If your small home doesn't have a family room, you may wish you had a place for your family to watch movies and for kids to play games without having to use the formal living room. Although you might hate to give up your garage, converting it to a family room might be a good choice, especially if you have a large garage.

Talk to a general contractor about this home remodeling option. They should give you a free estimate of the costs involved so you know if this is a good option or not. Here are some things that might affect the cost of converting your garage.

1. If You Need To Add Climate Control

If your old HVAC can't handle the extra space and it's not time to buy new equipment yet, you'll need to add AC and heat to your garage. A heat pump might be the solution. It can heat and cool the room, and be set to any temperature you like independent of the rest of your home.

A heat pump doesn't even need ducts since the air is delivered through a blower mounted on a wall. A heat pump might be the perfect way to keep the temperature in your family room comfortable without affecting the performance of your current HVAC.

2. If You Want To Add A Bathroom

A bathroom raises the cost of your home remodeling job quite a bit, but if you have a big family, the cost might be worth it. A general contractor can use subcontractors if necessary to install new plumbing and electricity in your garage so you can have a bathroom and tankless water heater if necessary.

You may not want to lose space to a bathroom if you don't really need one, so you need to think about what you really want. Your contractor can give you an estimate for the bathroom alone so you can decide if the cost is worth it.

3. If You Need To Alter The Floor And Ceiling

You might need to raise the garage floor when you renovate your garage. The garage floor is usually lower than the floor in your house. Raising it brings it closer to the rest of your house so there won't be as big of a step-down.

Raising the floor allows you to level it out and cover damaged or ugly concrete. The contractor might raise the floor by putting down insulation and then building a wood subfloor on top of it that is a suitable base for any type of flooring.

If you raise the floor, you might need to raise the ceiling depending on how your garage is constructed. Garage ceilings tend to be low, so raising the floor might raise concerns with your home remodeling contractor.

Your contractor needs to comply with local building codes, so they can determine whether your floor or ceiling needs to be raised or if you can leave them as they are and find another way to make the garage attractive.