences to convert garages into living spaces.
Research the local ordinances concerning the conversion of garages into living quarters, even if you have no intention of sharing and renting out the converted area. Providing sufficient off-street parking to make up for the loss of garage parking spaces is sometimes necessary.
Think About the Layout
Whether you’re looking to expand your family’s living quarters, create a relaxing guest retreat, or add a straightforward utility room, you’ll need to carefully consider the new room’s layout. Although you may be constrained in altering the interior’s layout due to preexisting plumbing or electrical installations, you have complete control over the room’s visual presentation.
If you want to make the most of your garage conversion, consider hiring a local interior designer. But if it isn’t possible due to financial constraints, don’t fret. The room will look completely different after a fresh coat of paint and some creative (and cheap!) home embellishments.
Put up Some Insulation
Install insulation if you plan to turn your garage into a habitable space. Unfortunately, insulation is not typically present in garage walls or ceilings. Walls and ceilings must be insulated with fibreglass batting, polyurethane sprayed foam, or cellulose, which requires the removal of any existing drywall.
Apply drywall over the insulated surface. It is possible, but not trivial, to instal drywall on your own. However, find a professional to do the work for you so that it can be done efficiently and with few obvious blunders.
Lessen Your Expenses Expectations
Converting a garage into a legal living room will be a costly undertaking. Consider it an alternative, more cost-effective approach to constructing an expansion. A professionally constructed garage conversion might cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000.
Hoist the Garage Floor
It is common for garage floors to be sunk as far as inches below the main floor of the house. Raising the garage floor using an elevated or sleepers system will make the space safer and help it blend in with the rest of the house.
Disguise the Useful Parts
The garage serves as the nerve centre of your home, housing the water heater, furnace, and laundry machine. Conceal them in closets and interior walls to avoid the hassle and expense of relocating them.
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Expand the Opening
After the conversion, a door between the home and the garage should be made wider to facilitate traffic flow. If the house’s footprint permits, you can create the impression of a larger space by installing a stronger beam over the door’s header and expanding its width by half.
Cover Existing Parking Lots
Do you adore your car? Then you’ll feel sick to your stomach every time you pass this in the open driveway, soaking in the snow, rain, sun, and pine sap. Establish a carport to shield your automobiles from the elements. Make sure there is a charging station for EVs in the parking lot.
Revamp the Appearance of the Outside
It’s easy to lose sight of the garage’s outside when you’re preoccupied with the space’s newfound functionality. Dealing with an architect can ensure that the garage conversion is visually integrated with the rest of the house. This may necessitate major adjustments to the house’s fascia so it is uniform with the wall over the garage door.
Prepare Garage Door Insulation
The garage conversion can be disguised in another way by doing the reverse, for example, by keeping the door open. One perk is occasionally letting fresh air in by raising the garage door. If you decide to go this way, you need to get an insulated garage door to replace the old one.
Make a Break in the Driveway
A driveway that ends in a blank wall is a sure sign that the space was formerly a garage. Modify the driveway so it ends just before the garage if you remove the garage door. The growing bed of shrubs and plants can be created by breaking up the last few feet of concrete or removing masonry. Both driveways, as well as the garage, are visually separated by this thin wall.
Make Room for Extra Stuff
If you’ve ever watched folks move into the garage, they inevitably bring many of their belongings. Unfortunately, the garage will provide less storage space than before. A concrete slab and a watertight shed can be suitable solutions for this type of unsafe storage. Alternatively, you may rent a storage unit and move your bulky stuff there.
Flooring
It may be sufficient to merely paint your garage floor if its current condition is adequate. Power-wash it first, and then use a mortar repair compound to patch any fractures you see. Rubber gym floor tiles are an option if the floor can’t be repaired. They’re easy to clean up after spills (alcohol or motor oil) and disguise a multitude of sins.
Put It to Good Use
If you plan on turning your garage into a workshop, invest in a sturdy workbench that can accommodate your initiatives. But if you want to use it for lounging, you should also furnish it with chairs, a side table, and a television.
Need storage solutions for sprucing up that blank wall in your garage? Adding a GarageSmart® SmartWall is a quick and easy method to upgrade your garage’s storage capabilities.
Conclusion
The arrangement of a new room is crucial whether you want to increase your living space, make a quiet nook for visitors, or build a plain utility room. A return on investment of 80% was achieved in one research after converting a garage. So, before you dive in and figure out how to turn a garage into a room, it’s important to keep a few things in mind. First, you should hire an expert to make your garage habitable. It’s possible to spend $20,000-$50,000 on a garage conversion done by the pros.
Drywall installation is doable but not easy.
Elevating the garage floor with a raised or sleepers system will make it look more uniform with the rest of the house. Make sure the door from the house to the garage is widened for easier access. By working with an architect, you can ensure the new space blends in with the rest of the house’s design. Finally, invest in a strong workstation that can fit your projects if you convert your garage into a workshop.
Lounge in comfort with chairs, a table, and a TV. One alternative is to place the items on a concrete slab and enclose them in a watertight shed. Tools and equipment that are only used in the yard should be stored in the garage. Carbon monoxide has a half-life of several hours, meaning its effects can go undetected for quite some time. A converted garage is considered a legal dwelling unit in most jurisdictions, serving as either an additional room in the main house or as a separate dwelling.
