Part Garage Conversions in Liverpool

What is a part garage conversion?

Instead of converting the whole space, a new wall is built across or along the garage. One side becomes part of the house: insulated, damp-proofed, heated and finished like any other room. The other side stays as a garage or store, usually keeping the existing up-and-over or roller door. People choose it when they want an extra room but still need somewhere for bikes, garden tools, the lawnmower, bins or a freezer.

It sits alongside our other garage conversions in Liverpool, and the construction work is similar in many ways. What changes is that the converted room now has a cold, unheated space right next to it, and that one wall carries a lot of responsibility.

Common ways to split a garage

For double garages, our double garage conversion page goes into the options for using one or both bays.

Why the dividing wall matters

In a full conversion, the old garage walls become external walls and the internal wall to the house becomes an ordinary partition. In a part conversion, the new dividing wall separates a heated room from an unheated garage. For insulation purposes it is usually treated much like an external wall, so it needs to be built and insulated to a standard that keeps heat in and stops condensation on the room side. Building control confirms the standard for each job.

The wall also needs to suit what happens on the other side. If the store is just for bikes and boxes, the main concern is warmth. If you intend to keep a car, a petrol mower or fuel cans there, fire separation between the store and the new room becomes important, including the construction of the wall and any door through it. That is a question we raise early with building control rather than leaving to chance, and the answer may affect whether a connecting door is a good idea at all.

How does the converted section get light and air?

If the garage door stays, the room behind it has no front window. Building Regulations guidance asks habitable rooms to have openable windows for purge ventilation and background ventilation such as trickle vents, so the room needs another source. Options include a new window in a side or rear wall where the garage is not built up to a boundary, a rooflight in a flat or pitched roof, or a glazed door to the garden. A utility room or WC has different needs: an extract fan is usually required and natural light is welcome rather than essential.

If the room is an inner room, reached only through another room, building control guidance usually asks for an escape window of a minimum size. That can rule out some layouts, so we check it before you fall in love with a plan.

The rest of the build

Inside the converted section, the work is the same as any conversion. The floor gets a damp-proof membrane linked to the damp-proof course in the walls, rigid insulation and a screed or timber finish to bring the level up. See floor insulation and levelling for detail. Single-skin garage walls need weatherproofing and insulating, usually with a new inner leaf or framed wall, covered on our garage wall insulation page. The roof over the converted part is insulated, and how that is done depends on whether the roof structure continues over the store.

Services need thought too. A new consumer unit or circuits are installed by a registered electrician, and the store side may want its own lighting and sockets. If the room is a utility or WC, the waste pipe needs a route to the drains that avoids crossing the store floor awkwardly.

Which garages suit a part conversion?

• Long integral garagesThe back section is next to the kitchen or hall, which makes a utility, WC or office easy to connect. Our integral garage conversion page covers the construction.
• Double garagesOne bay converts cleanly with the other bay kept for a car or storage.
• Attached side garagesOften long and narrow, they suit a rear room with the front kept for bikes and bins.
• Short garagesUsually less suitable, as splitting leaves neither part useful. A full conversion may make more sense.

Planning and practical checks

Keeping the garage door can help where the look of the front matters, for example in a conservation area, but it does not remove the need to check. Permitted development rights for garage conversions have been removed on some properties, often through a condition on the original planning permission for a newer estate. If the garage counts towards required off-street parking, the council may have a view. Check with your own local planning authority: Liverpool City Council, Sefton, Knowsley, St Helens, Wirral or Halton.

What happens when you get in touch

1. We call back and ask about the garage type, the age of the house, what you want the room for and what you need to keep in the store.
2. We visit to look at the walls, floor level, roof, existing door and where services run, and we measure both sections.
3. We talk through where the dividing wall could go and what drawings and approvals are likely. Drawings are prepared by an architect or architectural technician where needed.
4. You receive a written quote. Work follows the agreed drawings with building control inspections, and you should end up with the completion certificate and electrical paperwork.

Part conversions around Merseyside

The 1960s to 1980s estates in Maghull and the private estate housing of Croxteth Park have many integral and linked garages that suit a rear utility or office with storage at the front. Bigger houses in Heswall sometimes have double garages where converting one bay is the obvious choice. If you are weighing up part against full, we are happy to talk through both as a local team that converts garages.