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Has anyone built out a room above a two car garage? I am looking for a ballpark estimate/range for doing this. Garage is attached - would link to house via existing hallway. TIA
Has anyone built out a room above a two car garage? I am looking for a ballpark estimate/range for doing this. Garage is attached - would link to house via existing hallway. TIA
Ballpark? For a simple bedroom, completely do-it-yourself, My ballpark is is 5 grand. But you need to find out about permitting requirements in your area. Some stuff, perhaps electrical, you may need a licensed contractor to do... or at least inspect and sign off on. But if we are talking about an already insulated space.... drywall, flooring, electrical stuff, paint, ect., 5 grand is my guesstimate.
A few years ago, we made our walk in attic area over a 2 car garage into an apartment for our older son, complete with exterior stairs, kitchen with d/w, full bath and it cost us 32K with a contractor. You'll have to consider a lot of that cost was redesigning one side of the roof into a huge shed-type roof to add an extra 5ft of space, dbl windows and a entry door. They had to basically take one side of the roof, shingles, etc totally off and rebuild it.
The large room also attaches to one of the upstairs bedrooms also and was a perfect solution for all of us.
Has anyone built out a room above a two car garage? I am looking for a ballpark estimate/range for doing this. Garage is attached - would link to house via existing hallway. TIA
Your question is a little vague- are you staying within the existing roof structure? Or will it be a tearoff- and then built on top?
And if you are staying within the existing- what type of framing is already there?
The first thing, and a very important thing is if the structure (roof and ceiling framing as well as foundation) was designed to support the load of living space.
Most times the area above a garage is designed to carry just the load of the roof. If it is truss construction, they are not usually even designed to support heavy storage weights. Some trusses are designed for the increased load (and head room) for storage, but even those are not really adequate for the load of "living" space.
Just because you can squeeze a room someplace, does not mean the structure was designed to actually carry the load properly. Don't even think about cutting away the existing framing to make room. Trusses are engineered and can not be modified without a "re-design", and stick built framing should not be modified without engineering either.
OP is dreaming if you think we can answer that type of question with the supplied information. If you are going to ask this type of question at least include some general pixs of the area you wish to convert.
Number can be all over the place depending on what is required. Example are you going to be raising the roof, doing all the work yourself or hiring it out? How fancy do you want it to be. Do you live in one of those areas where they will be all over your case if one small nail gets pounded anywhere?
In general for a straight convert type project, me doing the work, the cost is squat. Might run a $1000 at the very, very most, if I don't have to do major structure changes. Even there the costs are a bit on the nominal side if you can just do what you want.
Also you don't even say the type of use for the room.
Being above a garage, want to be very careful with the firestopping, fire protection requirements. Probably does require at least a 5/8" fire rated sheetrock barrier. Again not a huge cost factor if doing it yourself.
I remember doing a convert project over a big garage, we build two offices, connecting hallway, half bath and waiting room down in the garage, stairway going up and outside access to waiting room for a guy doing a business out of his house and IIRC that was maybe 30K. The structure was not modified, it was more a stud out the walls, do all the rest to convert to the use. That also included extension of the heating to the area.
Being 2009 and with all the screaming NoNothings that run around in today's World, permits, drawings, fees, taxes, insurance, more fees, some commissions here and there, maybe a small white envelope to be passed under some table. Forgot, you may also have to have the land surveyed at least six times too. Might run you $130000 and then you will have to get it "inspected" at least a dozen times. Got to work in some realtor agents, more talking, even that figure might be low. Not to say what will happen to your real estate tax payments. Any modifications are good excuses for pay checks for a lot of peeps, after all when highly skilled professionals are involved, the sky is the limit. It will all be so complicated.
Yep, I could probably do it for well under $1000 but if you want to be legal, safe, get lots of paper to say so, who knows what it might cost. The building of anything is cheap, the rest of the Palava is what costs the money.
When in doubt and when asking what something costs, at least give us some pixs. Lacking that I don't have a clue. I also forgot, if there is killer gas in that garage, it will get far more expensive. Plenty of pipers will want to get paid.
Well this is pertaining to a house we were looking to possibly purchase so I don't have any photos. House was built in early 70's. Garage is not heated. Current flooring up above is not heavy weight supporting and we would want to build it up to adjoin to the 2 story house to which it is attached. Would use it as a bedroom. May or may not want to include a bath depending on cost. Sorry for the lack of much details. And we would need to hire someone to do it if we don't want it to collapse, catch fire or flood!
Last edited by maja; 01-25-2009 at 11:05 AM..
Reason: forgot something.
Well this is pertaining to a house we were looking to possibly purchase so I don't have any photos. House was built in early 70's. Garage is not heated. Current flooring up above is not heavy weight supporting and we would want to build it up to adjoin to the 2 story house to which it is attached. Would use it as a bedroom. May or may not want to include a bath depending on cost. Sorry for the lack of much details. And we would need to hire someone to do it if we don't want it to collapse, catch fire or flood!
You first want to understand all the hoops they will put you thru for your general area. That will determine so much of the costs. Figure the non-construction / regulation / talking / permiting / whining stuff could equal or exceed the real construction costs. Plus what will it do to the real estate taxes, lots of areas will really jack up your taxes for that type of project. Any excuse to raise more money. In those type environments contractors also will tend to overcharge too. Hey, you will need another piece of paper to go to the bathroom. It all becomes part of the game.
The lack of proper joist framing is not a big deal. Hey, easy replacement, or they can be sistered up to a new proper sized joist. Construction materials for internal construction is cheap. I did a total gut, some mod's to a bath, everything new except the toilet for like $400. Did not have to pay for any Palava. With all the Palava as in some big cities, might have cost $4000.
In fact in my neck of the woods I could completely tear the entire garage down, recycle the materials as desired, rebuild to my desires and would not need one scrap of paper. Probably would not affect my taxes much either, I started with one garage, finished with one garage. All would be legal. Would not have to say boo to any one or get anybody's permission.
So much depends on how anal your area is. Figure out who is going to jump and shout and how much paper work is required first. Many areas, all the crap is a project killer long before you drive the first nail. What really costs $3000 in materials winds up costing the customer $50K. All the bull and nitpicking can have huge costs. It is interesting to break out the actual pricing for various projects in varying locations and see how much gross waste masks as safety, code enforcement, regulation of all sorts. Being a bedroom allows for them to really get up a head of steam in laying it on super thick in additional requirements.
Honestly, I would continue looking. There are so many houses on the market, surely there is one in just as desirable area that would better suit for you and your family.
And the reason I say that is, many of the above posters are correct. I purchased a home a year or so ago, and there is a room above the garage/master bedroom that the previous owners finished. However there is still unfinished storage space that I would love to make into a full bath and walk-in closet. There are soooo many things to consider, that I am seriously considering not doing the project. In addition to the cost and inconvenience, my taxes will go up considerably because of the increased square footage.
One thing to consider if you were to take the path using recycled materials and using the "this is good enuff" method. If you do build an addition without permits, or not notify your insurance company, you may not be covered by insurance when it catches fire because the guy that said he could do it for $400 did hack work.
A garage has a pretty big span. The ceiling structure is very rarely adequate for supporting the additional weight of the wall, floor, and ceiling materials, furniture, and people. Unless the added space is not that large, the HVAC system in the house, may not be adequate to handle the additional heating and cooling loads. Don't forget insulation. Since garages usually are not insulated at all, this will be an added expense. You could probably spend $400 on that alone.
You would probably be better suited looking for a house that already has what you are looking for. Unless you found the dream house and neighborhood at a dream price.
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Here's a High figure estimate
