I've got a garage that is 21x22 and my wife and I are considering converting it to a master suite with a laundry room. Is this possible? We've briefly discussed this with a contractor and the one message he gave us was to make sure it looks like it was never a garage. The wall with the garage doors will become a full wall with a large closet/storage on the opposite side so that will cover the issue of the garage door openings.

Assuming we can convert it in a way that looks good, can you fit a nice bathroom, two closets, a small laundry room and a master bedroom in that space? I have done some work on excel and it seems to work, but this is not my area of expertise and I'm sure there is a lot I'm missing. For instance, I usually end up with two much "hall" from the main house to the bedroom in the garage space which seems wasted.

We currently have a modest master bedroom so we don't need a large space for that part of the suite. But we don't want to be touching a wall the moment we get out of bed either.

How does the garage tie into the house already? Is this a detached garage, L shaped garage attachment?, etc.

The contractor gave good advice. One of the biggest dead giveaways that a garage was renovated is where the leftover driveway points to. So that creates a lot of other questions like, where do you plan to put your cars and your storage stuff? Do you plan to ever sell this house and will removing this garage hurt that capability? What are you going to do about the driveway?

If you can answer all of those questions and you're really just wanting to know the logistics of turning that area into a master suite area. Then your answer is yes it is possible, but your garage was never intended to be used as a master suite so you're going to have some issues. Mainly attaching sewer waste water, adding insulation, and adding more water and power. So basically everything.

Your 20ish by 20ish total square footage could be a massive size, or a completely cramped based upon what you want and what your neighborhood normally has. The cheaper the house overall, the better those square footage numbers sound like because most homes in that area won't have ultra large, luxurious master retreats. I would recommend getting on a new home builders website and seeing the square footage sizes for their home builds. New homes have huge open common areas, giant master suites, and small rooms for the children.

Compare the cost of renovating a garage, tearing up a driveway, tying it into your house structure (in such a way that doesn't look obvious or severely unbalance the look of your house) to renovating your current master suite and adding some square footage.

I'd start watching some this old house, HGTV, and subscribe to reddit.com/r/homeimprovement in the meantime.

Good luck.

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Assuming we can convert it in a way that looks good, can you fit a nice bathroom, two closets, a small laundry room and a master bedroom in that space?

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no

20x20? Nope, unless some or all of those things are going to be really small.

Too small. I am in the middle of converting a 30x22 and it is tight for the bedroom, bath and laundry.

You can always use something like Floor Planner and see if you can get a design if you want to try.

Great questions and thanks for the thoughts.

The entry to our garage is in the back and you drive around the house to get there. The current backyard driveway would become covered parking with enclosed spaces for storage (1 for yard stuff and 1 for general storage). As for the electrical, plumbing, insulation and hvac, that would all have to be included. The garage is attached and you walk through a small laundry room to an open area between the den and kitchen. The logistics of the new flow could make sense and create a separate suite. It would also involve the creation of a new back entryway and mud room. This setup is common in our neighborhood so the lack of a garage is an issue but it wouldn't be replaced with covered parking behind a gate. It's not the same, obviously, but close.

Right not I can squeeze a 12/13 x 13 bedroom, two 6x8 closets, a medium sized bathroom (shower, toilet closet and dual vanities) and a small laundry room (enough for W/D and some shelving). It looks like it might be tight, but we aren't so worried about needing a 15x20 master. The tightness is in the bath and just whether it all appears to cramped overall.

Really appreciate the comments. I've been messing around on excel but that's probably not fully accounting for wall depths, etc.

The floorplanner.com site is free and easy to use and manages wall widths for you.

Do you have the option of bumping out an exterior wall on the garage to get extra space?

Yeah, wall depths can really come back to bite you when you're dealing with smaller spaces. I'll second the use of a planner.

We had a two car garage converted to a bedroom in college and I can't imagine putting a bathroom, closet, and w/d in there. Not sure on the dimensions of the garage though.

Bumping out may not be an option as that's the proposed new parking (which goes to the rear setback). But it may just be a case of needing to meet with some architect/planners to find an alternative option.

Really appreciate the insight.

Another issue, depending on where the house is located, but garage floors aren't at the same elevation as the first used floor of the house. So if you are prone to flooding, the garage may have more liability.

As other said, you'd need to cut and remove driveway to give the illusion it wasn't a conversion.

Also, you need to know which way your waste water exits the house so you can tie into it.

Not having a garage really hurts resell.

Our house is pier and beam and the garage is a slab. We would have to build some piers to make the reno level with the house. We wouldn't have to worry about tearing out concrete as the current entrance would become part of a new storage area that then leads to the parking area.

Hate to go engineer on you but foundation foundation foundation ....
may I assume this was a spec. house sans foundation engineer and only city inspections?
If so they must compete with competition in the area and foundation savings is the first touchdown of that game to preserve profits.

Thus we may be talking foundation eggshell ... or windshield. Once a crack is made, potential for a running cracks that spells slab failure over time is possible in Brazos County volatile soils.

Washer floor drain could be done on a raise platform if front end loaders ... that leak.
Shower tub must also be elevated to avoid punching holes & undermining foundation support with pipes. Toilets can be had that expel through exterior wall for a price.


Next would be ceiling height assumed to be 8', some 2x12's could present a pop-up ceiling.

The rest are only details and even the design could be worked out. See if Abbate Construction has time for you and if he needs design help, he'll call me or another. Then you can get some prices and grease these project wheels before the bad weather sets in.

I may have worded that incorrectly. The new floor for the master in the garage would be built on a new set of piers and support placed on and in the slab. The pier and beam structure of the main house is up about 18 inches.

However, all of this is probably moot at this point. After pursuing the issue of fitting the items in the small space, and incorporating the initial cost projections (which includes much more than just this but all necessary to make this project really work), it wont make sense. So we are moving off of this idea.

one MEEN Ag said:

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Compare the cost of renovating a garage, tearing up a driveway, tying it into your house structure (in such a way that doesn't look obvious or severely unbalance the look of your house) to renovating your current master suite and adding some square footage.

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Compare it to moving too.