Will knocking down this garage devalue my home?
Discussion
Hi,
Bought a house in January. We plan to stay here for the next 5-10 years. It's not in a great area, but it is improving, new build estates are being built and completed, and they're just about to build a retail park around the corner.
We bought our house on the cheap with the hope of adding value during our time here, and *hopefully* come away with some sort of profit. At the moment though, we have this massive brick garage in the garden (our back garden backs onto a lane) and it's taking up a huge amount of space. It's also blocking light getting into the house. I'm wondering if we could knock it down, and perhaps the home would be more attractive to buyers in the future? Mainly to let and for sale around here are 3 bedroom houses, without garages (mostly terraced properties) with gardens. 3 miles out from a city centre.
There is space by the side of the house to build a garage there, but obviously I don't want to knock a garage down and spend money to do so, just to have it rebuilt if it won't impact much on resale value. Some pictures below. Any thoughts?? I feel like knocking it down would be a good move, but everyone I speak to says "oh no, don't do that, you'll devalue the property" but I'm not convinced...
Bought a house in January. We plan to stay here for the next 5-10 years. It's not in a great area, but it is improving, new build estates are being built and completed, and they're just about to build a retail park around the corner.
We bought our house on the cheap with the hope of adding value during our time here, and *hopefully* come away with some sort of profit. At the moment though, we have this massive brick garage in the garden (our back garden backs onto a lane) and it's taking up a huge amount of space. It's also blocking light getting into the house. I'm wondering if we could knock it down, and perhaps the home would be more attractive to buyers in the future? Mainly to let and for sale around here are 3 bedroom houses, without garages (mostly terraced properties) with gardens. 3 miles out from a city centre.
There is space by the side of the house to build a garage there, but obviously I don't want to knock a garage down and spend money to do so, just to have it rebuilt if it won't impact much on resale value. Some pictures below. Any thoughts?? I feel like knocking it down would be a good move, but everyone I speak to says "oh no, don't do that, you'll devalue the property" but I'm not convinced...
It's a bit of an eyesore isn't it... It's all you see from the kitchen and living room!
The dropped kerb at the back is directly in line with the house, but the previous owners have put some cement to the side on a public footpath to allow the driveway to be accessed sideways if that makes sense. So it kind of looks like they intended it to go to the side of the house and then for whatever reason didn't.
If there was a garage built by the side of the house, where the dropped kerb and double doors are at the moment would be perfectly in line. I've measured up, there'd be about 3 inches left if the same garage was built attached to the house. The only things I can think of is :
- There is a drain that is built up out of the ground (would stop a car being able to drive over to access the garage, picture below)
- Also you would not be able to access back of house from front for wheelie bin access etc if there was a garage there/you'd lose the gate, but that's not a good enough reason really...
But I have had a quote from a local builder to level the drain and that's £300, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't have just done that back then. I'm happy to see consensus so far seems to be in favour of getting rid!! I just thought maybe keeping it would attract people, particularly since like I said the area isn't great so a garage to protect cars etc could be beneficial. I have saw these Nucrete/concrete constructed garages though for under 3k, would that be worth it maybe to be built attached to house and to remove this beast???
The dropped kerb at the back is directly in line with the house, but the previous owners have put some cement to the side on a public footpath to allow the driveway to be accessed sideways if that makes sense. So it kind of looks like they intended it to go to the side of the house and then for whatever reason didn't.
If there was a garage built by the side of the house, where the dropped kerb and double doors are at the moment would be perfectly in line. I've measured up, there'd be about 3 inches left if the same garage was built attached to the house. The only things I can think of is :
- There is a drain that is built up out of the ground (would stop a car being able to drive over to access the garage, picture below)
- Also you would not be able to access back of house from front for wheelie bin access etc if there was a garage there/you'd lose the gate, but that's not a good enough reason really...
