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Design Dilemma Living Rooms Flooring

garage conversion with mechanics pit

5 years ago

planning to convert garage to living room. however there is a pretty big mechanics pit...any ideas what i could do with it???...seems like a waste to just concrete it all

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Jonathan
5 years ago
Wine cellar?
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OnePlan
5 years ago
Sunken seating ? (Image found via google )
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Thanks all! Unfortunately it's not really possible to notmodernise fairly soonish. I don't think the house has been touched since it was built (20s/30s), which means electrics are really old and the house needs to be re-wired, which in itself is a large job so we may as well do some internal work at the same time. I'm warming to the idea of a shower room downstairs, but I can't see where it would fit. We'd be keeping the doorway out to the side, but I think it'd be weird to walk into a shower room from there. Preferably you'd walk into the utility and the shower room would be off that, but I just can't figure it out floor plan-wise. Any ideas? titiankim - well spotted RE the windows in the rear reception. There's actually a window on the right leading towards the current "garden room" and there are two internal windows too. Funnily enough the rear reception room is really light currently. If we went with the sketch I drew, we'd keep it so that there are windows going all the way around that side and into the kitchen/diner. I also like the idea of keeping the two internal windows, plus the double doors to the kitchen would have windows too, so it'd still be quite bright. I think it's a wise idea to keep both reception rooms as I do think my mother's partner and his father would like their own space (plus the rear reception would make a great play room for future families). I've attached a photo of this room so you get a better idea.
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Hi! I totally know what you mean about all the decision making. I’m constantly on here because I just can’t face making decisions anymore - there are too many of them. Ha ha. Ok so doors- I think it would bug you if you are used to going out via the kitchen and can’t do. Taking rubbish out etc etc back and forth. Bifold - yes I’m a set of 3 you could have the door opening on its own. Usually it would open to the left ie against the middle one then if you wanted to open all of them you just slide them over. Ideal config would be a traffic door opening to the right and a set of 2 bifolds opening to the right (so they would stack to the kitchen end. But I don’t know if that is possible or not but worth asking a supplier!
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I do prefer Jonathan's plan. Just a few reasons:- I am not a fan of strings of rooms together creating lengths that you can see straight down, especially when at the end of it is a playroom full of toys. I think the playroom needs to be slightly segregated, although visible from the kitchen is great. His plan gives more longevity as you have a separate lounge, great for an adult retreat in future years, and also, the playroom then becomes a nice breakfast area when the kids eventually depart as teenagers to the dark recesses of their pits ( bedrooms ). Jonathan's dining area is much nicer too with a good outlook over the garden. A quick question...........is there a particular reason why you want an extra bathroom downstairs? In my experience, they rarely get used to their full potential. We have one, and, when our kids were at home, they moaned like trains and didn't like using it, so, in preference would hang around upstairs and wait for the main one to become free. Now, that they've left home, the only thing being washed in ours is the dogs. You probably would be better off with a downstairs loo and coat room, as currently there isn't great provision for all the coats, shoes & school bags you must have. You may think the Utility will get used for that, but it's too far from the front door as dumping your coats and shoes for most kids is an 'immediately you get through the front door thing'!
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TBH that doesn't really sound very terrible. But as Jonathan pointed out, it can be quite scary if you have no previous experience of house buying. But as he says, it's worth reading up and researching what all these things are. To have a small amount of rising damp in a small room such as a WC, isn't a big deal. A damp company can get that done relatively easily. They would take off the plaster to a height of approx. 3ft (ish) on the affected walls, they then inject the bricks and then re-plaster. There may be an issue with the DPC, which they would also deal with. When we moved in to our house, we had walls in our two sitting rooms, the downstairs loo, hall and in the cupboard under the stairs all with rising damp. It was a bit of a mess, but it got sorted quite quickly and when the plaster was fully dried, we could redecorate. As I said before the other mentions of damp are from external water ingress - which means you just need to identify why and how the water is getting in and get it fixed (incidentally, flat roofs are prone to leaking), that will fix the damp problem and thus any mould. Again a damp specialist will be able to advise you on this, but this type of problem is quite straight forward to deal with. Of the remaining points: Electrics - get clarification from the surveyor about what circuits he's referring to and then get an electrician in to find out roughly much it would be to do. Upgrade fire detection - this means install some smoke detectors - you can do this yourself, buy then from a DIY store. Insulation - get clarification of what the surveyor means by external walls, does he mean get cavity wall insulation or similar? If so that's not an immediate essential and could be done later. Insulating the attic - put in better loft insulation - again another thing you can do yourself get loft insulation from a DIY shop or look at other more eco friendly solutions. Minor repairs to doors and windows - not a great expense and likely a lot you could do yourself - perhaps panes need replacing or blown double glazing need replacing - fairy simple and straight forward. Clarify what the survey means by protect low level glazing. I suspect this means there is some window/s which is/are vulnerable to breakage (rather than a safety hazard) which would mean either getting a protective grille for it or you can get film to go over glass that makes it less like to shatter. Dormer & garage roofs - just check to see if they are water tight and sound - a builder or roofing specialist could advise you. Uneven paving etc - really absolutely nothing to worry about and likely something you could leave for a while - unless it is dangerous. Wasps nest - simple we've had 5 removed from our property THIS YEAR (it been a bad year for us for wasps!) It cost us £66 per nest. Carbon monoxide detectors - same as smoke detectors - do it yourself Fully functioning mechanical ventilation - get an extractor hood for the kitchen when you re-do it and you could just open the bathroom window when required. These are not vital but are good to have in the long run. Installing earth bonding - its a piece of wire! check on Google to see what you need to do, you can do it yourself. (I have a feeling it is no longer considered a necessity, but I could be wrong on that.) Clean down mould - you can get special cleaner to use to clean mould off, so get a some and sponge and do it yourself! Background vents - don't appear to have any in my house. I would say if you regularly open windows, doors don't over fill rooms with furniture, these are not immediately required (if t all) especially if there are trickle vents on the windows. It really isn't that scary when you break it down and understand exactly what it's talking about. Don't get too concerned, damp specialists deals with those types of issues every day, so it's not an enormous insurmountable problem, its quite straight forward. A lot of things on the list are very, very minor and simple, quick & easy to do - for instance it takes 10 minutes to put up a smoke detector. I think if you can get a damp specialist or a competent builder to look at the property, I think you'd feel a lot better about it all.
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