How to Convert Your Garage into a Studio Apartment

If you’ve got a garage attached to your home that just seems to be taking up space, you may be thinking about converting it to a studio apartment. Should you do so, you’ll not only add lots more living space to your home but also improve its looks and increase its value. While you may think garage conversion is almost impossible, it’s anything but that. To get started turning that old garage into a new studio apartment, here are some things you’ll need to do to convert your garage.

Get Your Permits

First, always obtain the necessary building permits required by your locality. Otherwise, you may be in the middle of renovations, only to have an inspector come along, shut you down, and make you pay fines. An easy process, you’ll need the permits to do the electrical and plumbing work for the apartment. Also, you’ll need that inspector to give it the seal of approval before you can rent it out.

The Door Plan

When making this type of conversion, one of the biggest challenges is coming up with a plan for the door. More than likely, the best option for you will be to convert the area where the garage door was to an exterior wall space. On some apartments, this area is converted to a bay window.

Develop a Floor Plan

Now that you’ve got your door plan in place, it’s time to put together a floor plan for your new apartment. When doing so, working with professionals who can design ADU house plans can make the job much easier. For example, you may need to level out the garage floor for the apartment, since most garage floors are sloped slightly to allow for water drainage. Then plan on completing the floor with an epoxy coating for a nicer look. Having a professional floor plan will also make it easier for you to have all wiring and plumbing properly connected. Should you try to do these tasks without proper planning, you can make serious mistakes that will cost you plenty of time and money to fix.

Heating and Cooling

Finally, you’ll need to decide how to keep your studio apartment cool in the summer and warm in the winter. While you could choose to connect it to your home’s existing HVAC system, you may decide a window AC unit and space heaters can do the job just fine.

Once you turn your garage into a studio apartment, you’ll have a home that looks even more beautiful than before, has a higher resale value, and may even put hundreds of dollars in your pocket each month, courtesy of a new tenant.