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sarah315_gw

Remodeling in an emergency situation!

sarah315
12 years ago

I could use a little help from y'all. Sadly, my stepmother has beed diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Within 1 week we have had to realize she is never going to live on her own again. That leaves my 93 year old dad to care for. We will be moving him in with us, and placing my stepmom into a nursing home nearby. We were not at all prepared for this, she went from driving herself to the hairdresser on Wednesday, to not knowing us a week later.

So, we need to make a livable space in our home for my dad. We have an attached garage that I think we could convert into a studio. Our house is a raised ranch and the garage and laundry room/2nd bathroom is on the ground level. Then 6 steps to the living area/kitchen, followed by steps to the 3 bedrooms/1st bath.

The garage floor is concrete with a drain in the middle. There is a small door at the back for access to the crawl space(also on the same level) and a small utility room with the water heater and such.

Is this possible? What questions will I need to ask the contractors who give us bids? What problems do I need to watch out for? Any, any advice is very appreciated. We feel caught up in a whirlwind right now.

Comments (3)

  • GreenDesigns
    12 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sorry, this turned into a book, but since I've been dealing with a bunch of these issues already, maybe you can use the thoughts I've already had.
    _______

    This may be an emergency remodel, but it won't be done overnight. 3-6 months would be the average for the garage conversion. So plan on clearing out one of the spare rooms right now, plus maybe installing some extra hand rails around any of the stairs and getting rid of any scatter rugs. Calm yourself with a bottle of wine, and start your lists of "to do's" along with sketching out potential layouts for the space.

    The biggest "gotcha" issue will be the plumbing for drains for the bath. A floor drain in the garage may not be hooked up to the home's plumbing system. It could just lead to a french drain. (If you have a plumbing snake, you can do a bit of a preliminary investigation here.) A lot will depend on where the main drain of the home exits the house in relation to the garage. If it's on the other end of the house, it might actually be cheaper to build an addition at that end than to convert the garage, since so much floor jackhammering and trench digging will need to occur.

    The second big issue will be the HVAC for the space, but a mini split system ought to work just fine for that if your home has enough electrical service in the panel. (200 amp panel?) You might also want to think about a secondary source of heat, like a small decorative gas fireplace, especially if this room will be a master later in it's evolution.

    The third possible issue will be the insulation, especially if you are in a cold climate. Concrete slabs are cold, and a garage wasn't designed to be occupied from the beginning. You will have to tear out all of the drywall and insulate behind it, and possibly even fur it out a bit to get the maximum insulation. It's the same with the floor, but there you'll also be dealing with it's slope. You'll need sleepers to build it up and foam insulation at a minimum, which takes away from the minimum required head height. The most attention should be paid to the ceiling or roof plane. If this is a hot climate, foaming the roof rafters might be the way to go and vault the ceiling in order to gain enough legal head space after insulating the floor properly.

    I'd also suggest investigating radiant heat for the floor if your home has a hot water heating system, or using electric radiant for the bath and as much of the rest of the structure as you can. It will depend on which flooring you plan to use as the final whether or not radiant will help keep your dad comfortable. I know my mom is always cold, and when I redid her bath, the radiant heat was her absolute favorite thing in it and she wanted me to do it in her bedroom too. Unfortunately, the electric kind isn't that great for heating through wood or carpet, so we just retrofitted proper insulation under the floor and put down carpet, which is what you may need to do here.

    The fourth issue to think about here is hand rails and grab rails, not only in the planned accessible bath, but possibly in other key locations like a ceiling mounted cable lift above the bed. This means that those key areas like in the no threshold shower, next to stairs etc. will need blocking in the walls in order to have firm attachment points for these grab rails. It's better to have the blocking there and not need it than to need to install a grab rail at a later point and not have the blocking to do it. This also means working on a layout so that you know where everything should be located. Start with some graph paper and the current location of the doors and windows and plumbing.

    The first thing to ask contractors for is a copy of their license and insurance. Those that don't have it, you don't even need to interview. (Be sure and verify that the license and insurance are current if they become finalists.)

    The second thing to ask is what kind of permits you will need for the situation. This is a question that you should ask, already having found out the information from your local codes office yourself. Go down there in person on Monday and talk with them about the project and what it will entail and see not only what permits will need to be pulled, but how many inspections will occur. If one of the contractor says that he doesn't bother with permits, then cross him off the list and on to the next one.

    The third thing to ask is if they've done similar projects in the past, and if so, to show you the pictures of the finished project. Ask them what kinds of problems they've had. If they haven't done this exact project, surely they've done additions, etc. and will be able to show you a portfolio of past work as well as have past customer's who are willing to act as references to them.

    Above all, do NOT get into a big hurry to get this done. You need to take the time to do your research properly on the front end. And, also, not to be mean, but be realistic. Your dad is in his 90's and is not likely to live too much past this age, even if he is in great health now. The 80K spent on converting this garage should be done with the idea of it becoming another space in the future after he's passed on. A new master for you? An apartment for a college aged kid? A home theater? Think of some purpose that you can use it for later and build it with that in mind. And, also think about where you can add on a garage to the home and how that will work to connect with the home. Garage conversions can be easy square footage to convert, but you still need a garage in most cases, and that garage needs to be close enough to the back way into the house to make carrying groceries in practical. If you can't figure out how to make that work at this time, then again, a "master" addition of some type might make more functional sense.

  • sarah315
    Original Author
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the reply GreenDesigns. We are going slow to do this right. It's officially being called a "family room and bathroom". We really can use the extra living space, we already have a 2 car detached garage, so we aren't losing space for our vehicles.

    We've had one guy copme out already. He was here for 2.5 hours yacking away. Never once asked us what we wanted the space to look like. So, that's strike one.

    He said we would have to cap the drain in the floor and just put carpet and pad down. Well, the floor slopes to the drain, and it's freezing in the winter. I can't believe this is the right answer to finishing the floor!! I asked if we should raise the floor and make it level, he said no???

    Ugh.

  • worthy
    11 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    As pre-babyboomers like moi age, this is becoming a more common experience. Not all our children will be so helpful. (Since mine are still in grade school, I can only hope. Or leave quickly.)

    GD above has touched on all the big decisions: HVAC, future use, provisions for handicap aids, insulation, plumbing--and all by the book with licenced trades, permits and inspections.

    However, two quibbles:

    Pad and carpeting will work fine. Of course, if you want to upgrade and can't stand the slope, you can cap the drain, use a pour-on leveller, then insulate and use whatever flooring you like.

    Cutting concrete to install plumbing drains is not such a big deal. The poster is not attempting a diy.