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How to convert garage into a second living room?

Hi everyone,

Our living area is very small so we are now planning to convert our garage into the 2nd living room. Now the door between garage and the current living room is a single pocket door.

But after the conversion, it seems to be better to use a wider door to open up space when there are two living areas.

But we are a bit confused on which type of double doors we should use -

- Double sliding pocket doors ?

- Double barn doors ?

- Or any other type of door would suit better?

Its our first time doing this kind of project.

Any any advice would be much appreciated🫂

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EricL

Hello @ivanptr

Thank you for sharing your question about your double doors. Barn doors look great even when they are in their open position. It's all about style and presentation. It provides a medium amount of audio privacy as there are gaps all around the door. Plus, cold air passes through the gaps preventing a good positive seal.

A pocket door on the other hand is the total opposite of the barn door. It is hidden from sight when fully open and is only visible when pulled out of its cavity. When it is fully closed it provides excellent privacy and prevents cold air from passing through. If properly locked and sealed with a Sperling 78cm Double Sided Draught Stopper. You get a superb seal that prevents air from passing through.

That would be the general difference between those two door styles. I suggest visiting your local store and having a look at the barn doors and cavity doors. You should also be able to see the door tracks the doors use.

Here is an example of a fantastic barn door design: MDF barn door with diagonal pattern by @LePallet.

If you need further assistance, please let me know.

Eric

ivanptr

Hi Brain Trust,

This might be complicated but we wonder if we do this slowly and step by step, is it possible to widen the doorway by ourselves simply using tools and equipment from Bunnings?

This is our current sliding door (80cm wide) :

And we want to widen doorway to 110cm to install a barn door on the living room side:

This requires work to

1) remove the recessed wall shelves.

2) remove the pocket door

3) widen the doorway

Thanks in advance for any advice🙏😊

ivanptr

Thanks Eric for all the advice! we have decided to use a single barn door due to the benefits you mentioned.

Now we are proceeding to the installation planning⛏️⛏️ , would love to hear your thought

MitchellMc

Hi @ivanptr,

That's certainly possible and not overly complicated as long as you take it one step at a time. A question, though, why do you want to widen the doorway? Is it just for the looks? You could simply install a 105cm barndoor over the current opening. Due to barn doors being on the surface of the wall, they are always larger than the opening. In your case, the barn door would be 25cm wider than the opening, which is not unusual. In the closed position, the door must extend past the opening while covering the other side. So, in the closed position, there will be 12.5cm of overhang on either side.

If you were to widen the opening to 110cm, you'd need a barn door of at least 120cm to cover the gap.

If you are opening the doorway for looks, then I can certainly see the benefit of going to that amount of work.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

ivanptr

Because we want to have a widen doorway to open space up after the garage is converted to a 2nd living room with 2 extra bedrooms:

IMG-20230713-WA0004(1).jpg

We reckon it might feel more spacious when the doorway between 2 living area is wider.

And then we think it might be nice to have a barn door as it can provide a medium amount of audio privacy for the people resting in the new bedrooms at night.

Not sure if this makes sense🤔

MitchellMc

That makes perfect sense, @ivanptr. Always nice to have an open transition between two living areas.

Please let us know if you have any questions before you get started.

Mitchell

ivanptr

@MitchellMc @Our question is, how can we get started if its not an overly complicated project? can u guide us through the whole process in general

now we want to do these :

1) remove the recessed wall shelves

2) remove the pocket door

3) widen the doorway

Thank you so much for any ideas

MitchellMc

The initial steps will involve demolition @ivanptr. It would be worth having the wall assessed by a builder or structural engineer to determine if it is load-bearing. Given a portion of the wall appears to be a recessed bookshelf, that seems unlikely. Once you've checked, you can begin by removing the bookshelf. Start with the end panel, which the shelves connect to. You might have to cut it out, or a few swift whacks with a hammer might do it. You can then remove the shelves and start cutting the "wall" away. I'd suggest you must demolish the bookshelves, remove the cavity slider, and then re-build the wall from where the end of the bookshelf was to the edge of the new opening. Here are a couple of helpful step-by-step guides: How to remove a stud wall and How to build a stud wall.

