April 22, 2016

Fight the Winter Blues by Adding a New Room to Your House

Fight the Winter Blues by Adding a New Room to Your House

Most often, the garage is simply viewed as a place to park the car or a storage room where you can toss old VHS tapes, compact disks and cans of glossy eggshell paint that you might use again.

Rarely do people consider the garage as a blank slate to design and create another room for the home. During winter, reduced sunlight and a drop in temperature can result in “the winter blues”, which can worsen into seasonal affective disorder, making it more difficult to make it through the cold season.

One way to beat the winter blues is through the creation of a bright, comfortable new room, turning what was once your garage into a winter oasis of calm.

Seasonal affective disorder, a.k.a. “The winter blues”

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, seasonal affective disorder refers to “the seasonal pattern of major depressive episodes that can occur within major depression and manic depression.” As such, it’s not a mood disorder but instead a “specifier”, which is more of a clinic diagnosis of a mental illness symptom.

How an extra room helps

Sometimes, even if you live in a comfortable space, those suffering from SAD may feel as if they’re trapped inside without any personal space or time of their own. Creating extra space within the home for someone to distress with a little bit of “me time” can do wonders for those dealing with depression.

One prescription that many doctors provide for patients with SAD is light therapy, which involves replacing the dwindling winter sunlight. This therapy is fairly simple, involving the installation of special lights designed to flood the patient with UV spectrum that helps to balance the sunlight deficit. Setting up an extra room in the home where someone can spend time absorbing the light they need in a calm relaxing space will reduce the severity of SAD symptoms.

Doctors and researchers stress that the vast majority of mental health issues benefit from a solid routine of diet and exercise, which maintains the healthy functioning of the brain. A dedicated exercise space, which may consist of anything from a stationary bike to a yoga mat, definitely helps SAD sufferers.

Turning the Garage Into an Extra Room

Before you start to convert your garage into another living space for your house, you should determine exactly what you plan on doing with the space. If you want to turn it into a a luxurious hideout, you’ll likely need to remodel the majority of the garage, beginning with the floor. If you have a bare concrete floor, you may wish to add insulation and some sort of hardwood or laminate floorboards. You’ll want to make sure that the insulation within your walls isn’t allowing cold air to seep in through the cracks.

Typically, garages aren’t built with a lot of windows. People dealing with the winter blues already suffer from a sunlight deficit, so adding at least one large window or a sunroof will make the space feel more welcoming.

Depending on how much space you have to work with, you might want to add some plumbing or fixtures to create a mini kitchen area and a basic bathroom. If you’re installing light therapy, an entertainment system, a fridge and other appliances, you’ll need to make sure that the electrical wiring system can handle the extra duty placed on the system.

In addition to planning all the different changes and renovations you’ll make to the garage, you need to make sure that you have the appropriate permits and permissions to undertake this type of significant renovation to your home.

What about the garage door?

The opening for your garage is designed to let cars pass easily in and out of the garage, which isn’t necessarily ideal when creating an extra space that helps your family deal with the winter blues.

Depending on the current panel that you use, you may wish to consider installing a garage door with better insulation, or one designed with panels that allow the light in. Rather than becoming an obstacle to setting up an extra room in the garage, the door can be a unique feature, similar to exposed brick.

Garaga remains the industry standard for durability and reliability, as we have sold over 1.7 million quality garage doors since 1983.

You can click here to get a free quote, or start by building your perfect garage door! You can also call us at 1-877-828-5279.

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