building regs insulation advice

[jeepster1961]

hi all, going to convert our garage in a couple of months, have had a couple of quotes from builders, we want the rear access door into the garage bricked up and a inner leaf to the wall created inside the garage with insulation. then a door created rfom the house into the garage.


i want to keep the up and over garage door and then build a stud wall inside the door and insulate that, a couple of builders have said that it will be difficult to get u values for such a construction, has anyone done something similar, or am i better off getting a builder to build a cavity wall to block in the garage door.

i am going to batten the other wall and insulate myself, whats the most effective way of doing that? i guess i will need to give building control calculations for my insulation, can the insulation supplier provide those ? such as celotex.

[john_b]

You are opening a can of worms here, you will need building regulations approval from your local authority. As I understand it, The space will become regarded as "habitable" and therefore will require bringing upto current building regulations not just in terms of insulation. I think you could do the conversion on a "Building Notice" (not full Planning Permission) best thing to do is run a sketch by your local planner.

The sketch will also be usefull for pricing by your builders so there is no argument about what was and was-not included at the end of the job.

I presume from what you say you will keep the up-and-over-door but it will not be usable i cannot remember the u-value you will have to achieve in the walls but you should be able to do it with a stud-in construction filled with insulation manufacturers values on internet.

Is your garage detached or integral if detached it may not have a Damp Proof Membrane in the floor and also no insulation, cold and damp.

hope this helps

[jeepster1961]

hi, the rest of the work is pretty straightforward as a mate has had his converted, just that in his place he has removed the garage door and replace with a brick wall and dg window.

the only complication is the garage door and wether to get the builder to build a cavity wall behind the door then add celotex and battens then plaster board to the wall.

just wondering what everyone else had done

[robh2002]

Current building regs require a u value of 0.35 W/m^2K - which is easy enough to obtain with the many types of phenolic foam/pasterboard/brick/mineral wool available so insulation is not really a problem at all - once you've persuaded your builder to do it.

As the previous poster mentions, building regs due to converting the garage to a habitable space will be important and this will then have an influence on house contents insurance.

Up shot of all this is speak to the council!