Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Enough land and a driveway.. sure... can always build one.
With that said, I don't like garages in the front of the house and I prefer stand alone garages. Ideally for me would be a double width double height garage in the back with a car port attached to the side of the house.
I agree that garages are generally unattractive. That's why I bought homes with alley facing garages, so I had the benefits of an attached garage without having it dominate the front exterior of the home.
One of the fascinating trends I see are clear glass roll-up garage doors. Sometimes they are frosted glass roll-ups.
In our summer home, I built our house with an 1100 sf garage/shop. I epoxied the floor myself. Summer home garage does have an air conditioner to help a bit.
In our winter home, its an oversized 3 car garage, but I need storage for snow blowers, tool boxes, power tools, parts, tires, about 20 pairs of skis & snowboards, bikes, a very large workbench, etc. It still leaves me space for 2 full-size SUVs. (We get about 300+ inches of snow each year). Winter home's garage is heated.
We have no car these days, but are so glad we opted for a garage. Just too much stuff doesn't fit in a condo. But growing up in SoCal I can relate to most houses being dominated by front-facing garages which just was not attractive, no matter how expensive the house.
And yes, we did start a business in our garage there. Printing presses, even!
One of the fascinating trends I see are clear glass roll-up garage doors. Sometimes they are frosted glass roll-ups.
I like the look of those glass garage doors, but seems like they'd be pretty easy for someone to break into. Mostly my issue is with the snout-houses, where the garage door is the most prominent feature looking at the house head on. When the garage is set back, even a front facing garage looks much better, particularly when it's an attractive one like that frosted glass.
We just did a few months ago. Many of the houses in the area (outside of Philly) have had garages converted into livable space over the years. That's the case with ours as it's where the family room is now (plus an office and extra bedroom above it).
Didn't even really consider it a con - we had a garage at our townhouse and never put the car in it, we only have one car, and we have a shed for outdoor equipment. The only slightly annoying thing is garbage/recycling, but it's hidden in the back.
Garage is a must for me. I'm a car guy, so it's my personal space where I go to work on my hotrod. We have a 2 car garage and it's mostly used for my tools, and my weekend car.
Winter is usually a downtime for me where the car is just stored, so when there is 1-2 feet of snow forecast, I put the wife's car in there as well, but usually in the summer that second bay is filled with whatever project I am working on.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
