Attached garage or independent?

[mamapjama]

We are planning a few renovations. Would you go with an attached garage or build one independent of the house?

 

The design looks good with it attached, and as we live in a snowy location, going straight from house to car sounds nice.

 

But wouldn't fumes from the garage enter the house?

 

Any pros or cons for either?

[MomsintheGarden]

A few years ago we added an attached garage to our house. Some fumes from the cars probably enter the house occasionally, but we don't keep our cars running in the garage, and keep the door open until we pull out, so it's minimal.

 

I like not having to go outside to get to the car. It's wonderful to get children and groceries out inside. We also have a chest freezer and second refrigerator in the garage, and we like not having to go outside to access them, too. We store most of the potatoes from our garden in the garage, in covered boxes (breathable material) on lower shelves next to the house wall.

 

A huge bonus of having an attached garage is its attic. Not only do we have an attic above our vehicles, dh (Reg on these boards) had the brilliant idea of making a door-sized hole in the part of the house attached to the garage attic. He and our oldest son put plywood sheets up there to make a floor. We now have an accessable attic above there as well. Reg positioned the attic stairs so we could have them down when the cars were in the garage. He also organized shelves, equipment, a large tool holder, and our rabbit's cage so we can fit a lot of stuff into it.

 

We love our garage. I can't imagine this house without it.

 

HTH,

GardenMom

[2squared]

We live in MN. No question about it, ATTACHED garage.

 

When we lived in TX, same answer though.

 

In MN the cold and wind are terrible. In TX, the heat was terrible. Maybe I would have a different answer if I had lived somewhere inbetween.

[gingersmom]

I despise my detached garage. Never again.

 

Every house I have previously lived in had an attached garage. Not sure what I was thinking. We never had car fumes in the house. Car stays nice and warm, no need to go warm it up.

[nevergiveup]

Your homeowner's insurance might be cheaper with a garage that is not attached.

[MissKNG]

Attached! Do you want to have to run through a rain storm to get to your detached garage? Or snow?

[JulieJ]

Your homeowner's insurance might be cheaper with a garage that is not attached.

 

 

:iagree:

[Guest Tamara01]

^ Me too, I definitely agree.

[kewb]

Attached! Being able to enter and exit the car without having to face the elements is a wonderful thing.

 

The occasional fume may enter the house but for me it has never been a nuisance. It usually dissapates fairly quickly. We don't normally leave the cars running in the garage.

[Wheres Toto]

We have a detached garage and its a PITA. We don't put cars in it, it's only for storage but its annoying to have to go outside (and all the way around the house to the street) everytime we want something out of the garage. An attached garage also gives better options for expansion if it should ever come up - much easier to convert to a workshop/playroom/schoolroom.

[Teachin'Mine]

Well - I'm in the minority here! :lol:

 

Detached with a breezeway between. ;)

[Ellie]

ATTACHED!!!

 

What kind of "fumes" are you thinking of? :confused: The only kind I've ever noticed was at a friend's house, when the fumes from the stored gas for her lawnmower made the house stinky. We don't have a lawnmower, :-) and I've never had any sort of odiferous fumes in the house.

 

Love, love, love getting into and out of the car without having to brave the weather--nasty, humid, hot or pouring rain.

[wapiti]

I've had both, with multiple small children. Definitely attached!!!!

[Orthodox6]

I like the houses with a free-standing garage and a covered walkway to the house. I especially like those with an apartment above the garage ! When I was in graduate school, those accommodations were the "hot" market housing.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

We are planning a few renovations. Would you go with an attached garage or build one independent of the house?

 

The design looks good with it attached, and as we live in a snowy location, going straight from house to car sounds nice.

 

But wouldn't fumes from the garage enter the house?

 

Any pros or cons for either?

 

 

 

There's no way I would ever in a million years have a detached garage!

 

How's that? :D

 

We have snow (and cold) in the winter, howling winds in the spring, searing heat in the summer, pouring rain in the fall. What's the point of having a garage if you have to walk through all that every time you go to the car. Especially for multiple trips, like for groceries.

