Sorry for the late reply. Yeah, i love it. It took some time to get acclimatized. However, i now have a much healthier home life balance.
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Garage Conversion (Office & Utility Room)
- Thread starter kai
- Start date
Sorry for the late reply. Yeah, i love it. It took some time to get acclimatized. However, i now have a much healthier home life balance.
I had a carpenter put it together for me as its custom . The work top is a solid oak kitchen counter from Howdens (£180 each x2)
The garden now has to be finished with new patio slabs and a garden path.
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Looks great! I often toy with converting our attached double garage but don't know exactly what to do with it. I quite like the idea of a self-contained studio that could be used for guests as there is a full bathroom right next door through the door to the main house.
What were the total dimensions of your garage before you started your project Kai? And what size are the spaces you’ve got now?
I really like what you’ve done and am probably going to be doing the same as you’ve done here with our garage, but just want to see what sort of space we’ll possibly end up with first as we’ve got a lot of ‘junk’ in our garage...
although this may be a good reason to take a lot of it to the tip...
I really like what you’ve done and am probably going to be doing the same as you’ve done here with our garage, but just want to see what sort of space we’ll possibly end up with first as we’ve got a lot of ‘junk’ in our garage...
although this may be a good reason to take a lot of it to the tip...
The office itself is just over 8sqm as a room with a double partition wall. A 1200 patio door has then be created for side entrance. The garage element i am not sure of exact size, but its a double length garage. I would say the garage still has 4.5-5m of length and 4. something m wide for storage etc.
If i had one single (typical new build garage), i would have used the entire area. I was fortunate, we had a really large garage and could sacrifice the space. It's also added almost £30K to the value of our home
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The office itself is just over 8sqm as a room with a double partition wall. A 1200 patio door has then be created for side entrance. The garage element i am not sure of exact size, but its a double length garage. I would say the garage still has 4.5-5m of length and 4. something m wide for storage etc.
If i had one single (typical new build garage), i would have used the entire area. I was fortunate, we had a really large garage and could sacrifice the space. It's also added almost £30K to the value of our home
Wow, 30K!!! That’s always a bonus!
Do you know what insulation was used between the studs? And the spacing used? And did you have to do anything with regards to building regs as well?
I think it was 600mm spacing for the stud. I also used Knauf insulation doubled up so 80-100mm. It was a single skin garage. Insulation is excellent with the heated floors, it maintains an average temperature of 18-22 in the winter. As for building regs' i just made sure i received an electrical certificate. I was lucky, while this was being finished i had a building inspector come to the house to sign off our extension. He basically, said it was fine
with some off the record advice what to do.That isn’t touching the external wall though I assume? And with or without a vapour barrier to protect when we get driving rain? I’m in South Wales too and I know one wall particularly on our single skin garage tends to get a soaking when we get storms... Love the wifi controlled underfloor heating idea too! definitely going to be doing that.
what to do?... does that mean what NOT to do more than anything else?.. keeping shhh......He basically, said it was fine
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I know what you mean! I'm 90% done on mine, working out there as I go.
How did you tackle insulating around the door frame? My batten + insulation board + plasterboard is about 90mm all in which would stick out too far into the door way. I'm debating whether to buy some thinner insulated plasterboard and mechanically fix it to the wall around the frame to save on the 25mm from the battens.
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Do mind me asking how much this project cost you? We are considering something similar. Also do you have a door from your house directly into your office room? Or do you need to use the patio door for access?
Costs roughly
£3.5k labour and materials (including doors)
£250.00 Flooring
£200 underfloor heating
£400 alarms & CCTV
£160 blinds
£60 lighting
£300 plasterer
£80 paint
£150 carpenter to move existing desk.
£5,100. Yet to pay the electrician, but i budgeted like £400
Then another £600 i would say for the utility room including worktops, fitting etc.
No idea, i left that to the builder. It has a lintel and that's all i know!
I access the office from my back garden - there is no connection to the house.
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Associate
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Thanks.
Hey @kai how's the office going? Any finished pictures? Would you recommend the under floor heating?
I'm about to start my garage conversion myself. Similar size to yours, I'll have 2.7 X 2.7 (7.29 Sqm). Im worried it will feel too boxy/small... How is yours? Mine will be a door inside of my garage to access the office room. The front of the garage will remain as a workshop/storage. I'll have a window on one of the side walls and may consider a light tunnel/roof velux if light levels are poor.
Interested to hear how you've got on with yours?
I'm currently working in.my garage and it's F-F-F-Freezing!
I'm about to start my garage conversion myself. Similar size to yours, I'll have 2.7 X 2.7 (7.29 Sqm). Im worried it will feel too boxy/small... How is yours? Mine will be a door inside of my garage to access the office room. The front of the garage will remain as a workshop/storage. I'll have a window on one of the side walls and may consider a light tunnel/roof velux if light levels are poor.
Interested to hear how you've got on with yours?
I'm currently working in.my garage and it's F-F-F-Freezing!
Truthfully, i love it. It's the exact same size as my old office inside the house that we have now turned into a walk in dressing room. The main objective was to have a direct distinction from home and work which i feel is very important. Covid to one side, i have worked from home for 4 years now, so for me this routine is fairly normal. However, being detached from the house helps. The fact its added almost £30K to the value of our home, is a bonus.
