Growing teenagers were the prompt for these owners to create more space in their home.

Catherine and Geoff considered a number of ways to create more living space in their home. They eventually came back to their first idea, which was to move their internal garage out towards the front of their section and use the space created to close in and build a second lounge.

The new space

They used a draughtsperson to draw up the plans and engaged a builder who employed a couple of workers.

Work began in July 2006. Perhaps because theirs was not a major project, the builder seemed easily distracted by other jobs. After ripping up the concrete in July they didn’t see him again for six weeks and the project did not get finished until just before Christmas, 2006.

"While this created frustration it was not a huge inconvenience," Catherine said, "and the kids were able to use the new lounge when they had friends around, before it was finished ".  Geoff recommends having a contract with completion times specified to keep the builder on track. 

To keep the house liveable, the back half of the existing garage was closed off first – this became the wall of the new lounge. Work on the new part of the garage could then go ahead without having holes in the existing living areas. 

The new garage

The new double garage is about the same area as they had before. It is clad to match the existing house, with a spray-on finish. The roof is also the same as on the existing house. They used aluminium joinery and lined the garage with a mixture of ply and plasterboard. The new lounge is lined with plasterboard using wide plaster coving as architraves.

All the walls and ceiling are insulated with fibreglass and the chipboard underfloor is lined with building paper. They are eventually going to lay a wood board veneer on the new lounge’s floor and carry this through to the other living spaces to achieve a polished wood floor finish.

All the construction work was completed by the builder except for the lining in the garage which Geoff did. Geoff also did the painting. "It is easy to paint with a 'clean palette' and not have to worry about carpet and painting around existing obstacles".  Because he had friends in the trades, Geoff arranged all the sub-contractors which included an electrician, a plumber, a plasterer, a texture plasterer and the joiner. 

The front of the garage ended up closer to the boundary of their section than allowed by the district plan. This meant getting resource consent as well as building consent.  They also needed to get permission from neighbours on both sides for the resource consent.  This was not a problem.

A couple of unexpected issues did arise. They needed to move their power box.  The electrician did the work, which the power company had to approve before the power box could be re-commissioned.  They also had to install a sump and submersible pump to drain stormwater from the front of the garage because the water collection point was lower than the street level.

"This was interesting," said Geoff, "because the level of the garage did not change and we weren't aware of any problems with water pooling before the work was done".  While these two items added some expense and extra work, they were not a huge inconvenience.  "But these are things people probably wouldn't generally think about when planning a project," said Catherine.

The new lounge is part of ongoing renovation work for Geoff and

Sliding doors to the deck

Catherine. In anticipation they had already built a deck which leads off the existing dining area, and they now have sliding doors from the new area. 

 "It is a real suntrap" said Catherine, "and we are really happy with the way the new lounge adds to the indoor/outdoor flow. We haven't finished all the work on the house by a long shot but are pleased with progress so far."