 

I've had attached garages for every one of my 47 years, and have never had fumes enter the house. The door between the garage and the house is required by code to have a self-closing spring or other mechanism. The door is always closed, so fumes don't come in (or if they do, they're negligible. Any time you have the car running, you have main door open, so the exhaust goes outside. Plus, with the car in the garage, there's no need to "warm it up" because it stays warm in the attached garage, so you don't keep the car running in the garage. You just get in the car, turn it on, and pull out. Negligible fumes.

[Dobela]

attached - it also increases the resale value in our area.

 

We are currently looking for a house and want an attached garage so we can convert it to extra living space. Right now I have an attached garage and I love using it for my deep freeze, extra fridge, extra pantry... You don't have to worry about fumes if you don't leave the vehicle running in the garage. We only start ours just before pulling out and turn it off as soon as we are in.

[mamapjama]

Thanks so much for your input! I am leaning toward an attached garage as it asthetically would look better. Our garage now stores the ride on lawn mower and the snow blower. They often smell really gassy. I just checked with dh and he says he is not going to store those items in the garage. But see, this confuses me as that is why I thought we were building this expensive garage :001_huh: I guess he plans on taking over the garden shed with those items. I'm feeling a two car attached garage might be a bit much then if he isn't planning on storing those items there.

[Lara in Colo]

I've always wanted a detached garage, with the attic above it and connected by a mudroom that is all tiled with a floor drain. I don't know if that is considered attched or detached. Another thing to consider is the laws in your area. Some laws state that a detached garage cannot have both heat and water (to keep from building a second residence and labeling it garage).

 

Lara

[KatieJ]

I grew up with a detached garage..in Minnesota. I don't recall the car being in there often as my Dad was always working on something.

Our first house, no garage. Hated it.

2nd house, detached garage. hated it.

3rd and 4th attached all the way! Love it. It is so much easier moving those little bundles of snow suits into the car when the snow is not blowing down your neck! And rain......yuck.

We always open the garage door before starting the vehicles and usually unload the car before we close the garage door..no fumes ever.

[lisamarie]

Well - I'm in the minority here! :lol:

 

Detached with a breezeway between. ;)

 

This would be ideal. Or else attached. It is so much easier to have it attached. We store our trash, recycling, and a deep freeze in our attached garage and I can go get everything even when it's raining or snowing.

 

My last house had a big mud room between the garage and house and that was definitely the best option. A place to store all the outside gear and keep the shoes out of the house. My house now has the laundry room between the house and garage but it is tiny so when we come into the house, we're all fighting for space to take our shoes and jackets off. I wish the inbetween room was a lot bigger.

[RegGuheert]

We now have an accessible attic above there as well. Reg positioned the attic stairs so we could have them down when the cars were in the garage.

One nice thing about this arrangement is that we can enter the attic, most of which is above the house, when it is very cold and cold air does not pour from the attic into the house. It goes into the garage, instead.

I'm feeling a two car attached garage might be a bit much then if he isn't planning on storing those items there.

I do NOT recommend a one-car garage! I know too many people with one-car garages who are not able to store *any* cars in the garage. I definitely will never purchase a home with a one-car garage, so I assume it is not good for resale value.

 

Assuming you build a two-car garage, I would recommend that you consider 24' X 24' to be the *smallest* size to consider. We had a previous house with a 22' X 22' garage and it was pretty tight. A co-worker of mine has a 20' X 20' garage and it is simply too small. We built a 26' X 26' garage on this house and I still wouldn't mind more space. Our real problem is we have too much junk in there. Time for spring cleaning!

 

Also assuming a two-car garage, if you go with a single door, something larger than 16' would be nice. We went with that size because the larger sizes were significantly more expensive. The problem with the 16' door is that it is difficult to park the cars far enough apart to keep the doors from hitting the other car. And we do NOT have large cars (Honda Civic and Plymouth Grand Voyager).

My house now has the laundry room between the house and garage but it is tiny so when we come into the house, we're all fighting for space to take our shoes and jackets off. I wish the inbetween room was a lot bigger.

This is what we have now and I agree it is too cramped getting from the garage into the house. The children always sit in the doorway or the laundry room to remove their shoes/boots. :glare:

 

One final benefit of an attached garage that has not been mentioned is energy savings. We fully insulated our garage, which is on the west end of the house which receives the prevailing winds. I'm convinced that this additional insulated room has reduced our heating bills and has made the kitchen area more comfortable in the wintertime.