Content Summary
- Converting a garage into a habitable space can serve various purposes.
- Adding living space by transforming your garage is a great way to raise the value of your house and provide more convenience for your family.
- However, you should know a few things before plunging in and learning how to turn a garage into a room.
- As you plan your garage conversion, consider cleaning, utilities, and making the space seem more like home.
- Recognising and adhering to all applicable building codes is essential when converting a garage into a living space.
- Unfortunately, as the number of people renting out their homes has increased, many local governments have made it more difficult to secure permits to turn garages into habitable spaces.
- Even if you have no plans to rent out or share the converted garage space, it is still important to check local regulations before beginning the conversion process.
- The arrangement of a new room is crucial whether you want to increase your living space, make a quiet nook for visitors, or build a plain utility room.
- Hiring a professional interior designer can help you make the most of your garage conversion.
- Putting in insulation is a must if you want to convert your garage into a living space.
- Garages rarely have insulation in the walls or ceilings.
- Plasterboard needs to be installed over the insulated area.
- Drywall installation is doable but not easy.
- Find a professional to conduct the job for you, though; it will be done quickly and with few mistakes.
- It will be expensive to transform a garage into a habitable space.
- Think of it as a different, cheaper way to build an addition.
- A garage makeover by professionals might cost as much as $50,000.
- Garage floors are often lowered to an even lower level than the rest of the house.
- A garage floor elevated on sleepers or other raised support systems will make the area safer and more in keeping with the rest of the house’s design.
- Water heater, furnace, and washing machine are all in the garage, making it the home’s nerve centre.
- Hide them behind closed doors or inside solid walls so you won’t have to spend time and money moving them.
- To improve traffic flow after the renovation, a door between the house and the garage needs to be widened.
- Adding a stronger beam over the door’s header and increasing its width by half can give the impression of a much larger room if the house’s footprint allows it.
- Construct a carport to keep your vehicles dry and safe from the elements.
- The parking lot should be equipped with an electric vehicle charging station.
- If you work with an architect, the garage will blend in with the rest of the house’s design.
- Extensive alterations may be required to make the house’s fascia consistent with the wall above the garage door.
- Keeping the garage door opener is one approach to conceal the conversion from the outside.
- One benefit is letting in the air by raising the garage door.
- When a driveway dead-ends into an empty wall, you know it was once a garage.
- If you plan to get rid of your garage door, you’ll need to adjust the driveway, so it terminates before the garage.
- The final few feet of concrete or masonry can be broken up or removed to make room for the developing bed of shrubs and plants.
- This modest wall is a visual barrier between the two driveways and the garage.
- Free up some storage space. If you’ve ever seen a family relocating to a garage, you know they take a lot of stuff with them.
- The garage is smaller than it used to be, so there will be less room for everything.
- One alternative is to place the items on a concrete slab and enclose them in a watertight shed.
- Alternatively, you might get a storage unit and put all your large items in there.
- Flooring If your garage floor is in good enough shape already, you might get away with just painting it.
- If the gym floor can’t be fixed, rubber gym floor tiles are one possibility.
- Invest in a strong workstation that can fit your projects if you intend to convert your garage into a workshop.
- Chairs, a side table, and a television are necessary if the room serves as a lounge area.
- Garages can get deadly stuffy due to a lack of ventilation.
- Carbon monoxide has a half-life of several hours, so its effects might be subtle enough that you might not realise you’re in danger until it’s too late.
- Tools and equipment that are only used in the yard should be stored in the garage.
- Similarly, outdoor goods that come in large containers, such as potting soil bags or ice melt buckets, can be safely stashed in a garage.
- Garages that have been converted into guest houses or other supplementary dwelling units are considered legal places to live.
- However, the law treats the average garage as an unfinished outbuilding.
- If you take precautions, sleeping in a garage is quite peaceful.
- An option for this is to instal soundproofing material on the walls.
- Converting a garage into a separate living space, such as an apartment or a guesthouse, is a perfectly legal option.
FAQs About Garage
Is It Healthy To Live In A Garage?
Without proper ventilation, carbon monoxide gathers quickly in garages. Inside the human body, this gas acts as a cumulative poison. Due to the fact that it takes hours for carbon monoxide to pass through the system, you can gradually become more and more ill without realising that you’re in danger.
What Is Safe To Store In the Garage?
The garage is the ideal home for tools and appliances you only use outdoors. Think of shovels, hoses, outdoor extension cords, lawnmowers, gardening tools, flower pots, and more. Bags of potting soil, buckets of ice melt, and other outdoor supplies that come in bulky packaging are also good candidates for garage storage.
Is It Possible To Live In A Garage?
If a garage has been renovated to become an extra room in a house or a secondary dwelling unit similar to a guest house, it is a legal living unit. However, your typical garage is just legally seen as an unfinished space similar to a shed.
Can People Sleep In Garage?
Sleeping in a garage can be quite comfortable if you take measures to reduce the noise. One way to do this is to soundproof the walls. You can purchase special soundproofing panels or sheets that can be affixed to the garage walls. Another option is to hang heavy curtains over the windows and doorways.
Can You Convert A Garage Into A House?
Yes, your garage conversion can most definitely become a living space! To legally do this, you must convert a garage by turning it into either a guest quarter or an accessory dwelling unit. A guest quarter is a living space that has a bathroom and a wet bar but no kitchen.