Converting a garage into living space

• BlueJayRay

  Bear in mind that most garage floors are sloped at 1/8" per foot of fall, so over a 24' garage floor, it slopes 3" toward the overhead door. This means that the top of foundation is at a minimum 3" above the existing floor. Even if the existing exterior is brick, and you brick the existing overhead door in, how do you deal with the 3" offset at the bottom of the overhead door? I agree with one of the earlier posters... It is very difficult to convert an existing garage into living space without it looking like a converted garage. The Ohio building code requires that at least 4" of the foundation be exposed to grade, which caused addirional issues at the overhead door
  
  
  From a cost standpoint, it would be cheaper in the long run to just add living space elsewhere, so you don't have the added cost of sitework (driveway reconfiguration)
• ZWICK 4 PREZ

  

  BlueJayRay wrote: Bear in mind that most garage floors are sloped at 1/8" per foot of fall, so over a 24' garage floor, it slopes 3" toward the overhead door. This means that the top of foundation is at a minimum 3" above the existing floor. Even if the existing exterior is brick, and you brick the existing overhead door in, how do you deal with the 3" offset at the bottom of the overhead door? I agree with one of the earlier posters... It is very difficult to convert an existing garage into living space without it looking like a converted garage. The Ohio building code requires that at least 4" of the foundation be exposed to grade, which caused addirional issues at the overhead door
  
  
  From a cost standpoint, it would be cheaper in the long run to just add living space elsewhere, so you don't have the added cost of sitework (driveway reconfiguration)

  
  Ya I agree that it's better to add on behind the house.
• Skyhook79

  

  We did it, added about 600 sq ft and cost about $5000.00. Me and a friend did the work (paid the friend $15 per hr)
  Don't regret it at all and have no issues. Much cheaper and less stressful than putting an addition on.