How important is garage space? UPDATE with PICS

[greenpigs]

Gang

  I am in the market for a house and have a problem, the area I would like to live has plenty of houses with 2 car garages to choose from. But the lots are positioned where adding another 2 car garage isn't possible. I don't want a farm house in order to get a barn and can't afford to build a place on said farm land for that barn. I know what I can afford and in some of the older areas they have houses with one car attached + a two car out back, but property value is stale and on the way down in that area.

  What would you do or what have you done to solve your storage problems?

   BTW I do not want to use a storage area to keep my stuff.

[Khyron]

I just bought a house with enough land to build my additional 2 car garage.

[MichaelRW]

The prior house I owned had a two car garage. Not enough space. The next house I bought I simply made it one of the "gotta have" items - a 3 car garage. Now that I have a 3 car garage I could use more space. I constructed a couple of those large plastic storage units, put them in the side of the yard and moved the non-car stuff into them. Rakes, shovels, etc. and that gives me more space for the "important" stuff.

[Shakey]

I have a single car garage and space for one in the driveway, damn sidewalk!  The only regret I have with purchasing this house was the single car garage and small backyard.  At the time my Wife and I did not want to be "house poor" so we stuck to our budget.  I have a Child now and would like to have more space for her out back.  I also need more space for bike, wagon sleigh etc. in the garage.

The single car garage is driving me nuts!

I am now looking for either a 2-3 car garage house in town or a piece of property just outside of town that will accomodate or already have a seperate garage.

My car is being built out at my In-Laws farm which is ok as that is where all of the tools and space is.

I guess the bottom line is - how much space do you need?

If memory serves me correct green, you are not married - true?

Do you need space for 4 cars?  If I were on my own I'd be pleased with a 2 car garage.  One spot for each of my cars, my daily driver and my Charger.  If I were wroking on the car I'd leave the daily driver outside.

Garage space is important!  Be picky because moving sucks.

[nh_mopar_fan]

When we bought our house, we had a one car detached garage. 3 years ago, we tore it down and put up a 3 bay. Wish I had known NHCharger back then.

Even with the 3 bays, none of our daily drivers get garaged. If you have to deal with winter, I'd say it's important. Luckily, my wife understands why the drivers don't get the garage space...

[Dave22443]

  We built our house on a budget and had no garage at first.  When the rates dropped, we refinanced and added a 2 car 24'x26' attached (and fully finished) garage. Original plans called for 18'x26' and I expanded it.  I'm still wishing I had made it bigger.

 A friend of mine had no garage and only enough room for a single.  So he bought the two lots next to his and built a massive 3 car garage 30'x40'.  If it were completely empty and you parked them just right, you could easily get 10 or 12 Honda Accords in there.  But guess what...  its not big enough.  He just bought a 12'x24' wooden (prefab barn style) shed and dropped it behind the garage to hold all the "crap"  (I.e., non car stuff) just to make more room.  Now its full and you still can't get through his garage without carefully picking your steps.

 I think my brother had a good idea.  He built a detached two story double wide, double deep garage.  He could get four cars in it (front to back) and had a full size second floor for holding all the other stuff.  Between the two floors, he had something like 2,000 sq. ft. of space.  But then, come to think of it, he doesn't have enough space either!

[hemi68charger]

Ever wear briefs that were too tight?  Now, can you relate...........

I'm in the same boat now.. Looking for a house to replace the 4+garage I have now... It's tough finding the right combination of house with either a 3-car garage or a 2-car garage with expandibility..... Heck, even the 3-car garage I buy needs to be able to grow....

Hope you find that right house....

Troy

[Steve P.]

It seems you can never have enough room. Even when you think something you find will work for the money, the four letter words start coming out as soon as the car is apart and you are out of building space.

One very important thing people tend to over look is space above your head. If you can go up with another floor you can store half a car over your head. BUT<<<<< nothing seems to beat floor space.

[Old Moparz]

Storage will always be a problem unless you are one of the anti-clutter types that will toss things in the trash before it's actually trash. If you are like most, a 2 car garage will be 2 cars too small. If you have a car taken apart to restore, it will require twice as much space to do it. If you can, make sure you have a high enough ceiling to consider a 4 post lift & get one above the other & have 2 in the space for one.

