Deep Singh

Hi

I have a detached garage which I never use. Its not very wide, I don't think you could get a family size car into it and then open the car doors. I defo wouldn't feel comfortable trying that with my 5 series

I'm thinking of demolishing it and building a side extension.

There would be off street parking for about 4-5 cars

Would I devalue the property by knocking down the garage?

Snazy

Would depend if you're allowed to by local planning to start with.
Personally I dont think most garages on older houses are up to much these days, but its always nice to have the storage or shelter to work on the car etc.

Timwinner

iTrader: (3)

I think if you can exchange the garage for additional living space you should be ok.
I would always prefer a bigger house with no garage to a smaller one with. I would be cheeky and get an estate agent around, say you might sell and you were thinking of selling it with planning for the above.
They will steer you right.

zip106

Could you not demo the old garage, build a new one with rooms above and at the back, attached to the house?

I know it's more money but it would actually add value, even in todays climate.

dpb

Depends what its made of id have thought.
Your clearly going to requiring planning if your builing a 2 story extension

Deep Singh

Interesting. Zip, I suppose that would be the best balance, however once again the new garage would not be wide enough to fit a big car. Also mine is an older house I'm not sure whether an integral garage would look right

dpb, i'm not sure what you're talking about. Whats it got to do with what its made of? Also of course its going to need planning permission, it would be a double storey extension!

dpb

Im imagining one of those prefab concrete jobies - in which case youd prefer to see the back of it

salsa-king

i'm with ZIP, get a new garage built, its always a selling point. Even if it does store stuff in, just make it wide enough for a proper car.

can you remember Property Ladder a few years ago when that woman developed a massive house in Poole, did away with teh garage as they had a large car standing, but kept the double garage door and used the space as storage, but wasn't deep enough to get a smart car in.... the lack of garage put buyers off!

SunnySideUp

Lack of Garage - even if most people never put their cars in one - is a massive turn off to buyers ....... even a garage in a block is preferable to none at all.

Garage with rooms above would be a good bet.

zip106

Deep, a good architect can do wonders with a modern design extension attached to a traditional house.

I used to live in a 1930's detached and had 4 different plans drawn up for a loft conversion.
Two of them were very modern but on plan didn't look out of place on the house.

In the end we moved to a better, bigger house instead

You just need to spend sometime on your local councils planning website, have a look at what other people are having built and what plans they've had drawn (and passed!)

TopBanana

I wouldn't look at a house without a garage - we've too much outdoor crap to store anywhere else.

richardg

i demolished mine, then built one as part of a side extension. i wouldn't have built the extension without it. firstly it houses my kit car, custom scooter, various patch panels and tv distribution system and beer fridge, but also a house without a garage will appeal to less buyers. i know that for a fact having built so many houses and struggled when selling a few - bit like selling a flat without parking....you would be limiting your market (unless that's the norm for the location, which i expect it isn't from what i know of your house)

re integral garage not suiting the house, you can make it suit your house. i'm surprised nobody else in your street has done that already. an old pic, but you get the idea -
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../Pict6065a.jpg

Dedrater

Talking about Architect's, I had a moments chat with a group of them a few weeks ago, I didn't know it took longer to be one (fully qualified) than a Doctor of medicine

Nuts, these guys was pure genius though, respect to them.

renny

iTrader: (2)

Am i the only one here (or in the world maybe?) that actually HAS to have a garage for my CAR while looking at houses?

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I'd agree a garage is often a good selling point - I need one for my bike, plus all the other tools and stuff that needs storage.

When we were looking to buy we saw a few houses that had these lash up 'convert the garage into another room' jobs done ( basically, plasterboard the garage, stick french doors on the front )

Most didnt really work as they ended up with an extra living room, but the entrance door to it was off the kitchen or utility room, so it always just felt like a converted garage and not really part of the house.

When considering the houses, we factored in the cost of turning the room back into a garage as part of the decision.

Extra living space can be good, but if the house already has enough for the people who want to buy it ( bearing in mind a garage conversion or extension is only really ever going to be another reception room, and if you've already got 2 or 3 then its not going to have much use ) then I'd say a decent garage is often a better selling point, particularly if it is big enough to fit a car in ( have to have somewhere to keep your weekend motor ! )

Deep Singh

Yes, it seems integral garage would be the way to go and probably essential for the property even if never used for car. I would never have bought the house myself if it didn't have a garage (or space to build one), so why should others?

Richard, I suspect others have done it on my road but I just haven't noticed, I'll have another look today

dpb

It does seem to be a little known fact tho that nowadays anyway cars dont dissolve in the rain
My gagrage is workshop so the car doesnt get a look in

richardg

wise words. probably 90% of the estate agents i have appointed to sell property (maybe 200+ units) have always said garages are a selling point, but not necessarily capable of enhancing value. i have always agreed with that

richardg

do you drive with your eyes closed man? I must admit, i tend to notice this sort of thing more than anything else in any street i go to. a car salesman might notice cars more than me; a window salesman would notice windows more than me etc etc. i was the first in our street (86 houses i think) to get a consent like that. there are probably 10 with similar extensions now (about 4yrs after my consent was dated). local precedents like this are useful in planning.

please note a precedent is not the same as a precedence

renny

iTrader: (2)

Cars may not dissolve in the rain but how many times are cars knicked from drives,mainly because they're 'on show'.This includes breaking into houses to get the keys to get said car.

I'm not saying a garage would deter the most ardent of scum but it would make things a lot harder IF they knew it was there.

Think what i'm trying to say is mine is used as a security measure as opposed to stopping my car dissolving