Turn two-car garage into finished living space?

[grey56]

My DH and I are currently disagreeing over turning our two-car attached garage (off the kitchen) into a large family room. One of us thinks it would add square footage, making our home more desireable for resale. The other thinks a garage is a garage, and would entice buyers regardless of the home's sf.

More details:
Our house is a 1100sf ranch with a finished basement. The only way to access the basement is via stairs from the garage. Basement houses (or, will soon house...reno underway!) a guest room, laundry room, half bath with an up-pump, playroom, furnace area, and an arts/crafts room. Floors are painted concrete, walls are panelled (will be painted). The main floor has barely been touched so original full bath with turquoise tile, original kitchen with pink laminate counters, all hardwood floor, plaster walls, fireplace in living room. It's your classic 3br/1ba ranch upstairs.

[munkii]

Unless you have plans of adding a garage after finishing this space, I would not do it.

[grey56]

Jan 15, 2013 11:06:49 GMT -5 munkii said:

Unless you have plans of adding a garage after finishing this space, I would not do it.

There is space to do this.

[FoxInFiji]

No. Not if it's the half ass usual garage to living space conversion that I'm thinking. What are your plans for converting it to a family room? How are you going to heat/cool the space? How are you going to meet the code requirements for a finished space? How are you changing the walls and floor? Electrical? Lighting?

Garages are awesome. I would never want to buy a house without a garage at least not up here in snow country.

[Blueper]

What kind of climate do you live in? If it's cold, I would do the remodel so that the stairs are included in the main part of the house.

[grey56]

We live in New England.

The job would be hired out, we've gotten two quotes. Standard finishes $20K, upgraded finishes $30K. I assume all the work is included in that pricing.

[sailorgray]

Unless you are going to build a garage, then I would never. We are kinda house hunting and no garage is a deal breaker.

[wawa]

My answer depends on how it will look from the outside. if you will have the standard converted garage look where your driveway just deadends at your family room then I vote no way in hell. I am not at all a fan of that look.

Is there anyway to do a partial conversion so the stairs are included in the main part of the house, without losing the entire garage?

The stairs aside, if you'll already have a normal living room and a playroom downstairs then the family room seems superfluous to me and a garage would probably keep more buyers. But the whole stairs in the garage thing is going to turn a lot of people off. So fixing that would go a long way in resale. Best of both worlds is to fix that issue and still have garage space.

[sailorgray]

No garage in New England? Keep the garage.

[emjacobs]

Add me to the no way in hell. I would see if there was a way to re-route the stairs into the home with that money.

[FoxInFiji]

Jan 15, 2013 11:12:23 GMT -5 grey56 said:

We live in New England.

The job would be hired out, we've gotten two quotes. Standard finishes $20K, upgraded finishes $30K. I assume all the work is included in that pricing.

I don't know about your area but I doubt you'll be getting anywhere near $20-30K increase in your home value by adding just a family room. And how much more would it be to add back a garage? Sounds like you'd be losing money and potentially wrecking the curb appeal of your house.

[sillygoosegirl]

We went to tour houses that had garages turned into living space, because they had enough sq ft to come up on our searches. However, we ultimately hated almost every single one of them. The worst part of it in the neighborhood where we were shopping was that you couldn't then add another garage because of the setbacks, so if we'd purchased one of those houses, we would have needed to do a 2-story addition and convert the garage back into a garage to ge the house we wanted... So it wasn't really adding any value to us over a house that had never had it's garage converted. If it had been possible to add another garage, I might have felt differently.

[mrs.jacinthe]

There are a LOT of houses around here where people have converted garages. It is never done well enough that I'm not like "huh, it's a garage". Also, unless you have the space to add another garage, don't do it.

[kaylie]

When we bought we really wanted a two car garage. Especially in New England, I think the garage is a better selling point than a bonus room. People want to put their cars in there when it snows.

Can you finish the basement for additional living space?

[sierramist03]

I agree with the thought a garage is a garage and unless you are adding one then I wouldn't take one away.

[jhawks482]

I would not convert the garage into a LR, even if there were an opportunity to add another garage. It would probably be a deal breaker for me.