I'll add that you just have to be patient with the house hunt so you get the right combination of what you're looking for. My wife knew when we were hunting that a 2 car garage was the absolute minimum size I would consider. Of course that was 1989 & we only had 2 cars we would have kept inside, my '69 Satellite convertible & her '88 Mustang GT. She told a lot of realtors to forget it when they said the garage wasn't what we were after.

We also came across a lot of realtors that just didn't give a rat's ass as to what we wanted, what we could afford, or what we were willing to pay. Maybe they did care & they were just dumb. We were showed houses with tiny 1 car garages, houses that were twice as much as we could afford & houses with no garage & no room to build one. A realtor is a salesperson who will be quicker to show a listing that they have instead of splitting the commission with another realtor who may be a better listing.

We finally came across a house without a garage, but there was room to build one & the price difference made it a deal. We bought it after looking for 6 months & it was worth not rushing or overpaying. It took a lot longer to recover financially from the purchase, & at one point my company let people go when it was bought out so I had no job & couldn't think of spending on a garage. Try to get what you need & want up front or you may not get it for a long time.

Don't forget about all the other accessories & toys we all collect & need. Tool boxes, lawnmowers, snow blowers, generators, compressors & tons of other junk that take up a lot of space & weigh a lot more than a plastic grille you can hang on a nail or shelf. I almost built a 2-1/2 car garage, but my wife said "You won't be happy with that, better make it bigger & add a second floor. I did, & more space was definitely a good choice & cheaper to build up front than to add on later.

Glad I didn't argue with her.  

[PocketThunder]

Gang

  I am in the market for a house and have a problem, the area I would like to live has plenty of houses with 2 car garages to choose from. But the lots are positioned where adding another 2 car garage isn't possible. I don't want a farm house in order to get a barn and can't afford to build a place on said farm land for that barn. I know what I can afford and in some of the older areas they have houses with one car attached + a two car out back, but property value is stale and on the way down in that area.

  What would you do or what have you done to solve your storage problems?

   BTW I do not want to use a storage area to keep my stuff.

See if you can go up and out the back with an addition.  then if the place only has a one car garage, you can go tandem and put the Charger in the back for the winter, and go up also and put a loft in for junk sotrage.

[HAZZARDJOHN]

I am in the process of buying land to build a house and I am going to build the biggest pole barn that the county will let me do.  Don't need the space now but I am sure I will in coming years.

AS far as more garage space, My neighbor built n addition in the front of his two car attached garage, essentially turning it into a 4-car garage. When you look at the house from the front and back it looks like a normal house. This might be an option to consider.

~HJ

[8WHEELER]

I no longer have a space problem, I rented for 8yrs, saved money and bought a place in a great area.
We have one acre now and have been hear 15yrs, I like having everything in the garage and sheds.

Dan

[Telvis]

You never have enough garage space. There's no such thing as too much that's for sure.

[greenpigs]

Thanks

At work last night a bank came in and talked about mortgages & the lady has a house with a one car attached and two detached for sale. The two car is insulated, heated, air conditioned and drywalled plus its the right price This is by no means a steal in asking price, but I plan on going to look at it anyways and will try to wait till the right place comes along.

[bull]

Garage/shop space is like money, you can't have too much. That said I don't know a solution for you other than spending more money. One thing you do to plan for later is find a piece of property with a large back yard and an attached garage that can be modified to drive all the way through to access the back yard, ie., a garage door front and back. That way you can either build a garage addition or another garage and it won't be seen from the front of the house. I could have done that with our first house because there was no part of the living space behind the single car garage. The back yard would have been big enough for a huge shop but the house was too small anyway so we moved. Now our house is big enough but the two-car garage doesn't cut it. I have an RV pad but I'm not going to park the Charger outside. I think 8WHEELER has the right idea. I'm jealous, Dan.

