Anyone know who can help us convert our garage into a living space? We will eventually want to use it as a garage again.

Thanks!

FWIW, the national association or home builders and realtors both rank that conversion as the biggest waste of money in regards to a return on investment. They even said it can reduce the value of the home because of the garage smell that never leaves the living space (since it is a garage) and the interior alterations that must be put in place even if it will be removed on a later date. Ill have to find the specific stats, but it was somewhere in the realm of 75% of homebuyers will not tour a house with a converted garage. IMO, that's a lot of lost foot traffic for a single "renovation".

Thanks for the info, Zone. I am aware of the implications of permanently losing a garage relative to the home's resale value -- hence the stated desire to convert it back in a year or two.

However we will not be selling anytime this decade, and we need the additional space now.

Any remodeling contractor should be able to do it. You may want to look at changing to an insulated garage door and adding a through the wall a/c unit. Then, it's essentially an a/c'd garage. If its not already sheet rocked I'd do that too. You could stain/paint the concrete floor and add an area rug. Then maybe add a light fixture and you're done.

That way you still have a working garage door, yet you can use the room however you wish.

We converted our garage into a gym by spraying insulation into the walls, getting insulating panels for the garage door, and air conditioning it. Got a tv and all our workout equipment out there. Remove the one a/c duct and it can still be easily used as a garage when we decide to move.

The people that owned Our house before us turned the garage into a living area and it's great! No bad smell, fully functional bathroom, kitchen, and more. We rent it out for $750 bucks a month to college kids up here.

Just make sure it is not in violation of any deed restrictions.

Garage conversions are always problematic.

You are juggling great immediate need, versus use of the house, Code compliance, HOA compliance, then the like.

Then, there is "fit." A two-car garage is too big for a single bedroom, and lop-sided after adding a full bathroom. Single-car garage is too small, even after adding a closet.

Cities tend to be tough on these, as the sequence of 'extra room" to "mother-in-law apartment" to for-profit rent space is too easy to make--especially at the time scale municipal planning and development rules need to work within.

The fact that you need electrical, mechanical, and plumbing changes--and permits for all that--further complicates the issue.

Toss in the access/egress needs for a bedroom space(s), and it gets even dicier.

Which is where spaces like home-theater or home gym, are better conversions. That is, after one copes with the way garages are often very low-ceilinged for their widths & lengths.

For a temporary solution, I'd probably be inclined to build a floor up on sleepers, and to stand separate interior walls to the dimensions needed of the spaces required. treat them all like a "temporary" building with in the garage space. This could allow retaining the existing external features of the garage. And would make the "de-conversion" a simple one of demolition of partitions.

my house had the garage enclosed when i bought it. the p/o put up a wall leaving 3 ft of garage space and retained the door with opener by doing a drop ceiling. he plumbed a duct for hvac, along with a window unit exhausting into the "garage". the garage door has four soffit vents for ventilation. he added a light fixture to the original garage light. there was astroturf glued to the floor. not a bad job at all. it all went away so i have room for my motorcycles.

The desire to return this to a garage will significantly impact this project. You will have at least a couple of unique issues.

• Air conditioning - A typical garage represents about a ton of air conditioning capacity. Most often this demand is best addressed within the context of a whole house system. Because you want to return this to a garage, that probably will not be the case.
  
  
• floor - most garage floors are sloped. A decent remodeler will float that floor to be level and usually at the same elevation as the rest of the house.

Of course every remodeling project is as unique as the family it is being done for. Let us know if we can help.


Hugh Stearns
President
Stearns Design Build
StearnsDesignBuild.com

The Tool Guys did a conversion at the white house on the corner of Glade and Laura. This is one of the best I have seen. I am not related to either guy and they have never uworked for me.

Mr Sterns brings up good points (as always; he is a professional).

The a/c could be handled using a "split" unit.

I'm still thinking that the best answer might be to find the right size for the needed space (not just use the entire garage), and build the space as "inside out" shed fashion. Electrical and other utilities could run on the exposed studs. Using deep sleepers would handle flooring irregularities (and some plumbing--not a lot).
Design so that any needed closets would tuck under the garage door, and that could work.

But, that is all predicated on "uses steps" accessibility. Which is also probably the only way to get such a scheme past P&D, by reinforcing that it is entirely temporary.

Start adding a leveled floor and that temporary will scan as near-nigh permanent to a Muni.

It remains an intriguing idea, similar to one I was posed in grad school on how to design temporary shelter in hangers or similar "high cube" spaces.