Garage Conversion Door systems - do they really work?

In the quest to simplify systems for a garage conversion together with saving costs, some manufacturers have developed a replacement garage door which is insulated and incorporates windows rather than the costly alternative and more usual method of infilling with masonry walling or stud timber framing.

These garage conversion door systems are relatively new to the market and their success in use and practicality for a proper garage conversion very much hinges on their acceptability from the Building Inspector. Some Councils or approved inspectors will not accept these garage conversion doors whilst others will so it’s a bit of a lottery.

Some are winning acceptability form the Building Inspector by using the 15 year pay back period exemption if it can be proven that the cost of ‘doing it properly’ for compliance does not save on the added fuel savings when using a less thermally efficient door nit instead.

It is my feeling that most of these garage door systems are mainly being used for that ‘unofficial conversion’ where the use of the converted garage is more like a gym, or spa housing for example where the converted room may not be heated or there is a desire for a temporary use for easy conversion back to a garage use again. In these circumstances the use of the garage conversion door system is a great solution but I doubt their relevancy and longer term design attributes for a proper, high value habitable room such as a study, opening out for a kitchen extension etc.

They may not be the one stop quick fix solution you may have envisaged. If you are empted by one go and see an actual installation where the converted garage is being used a true habitable room and where it has received formal Building Regulations approval to get a better idea as to how it will work in your own garage conversion.