Due to the custom nature of your recessed bookshelf/wall, I'm unable to give you an exact method of how to deconstruct the wall, but I'd suggest removing the bookshelf pieces will begin the process. That will give you access to the rear of the cavity slider and allow you to start cutting it out. A reciprocating saw with an extension demolition blade will come in handy.

Once you start taking the wall apart, you can provide further update images, and we can suggest the next steps. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

ivanptr

Thanks @MitchellMc ! this weekend we will head to bunnings to get those tools first.🫂

ivanptr

@MitchellMc

1) Is it also better to remove the original door casing / trim for our plan to widen the doorway?

Cos when the opening got widen, we will need longer trim to cover the whole doorway. (But I dont have any spare part of the original trim. Its installed by last owner)

2) For a barn door , the current trim seems be quite thick with 10mm thickness?

Better to use thinner trim / casing to bring the barn door closer to the wall?

Thanks for any advice.

MitchellMc

Hi @ivanptr,

I would have thought that if you're widening the doorway, the trim will need to be removed. Once complete, you'll likely need to replace the whole trim with a new one.

You can use a thinner trim if you'd like. Or you don't have to use a trim at all and can plaster the edges, which would be a more appealing look.

Mitchell

ivanptr

Hi @MitchellMc @EricL ,

We have decided to retain the garage door, but add a stud wall behind the garage door to convert the garage into another living area. (And in future if we want to turn this room back into garage, we don't need to reinstall the garage door.)

And we watched the How to build a stud wall video you shared, so now we need to buy tools to start from scratch:

1) Circular saw

2) Handsaw

3) Nail gun

Can you recommend any particular products which are affordable, not expensive, and reliable enough for beginners in building stud wall?

It is our first time... Clueless on how to choose .. !

Optional?:

4) work bench

Which type of work bench would come into handy for us?

Thank you for any recommendation.🔥

MitchellMc

Hi @ivanptr,

I'd recommend you go with a Ryobi One+ 18V 165mm Circular Saw - Skin Only, and a Ryobi 18V ONE+ Drill Driver Kit. Alternatively, to save cost if this is a one-off job, a XU1 1200W 185mm Corded Circular Saw and a Ozito 280W 10mm Drill Driver.

You can screw the frame together instead of using a nail gun; that's why I've included the drill driver instead of it. It would not be feasible to buy a nail gun purely for this project, as the one you need can only be used for large framing nails. Another option is to grab yourself a circular saw and hire a nail gun.

Any decent handsaw like the Craftright 500mm Hand Saw will do.

Either a foldable workbench or a couple of saw horses would be handy. I don't think a larger workbench will be necessary; you just need something to place longer lengths of timber on whilst you cut them.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

ivanptr

Hi Mitchell,

Thanks a lot for the useful and clear recommendation!

We will get the Ryobi One+ Circular Saw , foldable workbench and handsaw from Bunnings.

1) But we hv a question about the drill driver,

now we have a :
Ozito PXC 18V 10mm Compact Drill Driver

Is it similar to the Ryobi 18V ONE+ ? effective enough for building stud wall as well ?

2) What type of screw should we buy ? please give us the direct link

Thanks again. cant wait to build our first stud wall🔥

MitchellMc

The Ozito PXC 18V 10mm Compact Drill Driver should be fine to use for your project @ivanptr. For the screws, you'd typically be using something along the lines of these 75mm timber screws.

Mitchell

ivanptr

Hi @MitchellMc ,

We now have all the tools and screws to build the stud wall

We noticed there are 4 areas that we dont know how to deal with :

1. A trim on wall?

2) Some kind of ceiling cover?

3) Cornice

4) Skirting board

Could you tell us which one we need to remove ? And what tools should we use and how?

