Garage - Greenhouse Conversion
cawyer
15 years ago
Featured Answer
Comments (6)
bangell
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Deck to Greenhouse conversion
Comments (2)I agree with Kudzu about the water under the deck. last summer I did some experiments with black water containers in the shade, and the temps were essentially the same as ambient air. And not that I don't trust your engineer friend, but I would double check those weight calculations, just to be safe. If you are not going over 1500 pounds, then you'll only get about 3 55 gallon barrels in the GH. There are formulas and charts for calculating deck loads, post spacing, beam spans, joist spans, joist spacing, joist width, and so forth...I'm sure that they are available online...I would suggest double checking those against the weight of water you desire. I would consider at least 1" of rigid foamboard underneath your rubber matting...or alternatively, underneath the deck boards in the spaces between the joists. You won't get any sunlight through the floor, so you may as well prevent the loss of heat. You'll want to consider water drainage, too. A properly built deck slopes away from the house. This may not be ideal for a greenhouse. Which direction will it face?...See MoreRemnants and small quantities for garage conversion
Comments (4)And just to make things REALLY interesting, garages are not up to 'code' as a living space. Please ensure you have pulled the right permits (all of them) and hire the right people to do the conversion. Garage conversions can be one of the most expensive 'renovations' we have. The heating, the plumbing, the venting, the electrical, the insulation, the concrete/foundation all have to be updated and conform to 'code' for indoor living conditions. Code includes fire ratings, electrical outlet distancing, the works. And remember: garage concrete slabs are NOT poured the same way a house foundation is. They RARELY have moisture barriers underneath them. That means anything you use over top of them MUST BE protected from moisture mitigation. A garage slab is considered 'soaking wet' (by concrete standards) until it is tested and proven it is not. To get it to test 'dry' you have about $7/sf worth of moisture mitigation efforts ahead of you. The 'finishing' touches can be found once the structure has been brought up to code. Your location will dictate where you can find recycled housing bits. Large centres have companies that remove and resell housing 'innards'. Small towns are going to be limited to what you find in the local paper (if you still have a local paper), on the Co-Op board or by word of mouth....See MoreOne car garage conversion
Comments (1)First find out if it is even allowed . Garages are not built to be occupied living space so basically you will be building a ADU and you need a permit to do so from the city where you live .Not all places allow this . As for cost it will be what it costs to build a small house ....See Moremin ballpark estimate for the most basic garage conversion
Comments (8)Insulation and filling the cracks in the concrete wouldn't be too bad--a bit more if the garage isn't currently finished (and you want it to be). Adding the half bath will be a lot more, and will likely require much more substantial permitting. (For instance, there may be parking requirements in your neighborhood that would need to be satisfied in some other way, and if the garage is close to the property line, it may not be allowed at all since you'd be turning it into living space.) How far is the garage from the existing waste lines? That will probably be a bigger factor than the plumbing lines themselves, especially if it's under slab. No idea what LA prices are like these days but in the Bay Area, you could possibly do a project like that for $40-50K on the low end. Whether that's worth it to invest in a rental would depend on how many years your lease term is (remember that just getting the contractor lined up and the permits approved will take months, so you're a long time out from getting to use the space--I'd want at least a five-year lease agreement for it to be worth the upfront cost) and what your relationship with your landlord is like. (They'd need to be pretty enthusiastic about the project since at the end of the day it will be in their name, and will also increase their base year value for their property taxes.)...See Moreeaglesgarden
15 years agocawyer
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15 years ago
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