Turning a garage into two bedrooms

Discussion in 'Renovation & Home Improvement' started by spludgey, 29th Mar, 2016.

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  1. spludgey

    spludgey Well-Known Member

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    I’ve got a big double garage and we’re thinking of getting rid of my car as ride to work every day (even though I had a flat today and pushed 75% of the way, grr).

    So with less garage space needed and my wife’s family planning being in full swing, the logical decision was to convert 60% of the garage into two bedrooms. The total area is between 30m2 and 35m2, so it should be big enough for the two bedrooms plus a small hallway (which is unfortunately required due to the awkward entry point in the corner of the garage).


    I think that the slab is water proofed (see the pictures below, with the first one being the inside of the garage and the second the outside), but I’ll have to build a raised floor anyway as the garage is 300mm to 400mm lower than the house.

    The ceiling height won’t be an issue as the roof is the same height for the whole house and currently we have a ceiling height of nearly 3m in the garage.


    So what I wanted to know is what I will have to do in order to get it approved and how much will it cost (only the approval, I’ll do the work myself)? Also, how long is it likely to take and can I start work prior to getting approval?

    I’m in the Hills area in Sydney, if that makes a difference.
     

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  2. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    I did a carport similar to your situation. You'll have issues with council getting minimum clearance under the joists. I can't recall the minimum height required but you need ti meet the code unless you can come up with another plan @Scott No Mates is it Min 250mm??

    You need to be able to inspect for termites. As mine was open I got an engineer to design joists only and clearance under was 200ish from memory (not to code) but as you could inspect from each side (under the existing house and then from the outside) for termites looking through the joists I eventually got it through.
    I'll find the engineering company I went through, they had dealt with this issue at a couple of councils Penrith and blacktown etc

    Going through council will be the head ache!
     
  3. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    So just don't go through council is the moral of the story :)
     
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  4. Scott No Mates

    Scott No Mates Well-Known Member

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    • Ceiling height doesn't appear to be an issue - minimum of 2.4m for a habitable room.
    • Do you have a vapour barrier under the garage slab (200 micron plastic)
    • Are you providing windows (10% floor area for light, 5% for ventilation)?
    • Do you have adequate bathroom facilities (you may need to add an extra bathroom or toilet/upgrage HWS etc)
    • I can see the dpc poking through the brickwork, is this a single or double brick wall (wall needs to be dry).
    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
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  5. spludgey

    spludgey Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for the info so far guys!


    I should be able to do 250mm, but then it's annoying that I'll have to leave a peep hole in the font and the back. I guess I could always put some persex sheeting on it and put a planter box in front. Do you know if you need this even if you use H5 treated pine?

    Please see my responses in red.
     
  6. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    that's not the barrier, how do I know whether I have one
    @spludgey
    Dig! Unlikely for a garage id think

    I'll try and find the plans over the next few days and the contact.
    I had the length open and the joists running across so it was clear to see under. Being enclosed already there may be another way around it... you could call a pest guy and get them to inspect and if you seal and install a barrier it might get you around the visual side, worth a few calls!

    The main issue council had was the visual inspection and also butting up to the existing floor, plus points for the termites to "walk up" .
    You also may need to remove some gyprock at the garage floor level to see what's happening in there.

    Is the house on a slab? Or piers?
     
  7. bob shovel

    bob shovel Well-Known Member

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    Found it! How good is mobile phone technology!

    200x45 hyspan lvl13 @450 centres. I only had 150mm under

    I'll pm you contact info
     
  8. 5080

    5080 Active Member

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    Done a few of these back in the UK, very popular way to add extra room and 80% of the structure is already there.
    The way we used to do it was to remove the garage door and brick up half the height of opening, and install a double glazed window.

    Internal floor was built out of timber joists if there was a substantial height difference with them bolted to walls and using joist hangers, if the floor was only a couple of courses below the inside of the house you can lay down a DPM and then using polystyrene sheets of appropriate thickness lay them down on top to create a floating floor. Top it off with yellow tongue flooring laid on top of the insulation sheets. All walls are then framed out with timber studs and insulated and then gyprock over the top and door way etc cut through to house if it didn't already have one. Electrics were normally in the garage any way which made wiring up lights and extra sockets easy.

    Don't know if this would pass here though?
     

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