Whatever happened to single door two car garages? (house hunting, cheaper, garage)
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Two or three single overhead garage doors always made more sense to me.
1. Using a single door, the vehicles will always have adequate space between them once parked inside so they will not get their doors "banged" against one another. One wide door.... can get tricky if some type of "indicator/lane marker" is not used for some drivers and they get their cars parked too close together.
2. The heavier 16' or 18 ' wide doors are more likely to have more structural/maintenance wear issues as they age.
3. The door opener motors and drives on single doors can have lower HP motors and cost less, wear out less..
4. If someone has an accident and damages the one large single door, they are out of a working garage door. With two or more single doors, they still have one or two working garages to drive in to. JMO though
Trying to understand how one large door is a deficit.
I enjoyed the one door just so I had more leeway on entry and exit. Try getting a van vs a sportscar.
My single door had two operations manual and automatic. I didn't worry if the motor stopped. I could lift it manually. Ohh I'm sure some consider it an inconvenience to have to do labor. But I never minded having my boys hop out and race to see who could open it quicker.
In the Twin Cities suburbs - where multi-car garages are common - single-door, two-car garages are common. Also, three-car garages with two doors (one for two cars, one for a single) if it is three cars across.
Our neighborhood was built 2005ish-2018ish and it is common. Our old neighborhood in another Twin Cities suburb was the same, but that neighborhood was built out in the '80s. My hometown in a neighboring state is pretty much the same, for homes of all ages were there is a multi-car garage, detached or attached.
I'm generally interested in this phenomenon. It's something I have noticed disappearing.
Is it just me, or are more home owners requesting two or three car garages?
My favorite garage design was always the old single stretched doors that folded up, because you had access to the center of the garage not blocked by a central beam. More room than a two car garage, and some of them you could fit two cars in with no issues.
It's something I don't see a lot of around here in New England, except on a few very old homes. Do you notice what I'm talking about too?
I have one. I don't like it. It takes longer to lift, and is harder on the opener. If it faces the street, it opens the whole garage to view, when you only need half of it to open. It's also common looking, IMO. It was very ordinary when I was growing up...a boomer. I think double doors are more pleasing aesthetically.
Around here, we have a lot of bi-level/split entry type houses with the garage located on the “basement” level. Those garages usually have a beam and support column between the two bays and two doors. Otherwise, one wide door.
My house has a single door 2 car garage. I'd much rather have a 2 door garage with a bit of space in between doors.
I mean I'd really prefer a 3 or 4 car.
I agree.. the big doors are cheaper, but they also need a lot more maintenence, as do their openers, and there is no redundancy.
Why would one big door require more maintenance than two separate doors?
It is easier to paint one big door than two smaller doors.....more trimming involved with two.
Easier to maintain one garage door opener than two. With two openers, you would be dealing with a broken garage door opener twice as often and twice the amount of track and rollers to tend to.
I have had the same garage door opener on my 18 foot garage door for about 30 years.
And, IMO, one large opening is more flexible than two small openings, no center "post" to work around or get in the way.
The double garage doors are more expensive to build and to maintain however, they do provide more room for pulling into the garage and more room once in the garage with the two cars.
That being the case, two doors vs one requires a larger garage so once you add up all the extras required to have double doors, it becomes obvious why more competition homes are built with a single 26 foot garage door.
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