Garage to room conversion

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DamageInc

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#166281 8-Mar-2015 13:07

Hi all,
Just wanting some ideas on a project i have coming up - turning a single car garage into a bedroom.
Will house my son and his drum kit so i was wanting to fully insulate (ceiling and walls) but keeping in mind that he will be using the drum kit.
Any ideas for the acoustic dampening side of things? Reading the pink batts website the Ultra batts will be better (silencing for external walls) than the silencer batts themselves (more for internal walls they reckon). Is there something better than pink batts?

Any ideas welcome.

Pop! OS

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#1253380 8-Mar-2015 16:00

Bradford Gold, or whatever it is called. We used their normal insulation to absorb sound on a dry wall in our church. Was told it has the same absorption as sound absorbing batts. And it is not fibreglass so easy to handle. Then on the falls fit sound absorbing tiles. They are sold on TradeMe for a good price. You don;t have to cover the whole wall, one major improvement is by just breaking up the surface (reduces resonance in the room) so you can skip every second or third tile. But if you want to do it right, cover the whole wall. Also, it is hard to fill in the missing tiles afterwards so have to decide beforehand which way you'll go. But don't expect miracles, we are talking about drums... Many people use cheap electric drums for practicing. Or use softer sticks, like wood instead of nylon. Don't forget to break up the ceiling surface as well. Depends how far you want to take it. Cement floor is a good start, no resonating cavity.

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bfginger

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#1254404 9-Mar-2015 23:26

Bradford Gold is fibreglass. Bradford Polymax is polyester but there are several companies in NZ that produce polyester insulation locally.

If you don't want to use fibreglass use polyester but don't overpay for it.

There are insulated garage doors and special garage carpets which should let the space be a room while still being able to function as a garage in future.

Niel

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#1254423 10-Mar-2015 06:47

bfginger: Bradford Gold is fibreglass. Bradford Polymax is polyester but there are several companies in NZ that produce polyester insulation locally.

Thanks for correcting me, its been a while.

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Batman

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#1254430 10-Mar-2015 07:36

Do you need to go to council / insurance or is that beyond the scope of the thread

Fred99

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#1254476 10-Mar-2015 08:44

joker97: Do you need to go to council / insurance or is that beyond the scope of the thread

It absolutely does require building consent. Also notify your insurer, they should ask questions in order to determine if contract works / building insurance is needed (typically if any structural alteration is made), and in any case once the work is complete, you'd want to revise details of the policy, including sum insured.

Horseychick

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#1254534 10-Mar-2015 10:32

I've lost count of the number or 'rural' properties that we visited when buying that had garage conversions or granny annexes with no building consent. Having spent over a year fighting with AKL Council over a very simple subdivision I can't say that I blamed anyone for not going down that route......

Sideface

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#1254559 10-Mar-2015 11:48

Horseychick: I've lost count of the number or 'rural' properties that we visited when buying that had garage conversions or granny annexes with no building consent. ...

Which is fine until you try to sell the property ...

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Horseychick

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#1254606 10-Mar-2015 13:01

Actually the lack of building consent didn't put us off any of the properties to be honest and as a generalisation they were all selling fine. As long as we were aware of it and they weren't being sold with a cooker/oven then it was just 'effectively' another bedroom and bathroom.

Agree its not the letter of the law.... but if you've ever tried to get Building Consent for something like that under the current Auckland Council then I think you'd probably consider this route as well.

Bung

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#1254622 10-Mar-2015 14:00

How old is garage and is it attached? We have one built in 1980s before plastic was required under concrete and the house floor steps up at internal access. To make garage habitable would reqire the floor level to be lifted to 150 mm above external concreted areas and sealed.

Batman

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#1254727 10-Mar-2015 16:15

Horseychick: Actually the lack of building consent didn't put us off any of the properties to be honest and as a generalisation they were all selling fine. As long as we were aware of it and they weren't being sold with a cooker/oven then it was just 'effectively' another bedroom and bathroom.

Agree its not the letter of the law.... but if you've ever tried to get Building Consent for something like that under the current Auckland Council then I think you'd probably consider this route as well.

until you claim insurance because a fire started from the "bedroom" ...

Porboynz

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#1254886 10-Mar-2015 19:40

Soundproofing your garage so your sons drum practice is bearable sounds like a great idea, very community focussed. Nothing to do with the council unless you don't do it and someone calls the noise control department. Bedroom or garage? As long as there is no cooking going on or renting to strangers then where is the harm? A bedroom has to be a safer insurance risk than the stuff I have stored in my garage, paint, thinners, glues, petrol powered gardening tools. I bet more fires start from incorrectly disposed of oily rags that self combust. So what if your son sleeps in his custom recording studio after a hard days night? I would advise my insurance company but the Council? Not me.

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#1254953 10-Mar-2015 21:31

in that case you'd want to convince the council and insurance by saying my son is sleeping in the garage.

Fred99

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#1254959 10-Mar-2015 21:52

Porboynz: Soundproofing your garage so your sons drum practice is bearable sounds like a great idea, very community focussed. Nothing to do with the council unless you don't do it and someone calls the noise control department. Bedroom or garage? As long as there is no cooking going on or renting to strangers then where is the harm? A bedroom has to be a safer insurance risk than the stuff I have stored in my garage, paint, thinners, glues, petrol powered gardening tools. I bet more fires start from incorrectly disposed of oily rags that self combust. So what if your son sleeps in his custom recording studio after a hard days night? I would advise my insurance company but the Council? Not me.

Yes.
There will be - somewhere buried in council regulations - some rule on what constitutes a "permanent dwelling" or part thereof. Duration of occupation is probably what it''s based on.
However, they have not intruded into our lives enough yet to tell us where we're allowed to sleep. You can sleep in your dog kennel, under your dogwood tree, or on your roof if you like. Might have to alternate on a monthly basis to keep those appointed to "save us from ourselves" happy, but they probably don't snoop that hard.

nzrock

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#1254995 10-Mar-2015 22:26

Hi

Not getting a consent will come back to bite you if you go to sell your house. In a LIM report there will be no record of the conversion & no CCC.

Greg

Fred99

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#1255026 10-Mar-2015 22:53

nzrock: Hi

Not getting a consent will come back to bite you if you go to sell your house. In a LIM report there will be no record of the conversion & no CCC.

Greg

Yes - that's true.

But if the garage is still a garage - then no problem.

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