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I prefer attached for weather (snow/ice) issues, and security issues. I feel safer walking into my house directly from my garage.
I have a double car garage and only use one side. The other bay is used when guests visit. They love being able to park in the garage. I also like that I have two, single garage doors. When two vehicles (my coupe & my guest's vehicle) are parked in my garage, I can open both of my coupe doors & not hit the other vehicle or the side of my garage wall.
There's a work bench with peg board (masonite?) above it for tools and there's ample storage.
If/when I move, I will seek out an attached, double car garage.
It's whatever you want your house to have, of course.
I've seen a number of houses w/detached garages. They were usually older, but not always. That wouldn't stop me from buying a house, as long as the yard is large enough to have space for that and still have a normal sized yard.
When I was working full time, and bought my last house, I much preferred attached garages because they're safer in cities for working gals (I would sometimes work late, or have to grocery shop early or late). Also, I wouldn't have to worry about exposure to rain when going to my car in my work clothes.
My least preference is a house with an attached garage that faces the front AND sticks out more than the rest of the house. To me, that makes the garage the focal point of the house (it looks like I'm buying a garage, and oh look...there's a house attached to it!).
A garage facing forward is fine, if it doesn't stick out.
My fave is attached, with a side or back entrance to the garage. With a short path to kitchen for bringing in groceries.
Out here in older homes garages were separate, but it's easier if it's connected -- to haul stuff into the house from the car -- you don't get wet if it's raining to get to the car.
My dream house the garage is to the side...I don't like a prominent garage...
I agree.......I looked at so many houses where the garage was right up front and the most obvious thing you saw was a garage door. The main entry door and living room window was back and diminished, almost hidden. I hated these homes. Very poor design choice in my opinion. My current home has an attached garage which sits back from the main part of the house and it flows naturally.
Most of my area is of older homes with detached garages that were built later. Small lots too, mine is 60x140. Mine is an oversized one car garage set back from the house.
I actually like it being detached. Right now I have a project car in it. I also have indoor cats. If I'm working on the car and need something in the house and the garage was attached, chances are I'd run right in with whatever dirt was on my feet/hands/whatever. Now at the very least, it's scuffed off on the short walk down the driveway/sidewalk. I prefer to keep car/project dirt outside where it belongs. An attached garage puts it too close to the inside of the house.
My ultimate choice would be both. I looked at a house that had a multi-car detached with sort of a crawl space garage under, that I thought would be handy for unloading groceries and doing sanding projects out of the rain.
I grew up in a house with an attached garage and you always had to pull the car out to warm up in winter, always heard the garage door going up and down etc.
I'm not sure I'd ever use an attached garage for storing a daily car unless there was a good sized room in between that and the house.
I say the garage attached to the house is critical. I look for a plan that gets me from the garage to the kitchen versus having to cross other rooms. Iprefer garage to mud room, to laundry room, to kitchen.
This. Detached garages are viewed as very undesirable by potential buyers, especially in areas of the country that get severe weather (ie every part of the country). Even a covered walkway doesn't protect you from the elements as much as an attached garage does. You also have to have a larger lot for homes with detached garages. I agree with some other posters' opinions in that that I do not like the look of a home with an attached garage directly in front of the home. Garages are hideously ugly, so I prefer them attached, but located to the side of the home, where you can view the more appealing front door, and the garage is more of a visual afterthought.
Ideally, I'd want both. Attached for the parking of daily use vehicles and detached for project space (I'm a mechanic who also likes woodworking, stained glass, brewing beer, etc...)
I'd like both, too. The second garage would be longer and higher (larger overall) for a possible RV or motorcoach and to store a trailer and or a boat.
Attached garage for convenience and safety. It's all I will ever have.
If I need/want to go the garage at midnight, I can simply unlock my garage door entry and walk in. If it was a detached garage, I'd have to go outside....not nearly as safe and secure.
I have a special hate-on for attached garages. I love all older houses and I love all the styles. Which makes me wonder, what kind of style is a house with a huge, two or three car garage dominating the front ever going to be called? In the future, will these be called garage houses? Driving down a suburban street and seeing nothing but garage doors instead of houses makes a neighborhood look sterile and unlived in, in my opinion. I think a HOUSE should be just that, and a garage belongs in the back with the garbage cans. Of course if I had my way, every neighborhood would still have alleys behind the yards, but that's just me.
I know my parents in South Dakota opted to have a detached garage next to the house. They got two windows in that wall instead and having that extra light was well worth it, according to them. If they could walk 10 feet from the garage to the back door in South Dakota winter, then I always figured I could, too. What's with all the "being protected from the elements" thing about? So you go into your garage from your house when it's raining and you don't get wet. Big deal. As soon as you get to where you're going, you're still going to have to get out in the rain to get inside again.
I've lived in homes built from 1930 (current) to mid-1990s and have had both attached and detached across the whole array. Seems like Region has a LOT more to do with garages and use than anything else. In Wyoming (where I was born and raised) and Minnesota (most of my family lived there), attached garages were the norm... you wanted to be able to move between house and car without needing to navigate snow/ice. A large number of the garages were Also heated with the house heating system (maybe not to the same temp).
Down here in Georgia very few even have a garage/carport to being with. Those that have, er.. had, an attached garage simply turned it into another "room". The only people who seem to have detached garages are those with "toys" they want protected better than with a carport/tarp/the nearest tree.
Ideally, I'd want both. Attached for the parking of daily use vehicles and detached for project space (I'm a mechanic who also likes woodworking, stained glass, brewing beer, etc...)
^^^Detached garages are perfect for those who work on cars or do other things they would rather keep away from the house proper. Attached garages Are great for parking the commuting car but usually become the catchall storage space after all other spaces become stuffed to the gills with useless junk. The junk will eventually find it's way into the detached garage. Working on cars is ideal for these structures. I have several friends with them and is what they are used for. The old woman across the street has a huge 4 car garage she parks a single wee economy commuting car in. Some of us neighbors salivate over that space. I could park and work on my car and truck in there as well as store all my tools, Deere mower and even have band practice. Even has a full bath. There is a ridiculously large attic and what I would call a root cellar in the rear.
There would be room left to put in a bench for working on anything...did I say it was huge? The root cellar would be perfect temperature for fermentation when brewing lager beer.
Old lady around the corner had the same setup. But the garage is on sloping land so there's an entire lower level too. I knocked on her door one day to ask about renting and she said "I don't understand why people keep asking if I'll rent space out!!!" She never parked in there and it didn't appear to have too much junk either.
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