To cool or not to cool

[gallus23]

Chaps,

I'm teetering on the edge of starting my Garage conversion but I'm in a quandary.

Do I add an air conditioner/heater unit or do I just make provision for a radiator.... and if I do any one know of a suitable unit or supplier.....

I'm planning to alter my existing single brick skinned garage by partitioning with Rockwool and a double layer of Plaster board...

Cheers.......

[ReTrO]

What sort of openings are you going to have?

If there's only going to be a door and you are going to use it during the summer I'd certainly look at air conditioning.

If only cold times then a radiator would probably suffice.

[gallus23]

Well at the moment. There'll one be the door as entry, and no other openings . . .

[ReTrO]

Probably best to get some sort of cooling system then. Or at least have the wiring in and holes available to add one at a later date, you'll only regret it otherwise.

You could even expand the air-con to the adjoining rooms etc, though you might get noise problems that way...

[gallus23]

Well at the moment. There'll one be the door as entry, and no other openings . . .

[menalaus]

imo full piped AC (or even a stand alone plugin AC/heater combo)would take up to much room plus may be dead noisy during playback. unless the only time your going to use the room is in the middle of the day during summer id go with a radiator. garages get pretty cold at night even in summer causing condensation to form in your AV set up.(not good news)
However this is not the real issue.
As the floor is probably just concrete onto earth there may or may not be a damp proof membrane underneath or even a damp proof course in the wall (dependent on the age and quality of the original build). check this out before you start work because even though the conversion will look great just after youve finished if you cover over the floor with carpet/ tiles/ laminate board this will stop the evaporation of water (from the ground up through the concrete and out through the non air tight garage door). if you prevent the floor from 'breathing' two things will happen, the moisture will travel up the walls and rot your nice new plasterboard filling the room with the sweet smell of mildew and secound what ever you fitted on the floor will build up moisture behind it and will also start to rot.
bad news unless you want to dig up the concrete floor and lay a hung wooden floor with lots of ventilation i.e airbricks (like the rest of your house).
a radiator will go some way to help the room feel like the rest of your house in the short term but will not solve the underlying problem.

[gallus23]

Okay now you've got me worried !

I have to admit I'm not Mr D.I.Y but i was thinking of putting a DPC + instalation on the floor before building the flase wooden floor six inches or so higher than the current concrete one.

I was also thinking of running the DPC behind the partition walls

Do you think the best approach would be to forget the DPC on the floor and ensure it good ventiation ?

wo

[menalaus]

i dont think there should be a need to put a membrane on the floor if your going to fit air bricks in the course below the new level, all that may do would be to push the moisture out towards the walls.what state is the existing DPC in? are there areas of discoloration or salt deposite on the internal walls?

what exactly do you mean by 'running the DPC behind the the partion wall'.
are you planning to divide the garage with a stud wall leaving an area at the front for tools/bikes etc?
whats the celing height going to be like if you raise the floor level by 6"?
back to the radiator, how far away from any existing pipework is the garage?

[gallus23]

The inside of the Garage isn't damp at all there’s no discolouration on the inside of the external wall (the other wall adjoins the house)

I can see a DPC on the external wall but I thought I'd need to damp proof between the wall and the partitioning I'll be putting up inside... So from the inside i'll have Plaster board, Laminate flooring acoustic underlay, another plaster board, rockwool installation (65mm thick), Damp proof membrane and then the existing brick work..

I'm planning to put the stud wall just behind the existing up and over garage door, but there won't be any usable room there..

The current ceiling is quite high just over 8'6'' so I don’t think it'll be to closed in...

Access to pipe work for heating should be a problem as we have radiators in an adjacent room..

[menalaus]

sounds good to me, though you should check how many rads come of that run of pipes, im no plumber but have told in the past that there is a limit.
hope it goes well and post some pics of the end result!

if you install a split heat pump a/c system you would get cooling in the summer cheap heating in the winter and they can run fairly quite as well as main unit is install out side

[mikeq]

Hi,

Don't know much about garage conversions but is there not a regulation in place stating that you must have some means of air change with a room.

If there will only be the entrance/exit door I think you need to provide this through air conditioning/extractor. You will also need to inform the local council about change of use. There may also be some fire regulations to take into account.

If the coucil found out about the conversion without them having been consulted they could make you rip it all out. It is probably worth getting in touch with them, planning/building control.

On the DPC, I think you would need to consider this if you do not know how the orginal construction was carried out. Although no signs of moisture at present you will find that the garage has sufficient ventilation to not let this happen, sealing it up may change things slightly.

Mike