[4402tuff4u]

If I was in the market of buying a home, it would have to have at least a 2 car garage and a basement. I have a 1 1/2 car garage and between the kids bicycles and other stuff, I hardly have room for my stuff, let alone the Charger. I should get rid of one welder. I have 3 (1 mig and 2 stick gasoline powered engine) and get rid of other crap I have. 8WHEELER is the true man with that aircraft hanger he has.   

I think I saw his garage in a satellite photo from google Earth.

[Skyview69]

My advice is to wait until you can afford at least a three plus car garage. I bought my house with a large two car garage annd it is not enough- two Chargers, lawn mower, snow blower, kids bikes and toys -etc.  My thought was that I have 3 acres and can buiild whatever kind of barn/garage I want but the reality is I can't afford to build anything and it will be years before it can be done.  I should have waited and found one with a two car garage AND A POLE BARN!!

[PocketThunder]

I think I saw his garage in a satellite photo from google Earth.

I live in the city and i have a 3 car garage that gets me by.  My Dad just built a 48x60x16high pole shed for storing crap(camper, boats, musclecars, motorcycles, etc.) and after being built for only 6 months now its FULL!!!

[hemi68charger]

I no longer have a space problem, I rented for 8yrs, saved money and bought a place in a great area.
We have one acre now and have been hear 15yrs, I like having everything in the garage and sheds.

Dan

Dang Dan !!!!  That's great.. Where do you live? The Northwest?.....

[8WHEELER]

I no longer have a space problem, I rented for 8yrs, saved money and bought a place in a great area.
We have one acre now and have been hear 15yrs, I like having everything in the garage and sheds.

Dan

Dang Dan !!!!  That's great.. Where do you live? The Northwest?.....

Yep 20mi east of down town Seattle. The first 40x24ft deep is for my daily drivers and a big loft and a wall. The back 36x40 has
a 14ft insulated sliding door so I can drive right out the door on the back side of the garage, I can bring a car home on
a trailer, pull right in the garage and unload in the back bays and never get wet. It got cold as hell in the winter before
I insulated the garage and put a furnice in the back portion. Yes it rains and gets cold hear    but it could be worse 

I have motion sensor lights all over the place, two sets on the back side and on the side's, and two motion system alarms
I picked up at Harbor Freight.

Dan

[greenpigs]

Thats like showing a starving man a sandwich and not sharing 8WHEELER  

[Blown70]

I have to say I thought my 35 X 40 was good but man a guy can always use more.  I will take a picture. OHHH and with -20 coming,  HEATING is wonderful.....

Tom

[Charger_Fan]

My thought was that I have 3 acres and can buiild whatever kind of barn/garage I want but the reality is I can't afford to build anything and it will be years before it can be done.  I should have waited and found one with a two car garage AND A POLE BARN!!

That's my problem. I'm on 1/3 acre, with a big back yard (85' from the back of the house to my property line) and planned on building an additional garage behind my house. Only problem is that I can't afford to.
I've thought about getting one of these...



...but I'm not sure if I should put 3 grand into that, or put it toward an actual permanent building.
If I put it toward a permanent building, then the 3 G's probably won't go very far & it'll take me forever to finish it.
I hate money.


Oh, sorry for the hijack...ummm...go for the big garage!

[greenpigs]

Oh, sorry for the hijack...ummm...go for the big garage!

What, talking about what to do with a garage isn't a hijack as the more info on this subject the better.

[PocketThunder]

My thought was that I have 3 acres and can buiild whatever kind of barn/garage I want but the reality is I can't afford to build anything and it will be years before it can be done.  I should have waited and found one with a two car garage AND A POLE BARN!!

That's my problem. I'm on 1/3 acre, with a big back yard (85' from the back of the house to my property line) and planned on building an additional garage behind my house. Only problem is that I can't afford to.
I've thought about getting one of these...



...but I'm not sure if I should put 3 grand into that, or put it toward an actual permanent building.
If I put it toward a permanent building, then the 3 G's probably won't go very far & it'll take me forever to finish it.
I hate money.


Oh, sorry for the hijack...ummm...go for the big garage!

Does the back of your gayrodge look out into your backyard?   could you go tandem off the back by adding on or is there living space behind it.?