Has your family outgrown your home’s living space? Garage remodeling could be your solution. Whether you want to convert the garage into kids’ bedrooms, or just customize a corner as a new laundry room, you can remodel a garage without the construction costs of a home addition.

Since garage remodeling impacts your home’s value, plan the aesthetic, legal and practical issues. Learn about different types of garages, and conversion and customization remodel garage ideas. Also learn about a home remodel involving designing a laundry room in the garage.

Successful Garage Remodeling

Before you demolish or shop for this project:

• Check building codes
• Draw out your plan to remodel the garage
• Get garage remodeling estimates
• Look for garage remodel ideas
• Obtain necessary building permits.

Review home remodel publications for garage remodel pictures. This way, you’ll know exactly what you’d like out of your garage remodeling process.

Home improvement stores offer free classes, and rent tools that you may need to remodel the garage:

• Insulation blowers
• Nail guns
• Saws.

You may want to look for do-it-yourself (DIY) advice on how to remodel a garage. Find this information in bookstores, online and in libraries.

To avoid expensive mistakes when you complete a home remodel in the garage, create a detailed plan. This will help you to seek advice and estimates, decide what you can do yourself, and what a licensed electrician or plumber should do.

Check building codes, homeowner association bylaws, and subdivision deed restrictions. If you fail to get the required paperwork, you may be subject to significant fines and penalties, including demolition of your home.

Garage Remodeling Choices

There are many aspects of a home remodel in the garage to consider before you begin your project. Your garage remodeling plan will determine your need for:

• Doors
• Flooring
• Heating and cooling
• Insulation
• Plumbing
• Storage
• Wiring.

When you remove an overhead garage door, remodel the garage’s exterior to match the home’s exterior. You can frame a new wall, or enhance it with windows, a patio door or a regular door.

Garage Remodeling Issues

Garage floors are often concrete slabs that lack insulation, are several inches below the home’s floor level, and are sometimes sloped for drainage.

If you take the opportunity to maximize insulation when you remodel the garage, you can cut future heating costs. Compare extending the home’s heating and cooling systems to adding separate units (electric baseboards, space heaters, stoves, etc.).

When you remodel a garage, supplying water may be easier than handling drainage. In addition to correctly positioned water supply pipes, you’ll need a drainage outlet. For drainage above concrete slabs, you can slightly raise bathtub or shower floor levels with a step up to them.

The Big Picture

Remodel garage ideas may include under-utilized storage space overhead and along walls. These home remodel ideas will give you more living space, and makes your garage fit your lifestyle.