The rise of the McMansion and the fall of the garage

[vi edit]

As many of you may know I'm looking at building a home soon. This weekend the wife and I went out and hit up the "Parade of Homes" that is done every June in my area. It's an organized open house where a number of area builders show off their showcase homes.

One recurring thing was noticed.

A functional garage is dead.

For kicks we walked through a 1.4 million house (about 5x the area average cost) sitting on a lot that was probably a good $150,000+. This thing boasted over 6000 square feet of space....20 feet cathedral ceilings and a complete basement that could be finished up bumping the total to over 10,000 sq/feet.

But it had a two stall garage that like 19x20 feet. And another stall that was like 11x20.
Try parking your Escalade EXT in that thing.

Pretty much every home we looked at had no garage more than 21 feet deep. Simply parking a full size truck in there would fill that up from bumper to bumper.

The idea of having a workbench is gone if you have anything bigger than a Honda Fit. Forget parking two cars in there and trying get a kids bike between them.

When talking to builders they think I'm freaking insane when I say that I wouldn't buy a house without at least 26' depth and a solid 12' of width per car. But they have no problem trying to hype up the two story tall living rooms that add no actual function to the home.

*sigh*

 

[nageov3t]

seems like the vast majority of people don't use their garages for car storage, so why design around something that most people won't use?

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: loki8481
seems like the vast majority of people don't use their garages for car storage, so why design around something that most people won't use?

Which is another post's worth rant. YOU HAVE TOO MUCH SHIT.

 

[venkman]

the vast majority of people must not live in areas with "interesting" weather or they enjoy spending 10 minutes in sub zero temperatures defrosting their windshields.

 

[miketheidiot]

mcmansions are terrible

 

[Zenmervolt]

I have said it before and I'll say it again: I want a very large garage with a very small attached house.

Finding someone to build it, however, may be difficult.

ZV

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: vi edit

Originally posted by: loki8481
seems like the vast majority of people don't use their garages for car storage, so why design around something that most people won't use?

Which is another post's worth rant. YOU HAVE TOO MUCH SHIT.

hey now, I live in a shoe closet of an apartment, don't blame me

 

[IronWing]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Which is another post's worth rant. YOU HAVE TOO MUCH SHIT.

Irony meter just pegged.

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I have said it before and I'll say it again: I want a very large garage with a very small attached house.

Finding someone to build it, however, may be difficult.

ZV

They have average sized houses with "RV garages" aka THE PERFECT WORKSHOP!

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I have said it before and I'll say it again: I want a very large garage with a very small attached house.

Finding someone to build it, however, may be difficult.

ZV

Just slap up a 40'x60' Morton Building and build a loft built into it.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: ironwing

Originally posted by: vi edit
Which is another post's worth rant. YOU HAVE TOO MUCH SHIT.

Irony meter just pegged.

Not really ironing. I want to be able to park two cars in my garage and actually be able to open all doors without needing a shoehorn to climb out. Or to be able to pull into the garage and not worry about which direction I have to walk around the car to actually get in the house. Or actually be able to take my bike out of the garage without having to pull a car out.

I don't really want it to shove more shit in there. Just to be able to comfortably use the shit I already have.

 

[bignateyk]

The house I just bought only has a 1 car garage I've lived in PA my whole life and know damn well the agony of chipping my car out of a block of ice at 6am in sub-zero weather.

That said, we have two cars, and I plan on using the garage as my workout room, so neither of us will be parking our cars in it.

 

[xanis]

Originally posted by: bignateyk
The house I just bought only has a 1 car garage I've lived in PA my whole life and know damn well the agony of chipping my car out of a block of ice at 6am in sub-zero weather.

That said, we have two cars, and I plan on using the garage as my workout room, so neither of us will be parking our cars in it.

Bahaha I feel the pain. There have been many mornings in this this awful state that I too have spent a good 20-30 minutes picking my car out of a block of ice.

 

[Dubb]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I have said it before and I'll say it again: I want a very large garage with a very small attached house.

Finding someone to build it, however, may be difficult.

ZV

A condo project my firm is doing has a 14' x 26' garage with a 627 sf two story condo on top.

how's that work for you?

 

[Turin39789]

we looked at a house last weekend with two attached garages in series. both air conditioned and heated, first a deep 2.5 car garage and then a 3.5 double deep pull through.

Already had an offer and the house was setup strange, but I still drool about being able to fit all the toys under cover and walk around them with tools.

