Leyte Drive Garage Conversion
A detached Torrance garage converted into fully permitted living space — new kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, built from the studs out.
Garage ConversionThe Starting Point
Where we began.
This project took a standard detached garage on Leyte Drive in Torrance and converted it into fully functional living space — new construction from the ground up. Bela Development handled every trade in-house: structural framing for five new windows and two new doors, an all-new electrical subpanel and circuits, complete plumbing with a tankless water heater, new sewer connection, mechanical ductwork, insulation, stucco, drywall, tile, flooring, and a finished kitchen and bathroom. The result is a code-compliant, permit-ready space built to the same standard as the main house.
The Goal
The owner wanted to turn an underused garage into real, livable square footage — a space with its own kitchen, full bathroom, and laundry, built to current code rather than patched together informally. That meant treating the garage as new construction: new framing, new utilities, new finishes, with nothing carried over from the original structure except the shell.
The Challenge
Converting a garage into livable space means solving problems a typical remodel never touches. The existing garage door, motor, shelving, and rear door extension all had to come out before anything new could go in. Five new window openings and two new door openings needed structural headers and reframed walls, plus a new interior layout to carve out a kitchen and bathroom inside what was originally one open bay. Getting water, gas, and drainage into a garage that never had residential plumbing required trenching a new 4" drain line, digging up driveway concrete to camera and tie into the street sewer connection, and running entirely new copper supply lines. Every one of these systems — electrical, plumbing, mechanical, structural — had to be built and inspected to residential code from scratch.
The Solution
Bela Development ran the project as a single design-build scope, sequencing every trade behind the walls before closing them up. The team demolished the old garage door, motor, and interior shelving, then reframed the structure with new 4x4 posts, headers for the five windows and two doors, and a new interior shear wall. A new electrical subpanel and full circuit run added 20 outlets, five switched lighting circuits, 11 recessed LEDs, exterior lighting and outlets, and a dedicated 110V line for a future AC mini-split. Plumbing brought in a tankless water heater, new hot and cold lines for the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, and an all-new drain and sewer connection, tied in after camera inspection of the existing line. The team then insulated to Title 24 standards, installed all five windows and two pre-hung doors, applied a three-coat stucco finish, hung and finished drywall, and painted the interior. Bela fabricated and installed the countertop, set appliances, tiled the bathroom floor and walls plus a kitchen backsplash, and installed 400 sq ft of client-supplied vinyl flooring with baseboards throughout.
Final Outcome
What was once a bare garage is now a self-contained, code-built space with its own kitchen, full bathroom, and laundry hookups — wired, plumbed, insulated, and finished to the same standard as the main house. Every system is new: electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and structural. The space is pre-wired for a future AC mini-split and finished with tile, hardwood-look vinyl flooring, and a fabricated countertop, ready for the owner's final furnishings and appliances.
The Build
Structure, systems and everything behind the walls.
The Finished Home
The result, room by room.
Multiple services. One design-build team.
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