“If I only had one more room!”
If you’ve said that before you’re not alone!
Many homeowners really like their homes but wish they had one more room. Experts say, converting a garage from a parking spot into living space is significantly less expensive than what a standard addition would cost.
Chances are it’s already plumbed and wired too. Before you get started converting your garage, do your homework. Find out if this remodel complies with local building codes, and if there’s enough alternative parking for you and guests. Keep in mind, some homeowners associations prohibit long-term parking in the driveway or on the street.
Adding another 600 square feet of living space sounds good for resale, but if a garage is a must-have for home buyers, this conversion could actually hurt your home’s value. If, however, you and your housing market can stand to part with the garage, let the conversion begin.
The possibilities are endless. Your old garage could be transformed into a man cave, study, playroom, home office or den. Assuming your garage has a window or two already, consider installing a room air conditioner that heats and cools. It’s cheaper than expanding your central air system, and the timer lets you program on/off times to correlate with the room’s use. After you paint, and add carpet, your new room will start taking shape!
We have just had a client inquiring about converting his garage into another room and having an extension on top of that. He says he doesn’t use the garage anyway for his car and prefers to use his drive. The garage is currently being used as a shed. I told him that I thought it was a great Idea as he can have a large shed in his back garden. Using the garage to extend the house would bring more value in the long run to the property and give him the extra space he needs for his growing family. I am going to give him your link so he can read your article.
Garage can also converted to be a children palyroom. Might be useful if you have children. Thanks.
We reside in the Dallas metroplex area. Our Community homes range from $350,000 to $165,000 homes. Our home consist of 4 bedroom,3 1/2 bath, 3 car garage. Would like to convert 1 garage to a dorm style bedroom/ mother-in-law guest house. would this devalue our proterty?
Get the advice of interior designer on how to convert your garage and get a good result. This will save your money because there will be a good list of materials needed. It will also save your time to manage all the needed adjustments.
A really useful post on the uses for a garage conversion – naturally I’m particularly impressed with the man cave suggestion. Good stuff!
I’m definitely going to be turning my garage into a mancave one of these days. Great ideas going here!
Converting a garage into a man cave would be so much fun. There’s a million things you could do with it.
I am planning to do exactly that, convert my garage into a man cave, except I still want to use my garage on very cold and very hot days. Why cant you convert your garage into a man cave, except keep its use flexible so that it would have a multipurpose functionality, I can move the furniture out of the way to move in the automobiles on those blistery or scortching days. My only concern is that for some unknown reason its a bad idea, I cant understand why more people dont utilize a garage more. Am I not seeing the “cons”?