 

[mugs]

Wow... I expect that in a small house, but not in a big house. My mother-in-law's house is a "McMansion" that has a very good sized garage. Ample room for 3 vehicles with cabinets against the front wall, and it has a good sized area on one side where the person door is.

Mine... it'd be a struggle to fit my wife's TSX in it on the side with the stairs, and there is NO extra room on the sides. It's barely wider than the actual garage doors. The middle section has a pole right where your doors would be. We've never parked in a garage anyway, so we don't care too much.

 

[vi edit]

Yeh, I was just amazed. We looked a a 1.1, 1.2, and 1.5 million dollar homes and every single one of them had a garage that would just barely swallow your average yuppie mobile full size SUV. Forget having anything at the front or sides of the stall.

I guess I'm just spoiled. My house was built about 40 years ago. The "original" garage is about 20 x 20. It fits my wife's car and the riding mower I have fit both cars in there, but it's not fun. The owners before me expanded it out and tacked on a third stall that's about 15' wide and 32' deep. It will fit a full size truck with an 8' bed and plenty of room to drop in a work bench, tool cabinet, and a mitre saw stand.

My parents built a home and my Dad had the foresight to overbuild the garage. He had the garage custom framed to be around 32' deep by about 40' wide.

He has a work bench at the front of it that he uses for various repair tasks and then another counter on the side with a sink built in for his hunting & fishing cleanup tasks. It's not that he has a lot of stuff...he just has functional working space without having to kick out a car to do it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Actually while looking at houses I noticed the same thing. Most attached garages are very small. One garage was even converted into an office and could no longer fit even a honda civic. What's the point? An ideal garage should be able to fit a vehicle + have enough room for storage/shop area. The house I ended up buying has a decent sized garage but still nothing super. The beauty is I always have the option to enlarge it if ever I wanted to as the back is outside facing. would be a HUGE job though, but the option is there.

I will only be storing my car in there during the winter anyway (aka, 8-10 months of the year). I also need to insulate the ceiling as it's not insulated so it will probably lose heat very fast if I put a heater in there. I'll go through a winter in it and see how it is.

 

[Eli]

Hmm.. Interesting observation, and I agree.

I'd much rather have a huge garage than cathedral ceilings.

 

[CPA]

I have a 3400 sqft house, but it has a two-car attached garage and a two-car detached garage that has a port corchere connecting it to the house.

Originally the house only had the attached garage, but in my subdivision all homes have at least a 2.5 car garage. The house sat for a while, then the realtors convinced the builders to add the detached. It's 25x30, while the attached is slightly smaller, but has an alcove on the side that I have freezer and my eliptical machine in. The attached is also now a home gym since I fit all of my tools, bikes, lawnmower and trash cans in the detached. I don't park in the garages, though I could in the detached. My garages are very functional.

 

[oogabooga]

I'd like a decent sized garage for Cars, workspace, and even perhaps a little bit of storage space.

All preferably at the same time

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I have said it before and I'll say it again: I want a very large garage with a very small attached house.

Finding someone to build it, however, may be difficult.

ZV

My buddy would love the number to that builder once you find him

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: oogabooga
I'd like a decent sized garage for Cars, workspace, and even perhaps a little bit of storage space.

All preferably at the same time

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
I have said it before and I'll say it again: I want a very large garage with a very small attached house.

Finding someone to build it, however, may be difficult.

ZV

My buddy would love the number to that builder once you find him

Uh... guys... a builder would happily build a pink upside down house-sized garage for you, if you paid them to do it.....

 

[lxskllr]

I have a 2 car garage, but I don't really use it. My old Thing's parked in there as a future project, and my Jeep stays in the driveway. I use the rest of the garage for my mower, and miscellaneous crap.

 

[IEC]

I park underground. In the bunker lined with steel, and concrete. Oh, what's that? That's just your workplace parking garage, you say?

 

[LS8]

The home I grew up in was built in the 1880s. Sometime in the early 1900s a detached, 3 car garage was built. I remember my father parking his 1974 Ford Country Squire station wagon in there without a problem. There was at least ten feet from the car's front bumper to the rear wall.

My town home (built in 2000) actually has a very large 2 car garage (it's the entire first floor of the home) but these days it's considered "over sized" when it's really just average to me. Some friends built a new home in 2006 and it had the smallest 2 car garage I had ever seen. My Ford Explorer would barely fit and unless you had a really small car like a Honda Fit you wouldn't be able to pull another car in while the Explorer was there.