Reading the actual guideline text below — never a general AI guess

What "Garage Dividing Wall" Means

Here's what we're dealing with: when a detached garage has an actual wall physically separating the garage space from other space inside that same building, we treat it differently than when there's no wall at all. If there's no dividing wall, the entire garage gets reported just as vehicle storage on the appraisal form, and we don't have to list it as a separate outbuilding. The presence or absence of that dividing wall changes how we categorize and report what's actually there on the property. VA lending guidance also requires that if a building sits right on or next to a property line, there needs to be a wall running the full height from foundation to roof separating it from the neighboring building, though the passages shown here don't fully detail garage-specific fire separation requirements.

Straight from FNMA URAR (Fannie Mae), VA Lenders Handbook (Pamphlet 26-7), and the partial excerpt from garage conversion/fire separation guidance — nothing added.

UAD 3.6 adoption and FHA guidance on garage conversions

FHA HB 4000.1 (pages 499–500) provides current guidance on treatment of garage conversions in appraisals, with criteria for counting converted space as GLA that do not explicitly require permits—relevant to understanding when to include or exclude unpermitted conversions.

Permitted vs. Unpermitted Garage Conversions: ROI Data for 2026

This source discusses that permitted garage conversions typically increase home value by 10-30% with ROI of 60-80%, while unpermitted conversions can decrease value by triggering lender refusals and appraisal exclusions.