Interiors

Converting your garage from a dumping ground into a useful extra room could add 15 per cent to the value of your home, discovers Jessica Doyle

Ditch the car and put your garage to good use. By Jessica Doyle

Putting a car in the garage? How very novel. These days, although a garage might be on the wish list for many a househunter, it appears that some of us who do own one are not using it for its original purpose.

Research by Admiral Loans prior to the pandemic showed that only 33 per cent of garage owners actually use theirs to house a car – this may be because there’s no room, as the garage is already stuffed with tools, old furniture and other household clutter. Add to that the fact that modern cars have grown wider by a third over the past 55 years according to the RAC Foundation – which makes it harder to actually fit them in – and it seems clear that the typical garage isn’t much more than a dusty waste of space.

That could be changing, however. Thanks to the national home-improvement drive of the past 18 months, planning applications for home renovations are up by 20 per cent in London alone, according to researchers Barbour ABI, with garage conversions being among the most popular projects.

‘Converting a garage into living space offers a quick and simple way to add square footage to your home without extending,’ says David Westgate of property consultants Andrews (andrewsonline.co.uk). ‘It could add 10 to 15 per cent to the value of your property. Plus, as you aren’t starting from scratch, you may not have to spend time and money on laying foundations, and constructing walls and a roof.’ If the garage is attached to the house, you may not even need planning permission to convert it.

‘It’s not completely straightforward though,’ adds Westgate. ‘If you’re planning to turn it into a living space, you’ll need to consider light, heating and insulation. Garages are generally dark and cold, so you’ll need to lay pipes and fit radiators.’

The conversion of a garage that already opens off the house can cost as little as £9,000, which includes insulation, blocking up the door and a basic fit-out, according to Checkatrade. But, as architect Michael Schienke points out, it’s not always a simple job. ‘With many garages you need to strengthen the roof, and redo elements of it, which you think are already there but need to be improved. It’s cheaper than having to build the space from scratch, but sometimes not all that much cheaper.’

Invest some time, money and creative thinking, however, and a previously underused space could add a whole new dimension to your home, as the following examples attest.