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Garage Conversions to Living Space – Making More Room!

When you need more space and are on a limited budget, you should look at the possibilities garage conversions to living space hold for your purposes. The advantage of using the existing garage is that the basic framing and some of the wiring is already done. Turning it into living space can be done for a much more reasonable cost than if you add a new room to the existing house.

Garage conversions to living space may be done for one of many purposes. You may have a family that’s growing and need another bedroom. Some people turn the garage into a family or hobby room when there’s no general use room in the house. Other possibilities include expanding the kitchen and dining room space or creating a home office. More and more people are working from home and require additional space.

Garage Conversions to Living Space

Since the garage is already framed, it’s fairly easy to convert it to a different use. The garage already has electrical wiring and often it has plumbing too. Frequently the hot water tanks or a sink are in the garage which means it’s plumbed. All garages have a permanent floor which only needs to be covered or raised somehow. The only real major work that is involved is removing the garage door and filling in the wall so that it’s attached almost seamlessly to the rest of the house.

To begin your project, first draw up preliminary plans that show exactly what you plan to do. You will need to get a licensed plumber and electrician to plan the wiring and plumbing so it meets building codes. You will take the remodel plans and any plumbing and electrical plans to the building department and request a permit. If you hire a contractor, he or she will be responsible for obtaining the right permits. Permit rules are different for every county so check with your local agency concerning requirements to obtain a permit.

Once you have the permit, you’re ready to start garage conversions to living space. Of course, the garage door has to be removed and the outside wall finished first. Then you can build up the floor so you aren’t walking on carpet over concrete. If the room is going to be used as a studio or office, you can use tile or indoor/outdoor carpet laid over concrete with the proper adhesive if you wish. The next step is to frame in any walls that are needed such as bathroom walls.

After you decide what to do with the flooring, and walls are framed, you can get the rough plumbing and electrical work completed. This is the plumbing and wiring that leads to the walls. When it’s time to connect bathroom appliances or hang lights it’s called finish plumbing and electrical. After that you can sheetrock, paint, lay the flooring you chose, hook up bathroom appliances and so on. In some jobs, something might have to be done to create a more formal access from the new room to the old house.