Palm Building & Carpentry Services

After deciding the garge can be converted and the purpose of the garage then we need to look at:
In-fill Garage Door
A traditional garage door designed for the easy access of cars is unlikely to be suitable for your garage conversion. It is neither practical in terms of insulation and light, nor does it look good so the old garage door will have to go and be filled in with a new wall to house a new door and/or possibly a window. The original foundation of the garage will most likely be a shallow slab and not sufficient to support the new wall, in which case a deeper foundation needs to be dug. This will be assessed during the initial stages. Soil type, adjacent buildings, nearby trees and the resulting drainage conditions need to be assessed in order to estimate what depth and type of foundations are necessary, especially if your house was built on a landfill site.

Walls below Ground Level
Depending on what foundations are deemed necessary for your particular conversion, a greater or lesser amount of wall construction needs to be undertaken. Walls underneath the ground (substructure) must support the construction above (superstructure) and, to be effective, these sub-walls must be made from brick that is resistant to ground frost and sulphates present in the soil.

New External Walls
It is likely that at least one completely new external wall will be needed for your garage conversion, such as in the case of the in-fill garage door. External walls constructed of timber and/ or masonry come in two types:

Solid wall - Just a single wall. Due to present day thermal insulation requirements, it is unlikely that such a wall will be suitable.
Cavity Wall - Two walls separated by an internal space, usually filled with thermal insulation.
Any external wall must be constructed in such a way as to repel and divert moisture coming from the ground (damp proofing) and stand up to the outside elements (weather resistance). Thermal resistance is the term given to how much heat the wall will retain and this is naturally affected by your construction materials. Fire resistance is crucial to stop the spread of fire in any eventuality, this is ascertained via minimum standards and affected by the proximity of any neighbouring structures. Lastly, the wall will have to bear its own weight, that of the other walls, the roof and any openings (doorways) as required.

Existing Garage Walls
It is most likely that your existing garage walls are of the solid wall (single) variety as detailed above. As such, they will probably fall short of Building Regulation minimums across a variety of categories such as Fire Resistance, Insulation, Weather Resistance and Damp Proofing. Furthermore, they may not be able to safely support any new roof you have planned. Therefore, they will need to be upgraded with a new internal skin and carefully assessed in terms of Damp-Proofing.

Flooring
The existing garage floor is unlikely to be suitable for regular domestic use. The solid concrete floor can either be upgraded in terms of strength, damp-proofing and thermal insulation or, alternatively, a new suspended timber floor can be built on top of the existing concrete one. The process of making your garage fit for habitation differs according to which floor you wish to install:

Solid Floor - This will need to be upgraded with a Damp Proof Membrane (DPM), which comes in solid and liquid form. Liquid DPM is often best suited for garage conversions. If required, thermal insulation should be placed on top of the membrane and a separation layer may be needed in between to see that the two layers do not react with each other. Finally, the floor is finished with what is known as a floating floor, a layer of wood or screed - depending on the insulation below. If screed is used, it should be around 75mm thick and safeguarded against cracking with a wire mesh.
Suspended Timber Floor - Unlike your garage, the floor of your house may be constructed fairly high above the ground and, if you wish, you can install a suspended timber floor in your garage conversion to match this. Timber joists are laid from wall to wall with a minimum gap of 150mm maintained between the original concrete floor and the new timber one. A Damp Proof Course (DPC) should be laid underneath the timber floor and an intermediate wall may be necessary for further ventilation.
Garage Roof
Unless there is a room above it already, the existing garage roof - originally designed to keep the rain off your car - is most likely going to need to be upgraded in any garage conversion. Which type corresponds to your garage roof?