We also have a utility room the side of the wall, plus room for a car.
I spend a lot of time in my office, as its not uncommon for me to do an average 80 hour week.
The underfloor heating is great, i have it set to come on at 4am every morning until 10 am (during the winter). In the summer, on warm days its boiling. During the winter It holds a steady 18-20 all day. It's WiFi so its hooked into Alexa and set on routines. If its a little cold, i have a floor heater i can turn on for 5 minutes to whack the heat up (i have used it maybe twice on a very cold afternoon if i have opened and closed the door a lot with the dog).
Lighting has been fine, i have a large patio door that streams light in. During the summer the door is open all day, so i am not concerned as i have not really noticed any difference during the dark winter months.
Here are some photos i have taken this morning.
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Truthfully, i love it. It's the exact same size as my old office inside the house that we have now turned into a walk in dressing room. The main objective was to have a direct distinction from home and work which i feel is very important. Covid to one side, i have worked from home for 4 years now, so for me this routine is fairly normal. However, being detached from the house helps. The fact its added almost £30K to the value of our home, is a bonus.
We also have a utility room the side of the wall, plus room for a car.
I spend a lot of time in my office, as its not uncommon for me to do an average 80 hour week.
The underfloor heating is great, i have it set to come on at 4am every morning until 10 am (during the winter). In the summer, on warm days its boiling. During the winter It holds a steady 18-20 all day. It's WiFi so its hooked into Alexa and set on routines. If its a little cold, i have a floor heater i can turn on for 5 minutes to whack the heat up (i have used it maybe twice on a very cold afternoon if i have opened and closed the door a lot with the dog).
Lighting has been fine, i have a large patio door that streams light in. During the summer the door is open all day, so i am not concerned as i have not really noticed any difference during the dark winter months.
Here are some photos i have taken this morning.
Hi @kai - Thanks a lot for replying. As above, im going for the same setup for you by using half of my garage. It's currently freezing, and not the best enviroment to sit in days on end. Like you, I spend a lot of time working and want to improve it.
Here is my current setup:
Your end result is basically what I am aiming for. Clean, simple and fresh (with some warmth). I like how you have added some nice exras like the coving as well. Looks fantastic. Sounds like it will be worth it for me for these reasons and house value added.
Can I ask what your room dimensions are now it's finished? I'll be building mine up to that pillar blocks on the very right of the second picture which is 270cm length x 270cm width.
Can I also ask what you did for the flooring? Was it Damp Proof Membrane > Floating floor (loft boards) > Heating mat > Flooring (is it vinyl?)
Any other insulation, etc detail you can share?
Any tips you would offer of things to do/not do? I'll be doing mine myself with the help of some trade friends.
Sorry for the barrage of questions. I've been mulling this over and doing stuff to make it happen since March! Believe it or not the garage has had a lot of stuff cleared out of it, and more since the photo's. I'm awaiting a shed to move the rest of it out.
Wow that's super. I agree it is so nice to have an outside office for work, even just walking into the garden makes for a nice separation. When I lived at my folks we had a nice office in the back garden but now I live and work from a 1 bedroom flat and it isn't great. Can't wait to buy a house and get some separation between home and work!Truthfully, i love it. It's the exact same size as my old office inside the house that we have now turned into a walk in dressing room. The main objective was to have a direct distinction from home and work which i feel is very important. Covid to one side, i have worked from home for 4 years now, so for me this routine is fairly normal. However, being detached from the house helps. The fact its added almost £30K to the value of our home, is a bonus.
We also have a utility room the side of the wall, plus room for a car.
I spend a lot of time in my office, as its not uncommon for me to do an average 80 hour week.
The underfloor heating is great, i have it set to come on at 4am every morning until 10 am (during the winter). In the summer, on warm days its boiling. During the winter It holds a steady 18-20 all day. It's WiFi so its hooked into Alexa and set on routines. If its a little cold, i have a floor heater i can turn on for 5 minutes to whack the heat up (i have used it maybe twice on a very cold afternoon if i have opened and closed the door a lot with the dog).
Lighting has been fine, i have a large patio door that streams light in. During the summer the door is open all day, so i am not concerned as i have not really noticed any difference during the dark winter months.
Here are some photos i have taken this morning.
I will try my best.
- The internal room measurements changed a little bit as i decided i did not want to eat up to much of my garage. The floor size is now around 8.2 sqm.
- Flooring, it was a floating, as i needed the floor level with the outside garden. There is no drop or step up as you walk in. Its loft boards > Heating mat > insulation > engineered hardwood/LVT
- I left the insulation to the builder. Kingspan was used throughout, and lots of it.
- I set a budget, but i found the finishing touches to actually be expensive. Initially, i had no plans for coving etc, but during the build, i wanted it to be a finished product. For example, Perfect Fit blinds built around the glass only for the patio doors, £160.00 The alarm systems, hue lighting, wifi products quickly added cost albeit not essential.
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Soldato
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Really great job, well done. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm going to start converting my large double garage into 3 spaces - a garage, a family room and a small office similar to yours. I'll certainly be considering underfloor heating now.