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I've had houses with both. With the 2 smaller door setup I had a brick column down the middle... it looked nicer but usability-wise was restrictive. I like to be able to pull the car in diagonally to easily work on it with the door closed. Or pull it in backwards & straight down the middle to easily load it before a trip. There is more flexibility with the single large door. However with the 2 smaller doors I had 2 small springs on the sides that were lightweight and easy change out myself. The single door has a monster spring above it that has a deadly amount of energy in it and requires some special tools and knowledge to touch safely.
Two car garage doors come in a variety of widths. Sixteen & 18 foot wide doors are pretty common. Wider are less common.
One of my garages is 1150 sf (a pair of two-car wide doors). The other is 1250 sf, and it has 3 single car wide doors, with lots of extra space on all sides.
Two car garage doors come in a variety of widths. Sixteen & 18 foot wide doors are pretty common. Wider are less common.
One of my garages is 1150 sf (a pair of two-car wide doors). The other is 1250 sf, and it has 3 single car wide doors, with lots of extra space on all sides.
A lot of people place orders for items simply because they don't know what else is out there. Installers take advantage of this and build profit into the volume of cookie cutter systems they install for builders.
You're probably "penalized" for ordering a non-standard size (even if not custom) with $$$ and the lead time to order the part. Hem and haw over labor and expense, end up setting for... you guessed it... cookie cutter.
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?
Where in the Boston area are you? I'm out in Needham and on the smaller new construction homes I still see the single garage doors.
Personally, I'm finding the garage in general is shrinking around here. Since that's a room not included in the living space and therefore builders are not getting paid as much for those square feet, I'm finding a lot of the spec builders are putting up homes with smaller and smaller garages. They'd rather get those square feet in the finished space as it will bring more value.
Around here, I'm noticing even when a new home is built with two single garage doors that the garage is still fairly small. The "margins" (as I like to call them) which is the area in between the doors and the area on the side of the garage seem to have shrunk quite a bit in newer homes. That center area between the doors in my house is several feet wide. In new homes, it's maybe a couple of feet wide which brings the cars much closer together.
My parents live in a town house with a single wide door. Personally, I hate it. So hard to pull two decent size cars in there. I have much more room in my garage with two single doors and wide "margins."
When I had my home built I was asked if I wanted one large or two smaller doors. Like most people in this area - maybe in the country - I chose two doors - a guy down the street chose 1.
I believe this question is like asking why can't I find a manual transmission car?
You can, you just have to look hard, and they are not that popular so they will be rare.
Also, if this is something you really want badly, you can always buy a house with a two door garage and convert it to one.
When I had my home built I was asked if I wanted one large or two smaller doors. Like most people in this area - maybe in the country - I chose two doors - a guy down the street chose 1.
I believe this question is like asking why can't I find a manual transmission car?
You can, you just have to look hard, and they are not that popular so they will be rare.
Also, if this is something you really want badly, you can always buy a house with a two door garage and convert it to one.
The most important thing to note in your analogy is that manual transmissions are not even an OPTION in most vehicles anymore. With high volume builders offering some "custom" options in their spec homes, most homes you see in new developments won't offer that option.
The garage choice is more likely given in a "bring your builder" situation.
They're very common down here in Florida. Two car/two door garages are much less common.
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