Flat Roof - This will need to be ventilated with a 50mm gap between the underside of the roof and any insulation as standard.
Pitch Roofs - Extra insulation can be placed between the ceiling and the roof, just as in a normal loft.
Ventilation
Any room in a house must have adequate ventilation and the level of ventilation required depends on the room type - bathrooms and kitchens obviously require more than bedrooms or studies. An opening window must be installed which equals one-twentieth the rooms total floor-area. Additional ventilation comes in the form of trickle ventilators and alternative means of ventilation may be discussed on a case-by-case basis with the Building Control Body. New kitchens, toilets, bathrooms, shower rooms and utility rooms must be fitted with a mechanical extractor fan with performance levels measured in litres per second.

Electrics
Any electrical work needs to be carried out in accordance with the British Safety Standards.

The features that will decide the suitability of the roof space for a loft conversion are the available head height, the pitch and the type of structure, as well as any obstacles such as water tanks or chimney stacks. An inspection of the roof space will reveal its structure and physical dimensions.
Head Height
Take a measurement from the bottom of the ridge timber to the top of the ceiling joist; the useable part of the roof should be greater than 2.2m.
Pitch Angle
The higher the pitch angle, the higher the central head height is likely to be, and if dormers are used or the roof is redesigned, then the floor area can be increased.
Type of Roof Structure
Two main structures are used for roof construction — namely traditional framed type and truss section type. The traditional framed type is typically found in pre-1960s houses where the rafters and ceiling joists, together with supporting timbers, are cut to size on site and assembled. This type of structure has more structural input, so is often the most suitable type for attic conversions. The space can be easily, and relatively inexpensively, opened up by strengthening the rafters and adding supports as specified.
Post 1960s, the most popular form of construction used factory-made roof trusses. These utilise thinner – and therefore cheaper timbers – but have structural integrity by the addition of braced diagonal timbers. They allow a house roof to be erected and felted in a day. However, this type of truss suggests that there are no loadbearing structures beneath, and so opening up the space requires a greater added structural input.
This will normally involve the insertion of steel beams between loadbearing walls for the new floor joists to hang on and the rafter section to be supported on — together with a steel beam at the ridge. This added structural input requires skill, knowledge and equipment and a far greater cash outlay.

Every loft conversion is slightly different, however here is a timetable of a loft conversion that contains the most common stages and steps that your loft conversion is likely to go through:
Works will commence with the erection of independent scaffolding.
First delivery of materials – ie structural steels, joisting timbers etc.
An opening is made in the roof for access – initial works are completed externally, so minimising internal disturbance (approx 3/4 weeks)
Floor joisting carried out – following which the local authority Building Inspector will visit to approve floor construction.
If a dormer conversion, the dormer will next be constructed, insulation installed, followed by a further inspection by the Building Inspector.
Completion of external works – ie roofing of dormer, lead work, fascias, soffits, guttering.
Internally, erecting studwork walls, forming bedrooms/ensuite/stairwell access etc.. Insulating walls to required standard.
Fitting dormer windows/Velux windows.
Creating access to facilitate installation of new staircase and fitting new stairs.
Installing new cabling for lighting, sockets, Expelair, smoke alarms etc.
First fix plumbing to new ensuite and additional radiator(s).
Plastering all new areas.
Second fix carpentry works – ie skirtings, architraves, doors, handrail, spindles etc.
Second fix works for electrics (upvc fittings installed) and plumbing (sanitary ware, radiators etc).
Clearing down – including guttering inspection.
Final inspection by Building Inspector who issues Completion Certificate (all works having complied with building and fire regulations).
Your new loft is now ready to be decorated and to move in to.

We have been established since 1977 and have experienced and qualified staff in our team, as a friendly family run business we have over 30 years of experience in the industry passed down as the family grows.

We offer a full workmanship guarantee on all of our work alongside any manufacture product guarantees.

The Variety of work and always meeting new customers and of course the transformation of the homes. Making our customers smile and happy is our aim as by doing that we then are assured of more work.

Family, future prospects and being able to control your own work

Because we are the best at what we do and have vast amounts of experience and expertise in the field.