[Closed] Double Garages.....what to do??

Conventional wisdom is bricks. Or breeze blocks. Fell free to flame my suggestion.

A friend of mine recently turned his double garage into a bouldering wall.

Is it at the front of the house ?

If so bricking it up will look horrible.

Put a window in the width or each door at my brothers (bricks under) and it looks fine.

Insulated properly and a door into the house, now has a second living room and a double bedroom with en suite bathroom.

And if you don't know what to do with the extra space why bother with the expense - when you want to sell most buyers will want a garage.

Chap opposite has bricked both doors, with a window in each.
Looks ok.

And if you don't know what to do with the extra space why bother with the expense - when you want to sell most buyers will want a garage.

This.
If I turned up to see a bricked up garage, I'd walk away again.

Agreed, why would a man voluntarily give up a double garage??? I'd [i]kill[/i] for a double garage!

Mini-ramp

Leave doors and brick/block up on the inside and insulate.
You get new space.
New owners can reinstate garage.
No change of exterior aspect.

My double has a workshop in one garage and a fully kitted out gym in the other.

The wife is banned from both.

I'd brick up one and leave the other.

To clarify, I'd extend the house into the nearest one, assuming the house connected to it.

What to do with a double garage? About a dozen bikes and a workshop I'd say...

seba560
Leave doors and brick/block up on the inside and insulate.
You get new space.
New owners can reinstate garage.
No change of exterior aspect.

And an added advantage of confusing the **** outta any burglars who force open the "garage door" to nick your car........ 😉

We have never and can never see us using the doors

How do you plan to get in and out?

and a personnel door straight into the garden.

and a personnel door straight into the garden.

One of my neighbours has a double garage which was converted he has a full on office in there. The doors are still there but are complete facad. It's all sealed up insulated and has a wall on the inside, the two ladies that work for him are in there, kitchen and toilet in the back and his office is upstairs. Really threw me when I went in to ask him about something. You could live in there tbh but you'd never guess from the outside at all. I think he had to keep the doors to keep planning happy too

Properly weather seal doors from inside then wood frame, insulation board, vapour barrier and plasterboard. Easy to remove if required nice diy job. Only worth it if you do rest of garage.

What are you trying to achieve?

fill it with assorted junk as i have.

i framed mine out, left exterior doors, double sheeted and insulated, timber floor, now a gym with sauna 48 inch lcd for turbo and bike store and workshop, cost me around 50 quid for paint and varnish, helps that im a joiner though.. AND yes the wife an brats dont get in either, we need our escapism in peace...........

Work bench with shelves and a sink right across the back wall. Decent lighting. Leave the doors as no buyer will be impressed at needing ti reinstate them.

It wouldn't put me off that much as a buyer if it was a single garage, but a double it perhaps would.

A single I would use the space as storage and work area, with a double I would want to keep the car inside too, but only if the doors were electric. If manual then you might as well brick it up, too much hassle opening and closing a manual door, especially for women.

What are you trying to achieve?

Thats about it really, I am not sure, it is currently a dumping ground for the overspill from the house, I would like to turn it into a semi-usable space for decent, organised bike storage and fettling.

The expense to insulate and board the lot would be considerable, so has anyone done a timber frame, insulated and ply accross the back of the doors to seal them off? or is blocking up really the only viable solution?

Me and Mr MC have thought about moving but the only reason would be to get double garage .. and 3 beds with double garages are hard to come by. I've seen a few 4 beds where they've bricked up doors, put stud walls up and I'm not interested in even viewing. Estate agent said "it's only a stud wall" okay so when do you propose you knock it down? Why can't you just leave it and make it secure?

We would love to have a double garage ....not that I ever go in it mind Mr MC's domain!

What are you dumping in it? Anything dumped into the garage means you don't need it right, throw it or take it the tip. Lovely work space, storage but accessible. it would be lush.

my one is framed with 50x50 framing, osb against the door wall and insulated with rockwool bats, then plasterboarded.... considerable price ? depends what u think is considerable ?
plastserboard usually around 3 quid a sheet double garage around ,30-35 / sheets, glasswool 50 mm thick what 10 quid a bag 5 bags, 1oo mm bit more, do ceiling as well, framing, nails, fixings around 100... get to it ........................... 🙂

How much on-street parking do you have? Loads of the houses round here have taken out their garage doors and replaced them with bricks+windows, but then parking's not an issue...

i dream of this, i would as suggested above

my one is framed with 50x50 framing, osb against the door wall and insulated with rockwool bats, then plasterboarded

Double garages are ace. How could you even consider suggesting on a bike forum, bricking up a garage and turning it into another room? 😯

v8ninety

Agreed, why would a man voluntarily give up a double garage??? I'd kill for a double garage!

This + 1,000,000

Double garages are ace. How could you even consider suggesting on a bike forum, bricking up a garage and turning it into another room?

Don't get me wrong chaps, in no way am I suggesting that it will be any more than a workshop / bike store / turbo room, unless I can squeeze a mini ramp in........

Assuming you have adequate off-street parking i'd board it up inside the garage doors, dry line it and use if for a store/gym/bike-room... My boss just did the same with his single garage and managed to get another bedroom in it..

If you keep the existing garage doors it is pretty easy to turn it back into a garage, and it looks the same from the outside.

You also should think about what you're doing and how it'll effect you if you ever come to move! If you want it to be workshop/storage why do anything with it? Thieves will get into anything and the kind of theives that want to steal expensive bikes will get into anything.

I remember my petrolhead Grandfather having his garage built.

He had the only council house with a double garage that I've ever seen

On an extension I did a while back we put in folding doors which were insulated (read expensive) so it still looked like a garage. Out back put in bi-folding doors to the garden. Insulated the walls, floor and ceiling and put it as part of the house