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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Is A Garage Daycare A Bad Idea?
BrynleeJean 12:32 PM 02-16-2018
my DH was all onboard until he saw the shed i was gonna buy.
now he wants me to just convert the entire family/kitchen into the daycare which just very well may be the end of me.

am i wrong or is it a bad idea to convert the garage into a daycare?
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Mike 01:23 PM 02-16-2018
Most of my life I've done home renovations, and one job I remember was converting a 2 car garage into a granny suite, including kitchen and bathroom. It was a big job, framing, electrical and plumbing, insulation, then finish it all up, but anything can be done to a garage. It's just a question of how much work it needs.
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BrynleeJean 01:43 PM 02-16-2018
i called my licenser to see if its even allowed and he said that he actually licenses a garage daycare, they use their garage door in the morning to let the parents in, and then close it for the day and have the parents pick up by coming through the front door.

Id prefer to at least hide my garage door with curtains, and I've seen insulation kits at home depot for the door.
the ceiling is already, idk plastered or whatever. my list of minimums to me, some cosmetic because i want families to actually like this place and others necessities are as follows..
-floor paint, epoxy coating
-ceiling and wall paint
-insulating the garage door
-curtain rod and curtains
-shed
-window (my brother in law is a contractor so that helps a lot)
-a little wall and door around the electric water heater for safety reasons
-AC heater window unit
- about 200sqft of that cushion floor square mats
-a mini fridge
- a few extra lights (which i found some shop lights at home depot super bright that just plug in to an outlet so i would need an electrician)
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Cat Herder 01:43 PM 02-16-2018
Originally Posted by Mike:
It's just a question of how much work it needs.
And insulation. Lot's and lot's of insulation along with the new heat and air ducts.
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Meeko 01:57 PM 02-16-2018
I started daycare in the Air Force over 30 years ago. Many of the on base providers had their daycare in the garage. Most of them were really, really cute! They had to get inventive, but it worked!
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Kimskiddos 02:02 PM 02-16-2018
I likely wouldn't have stayed in this profession for as long as I have if it wasn't for my garage conversion. Having daycare out of my home is PRICELESS!

Of course I am lucky that hubby is a contractor and did all the work (well be both did). We took our garage door off and added a half light door and two windows. We added a third octagon window on another wall. Hubby had it laying around. I wanted it to be nice and bright. He cut a whole in a different wall for a window unit AC. Which is now used mainly as white noise during quiet time. We had the garage hooked up to the central air and heat 10 years ago when we had to redo and update the system.
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BrynleeJean 02:19 PM 02-16-2018
Originally Posted by Kimskiddos:
I likely wouldn't have stayed in this profession for as long as I have if it wasn't for my garage conversion. Having daycare out of my home is PRICELESS!

Of course I am lucky that hubby is a contractor and did all the work (well be both did). We took our garage door off and added a half light door and two windows. We added a third octagon window on another wall. Hubby had it laying around. I wanted it to be nice and bright. He cut a whole in a different wall for a window unit AC. Which is now used mainly as white noise during quiet time. We had the garage hooked up to the central air and heat 10 years ago when we had to redo and update the system.

Id love more natural lighting light yours but its not only the hubby in my way, its the HOA. maybe though.

Yes this is how I'm feeling, I wanna stay in it long, i did it for two years and the stresses on us were too much i closed just after my first child was born, i wanna open again its been a few years, but want to safeguard my sanity and my families.

maybe it will just take me working in the house for a year or maybe just a few months for him to realize it is better for it to be just out and away from the family.
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Tags:burnout, conversion, garage
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