But I have had a quote from a local builder to level the drain and that's £300, so I'm not sure why they wouldn't have just done that back then. I'm happy to see consensus so far seems to be in favour of getting rid!! I just thought maybe keeping it would attract people, particularly since like I said the area isn't great so a garage to protect cars etc could be beneficial. I have saw these Nucrete/concrete constructed garages though for under 3k, would that be worth it maybe to be built attached to house and to remove this beast???
Knock it down and build an open sided car port along the wall, gives cover and protection if you park your car there and if not it makes a nice under cover area for outdoors entertaining for you or a future owner.
Something that looks like this. That could avoid the drain issues I think?
Something that looks like this. That could avoid the drain issues I think?
I would love to do a double extension, but I think if we spend any more than 30k on this house for all work, we won't make our money back or a profit, so I think a double story extension would be unfeasible financially for us! If we were staying here I'd go for it, but as it stands I am 99% positive we are going to be shifting! (Too much road noise, not sure what I expected being so close to the city haha, I'm used to being a little more rural!)
I hadn't thought of a car port/canopy. That could work! We could maybe make a simple gravel driveway area with car port. That could work. We will have a utility room in the house and plenty storage, so it's not that I think a garage would add anything in regards to storage, but it would highlight an area to protect a vehicle which is something a canopy could do (or at least illustrated that you can park off road in your own garden)
I hadn't thought of a car port/canopy. That could work! We could maybe make a simple gravel driveway area with car port. That could work. We will have a utility room in the house and plenty storage, so it's not that I think a garage would add anything in regards to storage, but it would highlight an area to protect a vehicle which is something a canopy could do (or at least illustrated that you can park off road in your own garden)
Yeah I'd be getting rid of it too, looks like you have some decent sized secure gates for access to it, I'd be tempted to just run a paved driveway along the side garden wall, that way you still have off road parking and could also be used as a paved area if no need for car access and have a lot more usuable garden space, best of both worlds from a selling point of view?
king hideous blot on the landscape, wtf were they thinking! Get rid asap!I would definitely knock it down, it's an eyesore and makes the garden useless. No offnce!
Regarding the value, I think people tend to go off adverts for their homespun wisdom. Having a garage is better than not having a garage on average, however when people actually come to look at it and find the 'garage' is ruining the garden, then it just becomes a negative.
It's a bit like tiny bedrooms, it gets people to enquire or even view but in my experience a house with (for example) 3 good sized bedrooms can often sell easier and achieve a better price than one with 4 tiny box rooms.
By the same token a house with a nice clear garden might not attract as many viewers or enquiries but probably will ultimately sell better than one with a delapidated shed parked across the back lawn.
Regarding the value, I think people tend to go off adverts for their homespun wisdom. Having a garage is better than not having a garage on average, however when people actually come to look at it and find the 'garage' is ruining the garden, then it just becomes a negative.
It's a bit like tiny bedrooms, it gets people to enquire or even view but in my experience a house with (for example) 3 good sized bedrooms can often sell easier and achieve a better price than one with 4 tiny box rooms.
By the same token a house with a nice clear garden might not attract as many viewers or enquiries but probably will ultimately sell better than one with a delapidated shed parked across the back lawn.
I read the title and saw the OP was new so assumed it was trolling... How wrong I was! Oh dear, poor bloke smashing into his garage...
Haha nope note a troll! I saw a post from years ago on this forum about garages and value of property but it didn't really match the erm... qualities of my existing garage so I thought I'd make a thread!
Thanks all for your comments. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do in regards to building a new garage or simply just doing a driveway or drive and canopy combo but I'm 100% sure the garage is coming down! I hate the bloody thing.
Haha nope note a troll! I saw a post from years ago on this forum about garages and value of property but it didn't really match the erm... qualities of my existing garage so I thought I'd make a thread!
Thanks all for your comments. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do in regards to building a new garage or simply just doing a driveway or drive and canopy combo but I'm 100% sure the garage is coming down! I hate the bloody thing.
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff