Talk to me about your garage

[mackmama]

How big is your garage?

Is your garage attached? If not, are there stairs to the house from the garage?

Do you use your garage to park your cars, as a workout spot, or for storage? Or a combo of the above? (by storage, I don't mean wall storage units... I mean taking up an actual car spot with stuff)

What do you like/dislike about your garage?

[KrisM]

Our garage width is 2 cars, but it's extra deep. We park 2 cars in it, keep all our bikes and outdoor toys in it. We have shelves for Christmas decorations. And the lawn mower and snow thrower are in it too. And an extra fridge. It's attached and we have 2 steps into the house.

I didn't vote because I could chose multiple and wasn't sure which to pick :).

I wish it were wider so that the bikes could be on the side and easier to get out.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We just have a carport. Totally wish it was a 3 car garage!!!

The house we *may* buy if we get really lucky in the next few months has a single car garage that I'm not totally sure my minivan will fit inside. [sob] We will do our best to put "stuff" inside the house because I love parking inside.

[twowhat?]

We have an oversized 2-car attached garage. We can park both cars and there's enough space for lawnmower and extra fridge and we have 4 large cabinet type things plus a shelf system for storing other outside gear. There are 3 steps to get into the house and a door out the side to the backyard/pool which comes in really handy in the summers when we leave it open during the day to help cool down the garage.

I actually wish we had a 3-car garage, or maybe a circle drive in front with a covered porch for parking a car so that extended guests can park inside/underneath a roof due to the extreme summer heat, spring hailstorms, and winter ice storms. Some houses the size of ours have one but we couldn't find a house with a floorplan we loved AND a 3-car garage.

[khalloc]

We have a 2 car attached garage. It has 1 large door. There are stairs from the garage leading into the house (2 steps) and another door leading into the basement (comes in handy!). I wish my garage was a little bigger. Not necessarily enough for another car, but maybe 1/2 as wide so we could store more stuff. We really need a shed.

The poll had radio buttons so I could not choose 2 car garage and then also say what we use it for.

For use, both DH and I park our cars in there every night. It has a work bench on on side, and shelving in the back, also has a sink, and DH manages to store stuff like ladders, the snowblower, random tires, hoses, etc on the side by his car. My car parks on the side where the work bench is.

[mackmama]

Well the poll's not going to be too helpful without being able to choose multiple options. Sorry about that! :bouncy:

[hellokitty]

We have a two car garage (with two doors, not one big one) and we use it for our cars, plus outdoor toys, lawn/landscaping/gardening storage and also have a fridge out there. I also keep a lot of extra shoe shelves out there. It's pretty cramped. Ideally, we could use a 3 car garage, so the one garage would be for all the storage stuff. However, part of the problem is my DH is a bike and car nut and btwn all of his car stuff (mufflers, extra wheels, etc.) and all of his bikes (5???), we don't have much space. I've been trying to get him to get rid of stuff. The organizers and hooks that let you hang stuff from the ceiling and wall are fantastic to keep things off of the floor.

I forgot to add that ours is attached and there are 2 steps going up to our house. I don't like the garages that have that deck type of platform where you have to walk up at least 4-5 stairs. I would fall down those stairs if we had that kind.

[BillK]

My detached garage-mahal is 36 x 30 - technically 3 stall but it's set up as a 2-stall with a man door. Heated, plumbed etc. I love it. We have 4 steps to our back porch and another 2 into the rear of the house.

[KLD313]

We have a two car garage that has stairs going to the house and it also has a stairway going down to the basement. It's oversized because we can fit a quad and a motorcycle in there too plus a full workbench across the whole front.

On the other side of the house we have a two car garage but it's fits cars one behind the other. It's also oversized, we have a ton of room on the side for storage. This garage is level with the finished basement.

I've never seen a set-up like this before but it was a huge selling point.

[BabbyO]

We have a 2.5 car, attached garage with no steps into the house. Although there is 1 step from the dining room (room adjacent to the garage) and the kitchen.

We have both cars, our bikes, lawn mower, snow thrower, 2 detached shelving units, 1 enormous 3' deep attached shelving unit, the kids outdoor toys/kiddie pool, strollers, lawn/gardening equipment, misc tools, shovels, 2 large garbage cans, the patio furniture (winter storage) and a pile of 2 x 4's that need to be moved this spring.

[lhafer]

We have attached 3 car garage that is a tandem - meaning it looks like a 2 car from the extrerior of the house, but the 3rd bay in more interior. We park my minivan and my DH's car in the garage. And the 3rd car tandem area is my wood working shop.

[HIU8]

We only have a one car garage right now (it really sucks). We use it to park MY car and have storage in it as well (shelving) in the front. I have a minivan and it fits into the garage with the shelving no problem (not an oversized garage). Oh, the garage is not only attached to the house, it is part of the house (it's literally in the living space and not off the the side--which is why it's only 1 car). Most ppl in my neighborhood use theirs for storage and park outside. OR they have an extra parking pad or circular driveway. We have a single lane driveway (can't put an extra pad as we are against the easement). We also got a larger storage shed in the backyard for the lawn mower, bikes etc...

[AnnieW625]

Since I could only vote for one option I voted for 2 car garage, but our garage is detached and level. We have no cabinets, just a work bench, some wood planks in the rafters for storage, and a 9 cu. ft. freezer. We park our Corolla in the garage. When and if we remodel our house we will also remodel the garage and put in shelving units and such. Our only regret for our garage is that we wish it was attached, but because of the shape of our lot we'll never be able to have an attached garage. Attached garages in my community unless you are certain streets or on a corner lot are not common.

[ellies mom]

We have a two car garage. Most of our stuff is stored in hi-loft shelves just below the ceiling so we generally do park both cars in the garage. We do tend to park my car in front of the house during the summer because it is too hard to move bikes, strollers, scooters and other wheeled type toys in and out of the garage with both cars in there. In the winter, I like my car in the garage so that I can avoid the window scrapping, standing in inclement weather, waiting for pokey children type stuff.

The husband's car has developed some odd intermittent, difficult to track down leak so it gets parked in the garage too which is unfortunate because now we can't use that area for the treadmill/weight bench/move wheeled toys in and out space. Yeah, a three car garage would be nice.

ETA- We do have two steps from the house to the attached garage.

[justlearning]

We have an attached 3-car garage with two small steps into the house. We use the 2-car side for our cars and the other side (that has a separate garage door) for a snow blower, kids' bikes, patio furniture during winter, ping pong table, etc.

When we have a kid driving, we would most likely clear that space so 3 cars could be parked in the garage. But it's sure nice to have that storage space now!

In our neighborhood, there are a couple of tandem garages that have a door for two cars but that hold 3 cars (one behind the other). But the rest are 3-car garages and a couple even have 4-car garages.

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

We have a 2 car detached garage. No steps of any kind as we live in a flat area. :) There is not a covered walkway from the garage to the house. We don't park in there since we also live in a very temperate area and we just park one car in the driveway and one in the street. It has sliding doors (originals from 1947) and our driveway is gating with a manual gate, so it would be a PITA to park in there.

We have talked about building a new garage in the future, larger, further back with room for a workshop in the back. We have a shed attached to the garage currently, but it's kind of decrepit. (I'll see if this spelling shows up in that other thread ... :))

Since we don't park in the garage, we have plenty of storage. Too much really, it makes it hard to find the motivation to get rid of stuff.

[mackmama]

We have an attached 3-car garage where we park 2 cars and use the other stall for storage. We also have built-ins all around it. The neighborhood where we are hoping to move has tiny garages.... max 2-car and a tight fit. We are trying to figure out storage and where we'd put all of our stuff (since the houses are also small).

[Mommy_Mea]

We have a 2 car garage under the house, two seperate doors for each car. It is big enough to store lots of other stuff, lawnmower, snowblower, bikes, garbage cans, etc. Which is pretty awesome for a 1950's house. It goes into our basement, and we have to go up a narrow flight of stairs to get up to our living area, which is a pain. But a 2 car garage around here is luxury enough, I try not to complain :)

And we most definitely use it to park our cars. Seeing all the cars this morning coated in snow, reinforced our decision to go with the slightly more boring house, but the one with the two car garage!

[wolverine2]

We have a funny garage- it's a 2 car that is a bit built into the ground, so our house sits on top of it. There is no way anyone ever used it for cars because the driveway was so steep down to the entrance you'd have to have a really high clearance. We ripped out the driveway and put in landscaping and a patio, and we're going to convert it into a rec room. We live in a city and need the space more than a garage. No one on our street actually uses their garage for cars. (which is kind of crazy since this is New England. I grew up in Michigan where we never would have dreamed of doing that.)

[boolady]

Detached with no connection to the house. It's at the back of the property, because we live on a corner and our driveway comes in off the side street, which is really more like an alley. We don't park our cars in it, but it's great for storage.

[DualvansMommy]

we have two car attached garage with one step leading up into our house. It has enough room to park our vehicles indoors, shelves in back holding up household and winter supplies. Extra fridge is situated in back as well with snow-blower. Wish it's 3 car garage at least to store our kids toys, etc; for that we may have to get a storage shed to store all snow-blower, tractor, paint, winter supplies, etc to free up space in our garage. We're re-organizing it so i can put in a mud room of a sorts with closet/storage unit to hold the shoes, coats, etc.

[jerigirl]

We have attached 3 car garage that is a tandem - meaning it looks like a 2 car from the extrerior of the house, but the 3rd bay in more interior. We park my minivan and my DH's car in the garage. And the 3rd car tandem area is my wood working shop.

This is exactly what ours was originally built as. But when we moved into the house last year we took up half of the third space (interior) and extended the closet in the bedroom backing up to the garage. So now we have a 2.5 (LOL!) car garage and the half space in the garage is storage/fridge/ bikes etc.

[klwa]

3 car garage, attached.

My bay is MY BAY. For MY CAR. DH's bay is HIS bay. For every thing imaginable under the sun except his car. (Cement mixer, furniture that needs to be refinished, a mortar, you name it, it's over there.) The third bay is supposed to be for lawn mower, bikes, etc. But, DH's crap has spilled over there, too.

[LexyLou]

3 car garage, attached.

Where we live it's pretty uncommon to have a detached garage.

ETA: We park both our cars in it. We use the third garage for storage. We also have rafters above the cars that stores a lot as well. We have our second fridge in the 3rd garage also.

[mom_hanna]

We have a 3 car garage that holds our cars, a fridge/freezer, the kids toys, our bikes, garbage/recycling, etc. We built a climbing wall in the 3rd bay - vertical the length of the wall, and horizontal across the ceiling. It's awesome. One of my dh's must haves when we bought a house was a 3 car garage. Oh, and it's attached with 1 step up into the house. Neither one of us wanted to have to go out in the snow in the winter to get to the garage.

[Giantbear]

undersized two car garage, we keep one car in, mainly so dd has a warmish car to getinto in the morning, and then use it for storage of outdoor stuff, snow blower, shovels and brooms. We can squeeze two cars in if we really want to, but its not worth the effort

[♥ms.pacman♥]

2 car garage with 2 doors and i'm not a fan. i'd give anything to just have 1 big garage door. bc it's separate we can't make space on one side for stuff like lawnmowers..each car must go in the center which loses a ton of space. i'm always hitting the mirror of our van on the side. it's so annoying. we only park our van in one side, and use the other side for storage. it's too hard to park both cars in..though if we had one big door it would be so much easier.

ideally, i'd love a 3 car garage, one big one plus 1 small one...use the big for both cars and the side one for kids stuff. right now we don't have much bc the kids are little, but i imagine once tey get bikes and sporting equipment we could definitely use the space. if we move into a bigger house, we are definitely getting a 3 car garage!!

[jerigirl]

One neat thing that the previous owners had installed in the garage were bike pulleys. We put mine and DH's bikes on them since we don't ride them much. (this picture was taken when we were buying the house)
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn175/jerigirleed/bikepulleys.jpg

[mackmama]

Oh that bike pulley thing is cool!

[peanut520]

Oh that bike pulley thing is cool!
$29.99 w/ free s/h
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11482060&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|111|41615&N=4052633&Mo=7&No=7&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=195&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

[peanut520]

oversized attached 2 car garage with one garage door. there are 2 storage rooms within the garage area plus we have a wall shelving unit also along with the bike racks. we park both cars in the garage.

[Katigre]

Wow, no option for us! We have no garage and no carport (small house built in the 1940's...) I'd like an attached garage someday when we move for both storage and to park cars - it stinks when there is icy winter weather and my windows are covered in crusty ice to scrape off before commuting in the morning!

[pastrygirl]

We have a two-car attached garage, and also had another 2-car detached garage built a few years ago. We park vehicles in all the spots. Our two cars are in the attached garage, plus some storage and recycling. The truck (with plow) and tractor live in the other garage, along with all our outdoor toys. It also has a second floor that houses all kinds of stuff. I don't really know what we keep up there anymore. It's not heated or cooled, or cleaned, or airtight (I mean critter-free), so we don't have anything sensitive up there.

I wish our attached garage had room for our extra fridge/freezer, because I'm lazy and don't like having to go downstairs to the basement. I also wish I had better stroller storage. ;)

Oh, and we use those bike pulleys in the detached garage -- they're great!

[georgiegirl]

Technically we have a 5 car garage. We have a 2 car garage that is 2 cars deep, the next to that, we have a large garage that can fit an RV. I call it the space shuttle garage since it is so huge. We park our 2 cars in the regular garage, and all of our junk (kids toys, gardening stuff, patio furniture in the winter, etc.) goes in the big garage. I also let my kids play on the garage during the winter. They ride around on plasma cars and play with the sand table. Most people in our neighborhood (an acreage neighborhood have at least a three car garage...and if not they have a shed.). Oh, and our garages are attached.

[jerigirl]

$29.99 w/ free s/h
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11482060&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&eCat=BC|111|41615&N=4052633&Mo=7&No=7&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=195&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&lang=en-US&Sp=C&topnav=

Cool! I didn't realize that those probably came from Costco!

[eagle]

dude i voted and im like the only one with a 1 car garage.

we live in a home that was built in the 50s or 60s. the entire neighborhood (and a lot of this town, frankly) has 1 car garage. if you go out to the edge of town where the newer developments are there are some pretty nice 3 car garages.

okay. 1 car garage. but thats not the worst part.

its TINY. we have this boat, a 1985 mercedes 500sel and when you park it, you have to be very careful not to hit the side mirrors. theres literally 4 inch clearance on both sides. its TIGHT. parked inside, there is JUST enough space up front for the two garbage cans (one regular and one recycling) and 3 feet behind the trunk. so you can barely squeeze behind to get your groceries.

theres no space for storage. :(

first world problems, totally.

but i hate older homes.

i would kill for a 3 car garage with extra space for storage.

we keep the space tidy so that i can actually use it come winter because theres nothing i hate more than having to scrape of ice and snow first thing in the morning.

i notice neighbors around me arent as bothered. they just use their 1 car garage as storage.

[eagle]

god i would also love me a nice bigass 5 car garage.

nice play space on rainy or cold days plus plenty of storage for bbq crap, charcoal, gardening stuff.

did i already mention i hate older homes? it wouldnt be so bad if this house had charm, but theres absolutely no charm here.

[123LuckyMom]

We have an oversized, two car, two door, detached garage. It has plenty of room for both cars, riding mower, a cord of firewood, outdoor furniture, snowblower, etc. it's big! It also has a stairway leading to a finished room above. We use that room for storage. The only drawback to our garage is that it's detached. It would be great to be able to walk straight inside.

[baymom]

We have an attached, two car garage. It fits both our cars, 4 bikes, misc. toys and has cabinets all along one side and the front. It's a tight fit for all of that (definitely NOT an 'oversized' garage!) and we have to be careful when we are parking. That said, the feature that I LOVE about it is that it has a huge overhead 'loft' for storage. The loft is perfect for items we don't use everyday (holiday decorations, luggage, skies, ect.)

[fumofu]

1-car garage, attached, for parking, storing garbage/recycling bin, and storing whatever that fits in there (big boxes that we're keeping, toolbox, etc)

[Canna]

We live in a 1920s house with a 1920s 1-car detached garage. We use it for storage - bikes, lawn mower, snow blower, gardening supplies, etc. It'd be tight to put a car in there, even if all the stuff was out. We don't mind - previously we lived in an apartment (same vintage) with on-street parking and a lot of steps, so we find this arrangement convenient!

There are 3 steps up to the back door from the garage.

[crl]

We have no garage and no carport. That's what we have had for most of our married lives. Our last house did have a small one car attached garage that we used for storage. I don't mind no garage for the car, but the lack of storage for bikes and strollers and such gets old.
Catherine

[essnce629]

We have a detached 2-car garage, with 2 small steps to the house. We use it for storage and sometimes DBF uses it as an office since it's insulated and has air conditioning. When we have parties we open up the garage and use it as another sitting and eating area since we also have a couch, love seat, arm chair, coffee table, table & chairs, and fridge in there. We have 4 free standing shelving units in there against the walls to store all our boxes, etc and we also have a separate storage shed outside to store additional boxes and lawn tools. When the boys are older we'll probably add a tv in there and they can hang out in there with their friends.

[alexsmommy]

"2 car" detached. We have to walk the length of the yard to get to it, and it has one step up into it (I wish it were ground level).

100+ year old home.
We have to park our two cars very carefully to fit them both. Our second car decisions are made on width of that car (ie we have a Rav4 instead of a Mazda CX-9) vs the first, main vehicle car.
Very limited storage on the permiter.

I love, love, love the character of older homes, but mid-winter I do dream of a 3 car attached garage. Mid summer I just want the three car so we can store the bikes/stollers/ride on's/balls/bats/etc there.

[codex57]

On paper, it's a 3 car garage house. The only truly attached part is a 2 car garage. We park the cars in it and keep shoes there. It leads to the laundry room and the rest of the house. There's a single car garage that's technically connected to the house, but is really off by itself. It has a door that leads to the front porch area. The garage door is 90 degrees off from the main garage and shares the same driveway. We use this single car garage for storage.

[lchang25000]

We have an attached large 3 car garage, with 2 garage door openings. There is a ton of space inside the garage where we can store things. The house entry is just a few steps up from the inside of the garage.

[maestramommy]

We have an attached 2 car garage. But in reality there is more space. There is a bathroom in there (that we dont' currently use) so it also means there is about 4 feet extra width. We park two cars in there, and also store our lawn mower, snow blower, gardening tools, and the kids' trikes/bikes as well as Dh's bike and our emergency generator.

[kijip]

My garage is small, 1 car and attached. Like most Seattle garages it is used to store camping gear, extra food and general crap. It is well organized but there is no way we could/would park in there. We have never pulled the car in there. Where else am I supposed to store the camping gear? Without camping gear and a freezer of local farm meat, I think I would no longer qualify to live in Seattle.