[pitterwoo]

I said no way because the ones I've seen around here don't look good. Even H's good friend did it to theirs and then said that they never used that extra room anyway, probably because it didn't flow with the layout of the house.

Work with the space you have. Is the sq ft 1100 without including the basement that you are finishing? If so, in the end you will have a sizable amount of living space and I would question "needing" more unless you have lots of kids or ILs living with you or something.

[Deleted]

Good grief no! I live down South and think that would be a bad idea even here. I say learn to work with the space your have. Go without the playroom and arts/crafts room if needed. You can incorporate those functionalities into other rooms without having to dedicate an entire room to it.

[sailorgray]

Out of curiosity, OP, which one of you wants the garage and which one wants the FR?

[grey56]

Ok I have 21 votees for no way, 1 vote for do just one bay, and no votes for yes, do it!

THANK YOU.

Now I just need to convince my DH that this is a dumb idea. He has latched onto it like it's the best idea he ever came up with, and it's driving me nuts. I LOVE my garage. I would even use it if he moved his construction crap out of my side (he already "converted" his side into a workbench area).

[wawa]

If you have a hard time convincing him, try talking to a realtor and getting their assessment of which would add more value. I'm pretty sure they'll tell you that no-garage is definitely more a dealbreaker.

MH is ridiculously stubborn, so I never hesitate to pull out the experts to get him to see things my way.

[sillygoosegirl]

Oh, I meant to ask before, when do you plan to sell? If you plan to stay in the house for decades, resale value should not be a major factor in this decision. Do you guys want the family room or the garage for yourselves??

[Deleted]

Here in the dead of the Midwest houses hardly sell without an attached garage, unless there is a detached garage and even then it better be really tricked out. People are adding attached garages like crazy, not getting rid of them. However, when it's -20 you understand fast!

Also, check the rules in your area in regards to this. I know where I live you can't even get a permit to do such a thing.

We have steps in our garage going to straight to our basement mudroom. It's really great for what we do and where we live. I also have a staircase inside for day to day up and down. I'd find a way to enclose your staircase in the house at all possible, before I remodel a garage. Also with two family rooms already, do you really need another?

[auntie]

It almost always ends up looking klugey unless a major reno is done to the outside.

Why not just take the cash set aside to convert the garage and add a family room behind the garage?

Do you have a second egress from the garage? A below grade basement without a second way out wouldn't be Ok here.

[grey56]

To be clear, it's my DH who wants the family room, me who wants the garage. So that is why we are arguing over which would sell better, since we are obviously at a standstill and needed a tie-breaker. We don't have immediate plans to sell but we don't feel like we need to stay in this house/town/state forever, either.

I am ok with a detached garage (nice to keep the fumes away from the house) but I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune when carrying those groceries inside during a blizzard. And that only fuels my DH into thinking I would be ok with converting the garage so I wouldn't tell him that!

Lots of our neighbors have converted garages and I can tell that they used to be garages. Hope this doesn't offend, but I think they look awful. I'd assume they're ok (permit-wise) but maybe they were done awhile ago?

The only stairs to the basement are from the garage, there are none within the house. And, it's a ranch, so there are no stairs up. Putting a new set of stairs from within our house would eat up quite a bit of floor space. There is only one way in and out of the basement.

It's not a particularly inviting space and I don't really intend on spending much time down there. My DH is gung-ho on the remodel he's doing (adding the playroom, arts/crafts room, etc.) so I personally am not viewing it as awesome space for hanging out.

Thanks again for the votes. :-)

[sailorgray]

Has your H always had a garage? I just wonder if he knows what it's like to not have one and how much of a PITA it is to clear your car off after a good snowstorm.

We are in our starter home right now and it does not have one. After having to trek through the yard to the cold, snow-covered car with two kids, a garage is a must. Clearing off the car can take a good 30 minutes in the morning.

[kitty]

Another no way vote. No garage would have been a deal breaker for us too (also in New England).

[minniebee]

I'm in camp "no way".

We are house hunting in the Midwest, and not having a garage would be a deal breaker for sure. Heck, we aren't even really satisfied with just a 2-car garage, we really prefer 3.