Thank you for any advice in advance🙏

___________________

(Curent goal - to build a stud wall behind the garage door)

EricL

Hello @ivanptr

Picture number one, three and four are just timber trims, they can be removed using a Craftright 380mm Wrecking Bar. But if you only need to remove a little and trim the end to allow your wall frame to fit in, I suggest using a Multi Tool with a Kango 3 - Piece Titanium Toughened Plunge Cut Multi-Tool Blade Set KOATV-3. This will allow you to cut the timber trim without having to disassemble the entire trim.

In regards to picture number two, it is called a James Hardie 2400 x 4.5mm PVC Straight Jointer. They are used to join large ceiling sheets together. Again, you can trim off the small piece that you don't need using the Multi Tool.

Before you begin, I suggest taking many measurements of the area where you are planning to build the wall. I then recommend drawing it on paper or computer, this will help you visualize what you need to do and the steps you need to take when you begin your assembly.

Please remember to wear personal protection such as gloves, goggles and a mask when while working on your project.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let me know.

Eric

ivanptr

Hi @EricL

We've taken the measurements , from left to right:

Aggregate:

Now we have taken the measurement and will then use software to visualize them

For the ceiling, we need to use stud finder to locate the ceiling joist ?

Can we directly drill the screw the frame into the joist through the ceiling sheet? or we need to remove the ceiling sheet first?

For both sides, is it necessary to locate the stud behind the drywall first? or can we just screw the frame to drywall?

3) Which structural pine wood should we buy?

https://www.bunnings.com.au/products/building-hardware/timber/framing-timber/structural-pine

Wholehearted thanks for your help.🙌

Regards,
Ivan

MitchellMc

Hi @ivanptr,

1) You can directly drill and screw the frame into the joist through the ceiling sheet—no need to remove it.

2) It would be best if you could find a stud on the wall to attach your frame directly to. If the frame is secured solidly to the roof joists and into the floor, you could potentially connect it to the drywall on the sides.

3) You'll be using H2 Pine to construct the frame; the minimum calibre would be 70 x 35mm.

Please let me know if you have further questions.

Mitchell

Noyade

Good morning @ivanptr

How's your wall coming along?

I was thinking - medium sized angled brackets, strategically placed on the walls and ceiling. Not necessarily connected to studs/ceiling wood - as this wall is non-structural and for appearance only? Like a Hollywood/stage prop?

And like Hollywood - that famous scene in the movie Witness where the Amish fabricate the barn wall on the ground, then raise into position with many hands could also be replicated and attached to the brackets. Clearance would be needed - but this will be eventually covered with gyprock and plaster.

And this 'clearance' will circumvent having to rebate your wall studs for your 'problem' areas as you photographed above (numbered #1 #2 and #4).

Bottom line is, it will easily come down with the minimum of fuss and little damage to the walls - should you tire of the room and want the garage back.

Is the garage door watertight? No water enters when it rains?

Please let us know how you're getting on - or if completed, share photos.

Cheers.

ivanptr

Hi our drafter finally returned us with a drawing plan for our project (Converting a garage to 2 bedrooms + living room) and he asked if he missed anything.

We wonder if the positions of both beds and wardrobes are good? or do we miss anything else?

Just want to see what do you guys think :

MitchellMc

The plans look good, @ivanptr. I can't see any issues with those.

You might want to flip the beds around so their heads are on the opposite wall instead of directly in line with the door. Better Feng Shui that way.

Mitchell

ivanptr

@MitchellMc

The problem is , we have been chasing the drafter for many times until we got this first draft. Now we just want to change the length of both bedrooms from 3000mm to 3200mm.

Do you think we can use photoshop just to replace the two figures ourselves and then send the amended plan to certifier?

But then the scale of the bedrooms on the drawing wont be correct.

We reckon if this would be a problem for the certifier / builders. They wont care, right?

It says "do not scale off this drawing" so it seems the scale doesn't have to be correct

EricL

Hello @ivanptr

I don't recommend altering the drawing with photoshop. Should the draftsperson be contacted by the council, the drawing you submitted and the drawing they have will not be the same and your application will not pass due to the discrepancy.

I suggest to keep trying to contact your draftsperson so that you can properly request for the change. They will also be able to tell you if the change is possible or if it will affect other parts of your design.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric

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