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In colder areas, it would not be wise to leave a vehicle outside unless one likes snow removal from a cold car. We garage our cars, these days.
That can be a PITA but if you really wanted too there is solutions. For example they have heater kits that can be retrofitted to the coolant system, this is typical for diesel truck becsue they are hard to start in the cold weather. You run an extension cord and have it on a timer. I'd leave the heat open on the truck, in the morning it would be warm inside and the snow would be melted off the window.
There is other options like remote starters, f course you still have to sweep the snow off if it's a lot.
I would never buy a house that had it's garage converted to something else. In my world, cars belong in garages, not man caves or pool tables.
Don't expect me to do laundry in the garage either.
I haven't read the entire thread, so perhaps this has been suggested. Mind that there would be a number of factors (HOA, zoning, land size, access to back yard).
Instead of finishing the garage to create a large recreation room, we bought and converted a 14x24 shed to a backyard cottage. We have an acre and live in a sort-of rural area so it was relatively easy and WAY-WAY less expensive than adding on to the house.
(yeaaah, the recliner area is Spouse's Man Cove. noticeably less tidy than my corner/end area )
Cost will vary; not all shed builders are this creative; but we designed the configuration, handed it to the shed builder, and they dropped the building on our lot 90% complete. I guess you could almost call this a modular building. Insulated, thermal windows, power installed, walled on the inside with T11 paneling (I think. it's not the old kind that one used to see in rec rooms), laminated floor. It came to ~$7200. We were responsible for having power run from the house to the building, which we directed to sit right outside our back door. It's just a matter of going out the kitchen, down a few steps and into the cottage. One version that the shed builder created had a power cord dangling outside the building. All you had to do was run an extension cord from the house. With our vision to have computers, tv, an air conditioner and a small heating unit in the building, we had him set it up to have a panel box and separate fuses.
When we heard how flexible the shed builder was in design, we asked "can you wire and install a ceiling fan? How about a pet door? It's so hard to make the cuts neatly."
Shed builder - "yeah, sure. bring us the extras you want installed and we can do it."
Other than time spent sleeping, eating, or in the bathroom, we live in our little cottage. I love that place.
Last edited by silverwing; 11-09-2013 at 10:36 AM..
A lot of the older homes (relative to Scottsdale, of course :P) in my neighborhood were built with one car carports. Many people have enclosed and finished them off as a one car garage, but some others have enclosed them as living space. They will stucco the front and side openings and leave the existing concrete driveway that butts right up to the house. It looks terrible. If these people would just take out a small portion of the concrete abutting the wall and plant some flowers or put something decorative there, it would make a world of difference in the look of the house and would make the conversion look much less like a conversion. The houses are also rather close to the street since the lots are smaller, so often there isn't even enough room between the sidewalk and the house to park a larger vehicle. Luckily there is no HOA or these people would have no place to park their big SUVs overnight, lol
Parking a car outside will ruin the paint if you live where it rains all the time it's going to rust it out. Paint here lasts about 10 years max most of the tops of cars 10 years old are peeling the clear coat because of the high UV here in Arizona. Even when I lived in Newport Beach California we always had garages. Less chance of getting your car vandalized, or broken into. I would never buy a new car and park it outside. I do park an old 20 year old truck outside no one will want to bother that thing. We had some kids driving through the neighborhood shooting eggs at cars with a sling shot. It left a round cracking spot in the paint. All the cars on my street had damage but ours was inside the garage.
I did have car paint ruined and I'm angry I didn't use the garage. For us it has been a junk area, a place for some exercise equipment and a big table for my sons Warhammer gaming (keep that stuff out of my house please). I've had it clean before but it never lasts. I'm determined to clear it out now that my son is older and starting to hate the mess as much as I do.
I did have car paint ruined and I'm angry I didn't use the garage. For us it has been a junk area, a place for some exercise equipment and a big table for my sons Warhammer gaming (keep that stuff out of my house please). I've had it clean before but it never lasts. I'm determined to clear it out now that my son is older and starting to hate the mess as much as I do.
I'd love to come help you. I love a clean, tidy garage!
It is only a garage because the original builder made it so. if a person who bought the house decided they had no need for the garage, then I do not see why it should not be converted to something more useful for the person who purchased the house.
Our neighborhood had covenants that stated you could not do that , or at least still make it look like a garage was there. Some have done that to keep maid's quarters in the converted garage. I always liked having my cars in a garage as we try to have nice cars and they last longer that way. As I heard someone say, it is a mystery why some folk will put a lot of useless junk in a garage and then keep their $20-40k car outside. JMHO!
A car is designed to be outside, no harm will come from the weather. however, I imagine most of that junk would be ruined with the first rain, and there would probably be some questions as to why so much stuff was sitting outside of the house.
Now as to why someone would have so much stuff, that is another topic.
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