In these times of endless escalating home costs and inflation, converting your garage is a fabulous, very affordable way to improve the habitable area in your house.
In this passage we shall be analysing how you can go about this yourself and assembling together some helpful wisdom, tips and recommendations.
Transforming a garage can be a scary and puzzling exercise but with hope, this article will map out some much needed assistance and ensure the progress is much simpler.
Why adapt your garage? I am guessing from the matter that you are reading this article that you do not have great requirement for you garage in its current state.
Vehicles are getting bigger and houses are getting more costly so having an unused garage can be a wasted area in your property.
If you are anything like the author here, your garage is more of a dumping area for garden tools and goods and various unwanted items placed in storage.
If you have a nice driveway, have off street parking or car park in your street then you have a considerable chance to recover this vacant space that can add to the value of your house.
Concepts for your garage conversion Some of the most popular ideas for a garage conversion are:

• Home office - could be a business cost saving
• Home cinema - maximise you new 60 inch tv and home entertainment system
• Home gym - save on pricey gym fees, no travelling
• Extended kitchen - add a lovely family and fun kitchen space
• Playroom - no need for always cleaning away those toys
• Bedroom - a beautiful new guestroom
• Bathroom - reduced waiting with a spare bathroom!
• Living Room - one for yourself and another for the children!

Filling in the garage door Its an eventuality that you won't be needing that aged drafty garage door so you will be required to throw out this and succeed it with a new wall.
When doing so, it is generally crucial to pay consideration to the foundations as these will more than likely not be deep enough for supporting the weight of this additional wall; deeper ones will need digging.
You will also need to think about the points listed when doing this:

• Types of soil - can it support the weight
• Adjacent buildings and structures - best not to impact adjacent structures
• Construction and size - foundation width is ruled by wall thickness this can change if supporting two storey buildings
• Ground condition - undisturbed ground must be reached for the foundations
• Landfill plots - undisturbed ground may be metres deep and, advice from structural engineers might be needed
• Trees - drawing moisture from the ground can cause the ground to shrink
• Drains and sewers - typically, load is spread at an angle of 45 degrees and this can crack and damage nearby drains and sewers

Flooring Often, current floors are enduring enough for home use, but you may want to upgrade damp-proofing and thermal insulation.
Perhaps you may desire to match the floor level with the existing level of your home.
You could wish to debate:

• solid floor - the remaining floor might be used as the base but you will want to damp proof
• contaminated ground - gases can generate in the ground and these should be ventilated and prevented from entering the conversion
• suspended timber - if raising the level analyse using timber joists

Ventilation For general health and safety, you will want and need good ventilation.
Usually via:

• Purge - opening window(s)
• Extractor fan - if no opening windows then think about an extractor fan to prevent condensation and unwanted odours
• Entire building - trickle ventilation through vents at head of window(s)

Walls below ground level The foremost task here is that you establish adequate support to the above ground walls from the walls below ground level.
External Walls If you need to fill in your garage door then you are inclined to need a new external wall and generally comes in two forms:

• Cavity wall - two walls generally divided by thermal insulation
• Single wall - improbable that this will give you the sufficient thermal insulation

Existing Garage Walls It is common that these will be single walls and as a result will not adhere to the minimum levels set for Building Regulation in the areas of:

• Insulation
• Fire resistance
• Weather resistance
• Damp proof

Disclaimer This article is solely for the purposes of advice, tips and linking to other resources.
It should never be considered as a definitive source of legal information.
If you have any queries contact your local authority.