Garage to Bedroom Conversion
I'm trying to gather as many facts as possible so I can ask some educated questions and make sure I'm not being fleeced or corners cut in certain area's.
The goal: convert a one side of a garage into a bedroom.
The property: (please see rough sketch up attached.) We have a double story townhouse on a subdivided block with no body corporate and a completely free standing double brick house. The garage is completely covered by upstairs. The garage is actually 2 separate "single" garages with their own single roller door. Inside they are separated by a double brick wall. The height of the garage right down to the slab on the ground is very high.
The work:
- Convert garage to a bedroom. Internal access would be created by having a door knocked into the double brick wall into the open plan lounge / living area.
- Since the garage height is already very high, it means we can build a floor up off the concrete slab to match the floor in the lounge area.
- Brick up the garage door hole and install a window up higher for the bedroom.
Some questions:
1. Since the proposed floor isn't resting directly on the slab, does the slab need a "topping layer" with a waterproof membrane in between? I definitely don't want rising damp, although not sure if raising the wood floor off the slab negates the need for waterproofing & a topping slab.
2. Would a vent be needed under the floor through to the garage beside for "ventilation"?
3. A lot of reading talks about a "minimum floor height above adjacent ground height". In my case, would this refer to the concrete slab, or the actual REAL internal floor which is elevated above?
4. Some sites talk about "minimum slab height" above surrounding turf / soil
5. Conversion of room from Class 10A to Class 1. Can a builder do this on my behalf with the council? If so, do full plans need to be drawn up and submitted?
6. Does the whole "if quote is over $5,000 then it MUST be a Registered Building Practitioner" still exist today?
7. What type of licenses would a builder need for this type of work? I.e. I'm trying to work out if a "lower level builder (i.e. renovator)" (does such a thing exist?) can do the work. Some of the larger building firms I've contacted don't want this work because it's too small.
8. In case anybody is wondering, I'm in the South Eastern suburbs in Melbourne... please feel free to recommend anybody in the area that I could contact to help! :-)
I've been told by a couple of "builders" that I've contacted for quotes on the work to "just do it without council permits" and not worry. I'm a little concerned by this because we plan to rent this property out in the future and from what I understand if something goes wrong in this part of the property then we can really be up @@@@ creek. Not to mention whether our home insurance would actually cover the property now?
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