AC Robert Fling from Dix Hills (NY) Fire sent in these photos of something we will all probably begin to see more of in the future. This discovery was made while on a residential automatic fire alarm. It seems that the homeowner decided to covert the garage into a studio apartment. The access door for the apartment was cut into the existing garage door. A quick look from the street, or even the front yard may not make this appear so obvious. Up until recently it would not be uncommon to find garages that were sealed shut and converted into additional living space to increase the square footage of the house. However due to the recent economic times, and increased foreclosure rates, it may be more common to find garages converted into these stand alone studios. The interesting thing about the “new style” of these renovations is that they may be totally sealed off and undetectable from the inside of the main structure. This turns the traditional single family residential structure into a duplex situation. So while on that next alarm, don’t forget the garage!
One of my friends apt. is almost the same, the landlord turned his single family home into a duplex by sealing off an addition previously built and renting out one half. It wasnt a garage, but you cant notice the split from the outside. From the insde a previous doorway is just boarded over.
Great find, Haven’t seen alot of this down south yet. Got a friend who lives out on Long island and there is a ton of single familys with added apartments up there. With the current economic situation we might start to see this in places were we havent before.
In my hometown we have a lot of these. I can think of at least 4 on my street. Some of them have just been turned into extra rooms. The problem is that most of the garages stick out from the front of the house and the people who are doing the renovations are making them look like the main entrance to the house when they aren’t.
In my still area, a SW Chicago suburb, there is a large Middle Eastern population that tends to occupy single family residences in a similar fashion. They utilize attached garages as bedrooms without any internal or external modifications. Our crew encountered one returning from an EMS run this past summer. The overhead garage door was open with a large section of bug screening obscuring the multiple mattresses on the floor. With this knowledge, it is imperative to perform a thorough search of attached garages during a working fire.
Now, is the garaged metered separate from the house?
You know it REEEEEEAAALLLLLYYYYY pisses me off when I type something, read it, hit “submit” THEN realize I spelled something wrong!!!
LOL you said garaged…dumba$$ ;o)
I know. First day on a kompyooter.
cooool
The door knob on the garage door would raise suspission for me. Definately do see a lot of the garages being converted to living around my neighborhood, atached and detached too. Its also nice to cut theough a garage door to see that there is a nicely finished wall to the new addition only 3 feet in…
i have family on the dix hills FD. thats cool. about the find, thats certainly an interesting idea. i would have never thought to look for that