The Bizarre Reason American Garages Are Shrinking
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- Опубліковано 23 чер 2024
- You’re not crazy, your garage is probably smaller than the one you grew up with. The reasons are many, and more complicated than I ever knew- see what I’m talking about!
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00:00 Intro
00:59 50 Years of Bigger Garages
02:17 Bigger & Bigger Vehicles
03:38 I Had Help Learning This
04:15 The Perfect Storm
06:15 The 1 Acre Breakdown
10:34 The Home Layout Affects Garage Size
12:16 Why Garages Don't Fit Our Cars
14:38 So We End Up Doing... This - Навчання та стиль
I'm a licensed home inspector in North Carolina. When I find a garage door that is less than 18' wide, I point out to my clients that it is a "one and a half" garage, i.e. intended for one car and then storage, workshop, or golf cart, etc. I find this to be a deceptive building practice, *especially* given the bloat of vehicle size in the last 25 years.
My dad had a garage door company in Los Angeles, I would help him measure for new installs I would only see 18’ wide doors maybe 0.5% of the time in wealthy areas. Also rare are 8’ tall garages entry and double door that lets you pass through into the backyard.
@@SNerd42sounds like you’re in on the scam
@@uhohhotdogsounds like he's an Ai bot trying to create false controversy. That comment has nothing to do with this video or the comment he replied to.
@@SNerd42 Someone's projecting.
@@andypeters3011 yea I didn’t even read to the end of that nonsense. I see now
A garage is a $50,000 structure holding $500 worth of junk while $100,000 worth of cars sit in the rain.
look.. shut up.. and stop spying on my house
i have several tools worth more then $500. and i have 2 acres of land. damn i wish i had a garage to put them in
this reminds me of a friend who last year and got a storage space for nearly a year costing over $500 per month., $6,000 per year. It was all old cloths, some junk furniture, nothing anyone would want. I bet it wasn''t worth more than $2,000. After a year, he actually just gave it to charity. .
I live in New Mexico and this could not be more accurate (except for the rain... our vehicles get sand blasted and rot in the extreme UV).
I just measured my garage, and it's 18' x 18.5'. Relatively new build house. My mid-size truck doesn't fit in it. Worse, the driveway is so short, my mid-size truck juts out into the sidewalk as it's parked outside. So does everyone else's--let alone the full size trucks and SUVs, so the neighborhood is filled with vehicles parked outside and along the curb. To fit in more houses, the roads are also not wide enough for cars to be parked on both sides, so it's functionally a one-lane road most of the time.
The situation is stupid. There are lots of solutions to have functional places to park your vehicles... You could offset the house on the lot and have the garage encroach on the backyard, or have a drive through to the backyard like many mid-century constructions. I have lots of worthless space in my house which isn't actually useful. The designs of the cookie cutter houses are hardly high design.
Regardless, if you're not going to build a garage large enough to fit a vehicle, why bother building a garage? Give me a bigger house... a non-functional garage is not useful for anyone. If they're meant to be shops or storage spaces--which might be desirable --build them as such! Garages rarely have electrical on all the walls, and basically never have added wall storage.
@@brayoungfulthanks for sharing your situation. I agree if they can’t build useful garages, they shouldn’t even bother. So infuriating. I hope buyers stop purchasing homes with useless garages and maybe developers will get the message.
I almost didn’t watch it because I didn’t think it should take 15 min to explain why garages are so small. But I persisted and I’m glad I did because it also provides a great explanation as to why developers no longer build single story ranch houses. I found the details on how the space gets eaten up to be very informative.
Older people often can’t negotiate the stairs or don’t want to live on two levels, knowing that as they age they will be better off in a one story. Most of my older relatives have moved to one story houses built in the 80s.
@@MashaB-pk8hl Sure….and they are more expensive to build, find, buy and pay taxes on. All reasons why they don’t build as many of them.
same here. this was way better than just garage sizes.
Meanwhile my house in Arizona was a single story ranch with a 3 car garage big enough to park a long bed c20 and have room to walk around it and work on it without opening the garage door.
@@MashaB-pk8hl yup. my parents are looking for a single family home with a main room on the first floor. its been hard. the houses are 2M and more
In all the TV shows of homes, they neglect to show the garage … now I know why. Thank you for a very interesting video.
Your analysis misses one point. Production home builders have learned that they can sell homes for $x per square foot of living space. They get no living square footage credit for closets, storage rooms, and garages. They maximize square feet of living area by eliminating closets (no more coat closets, for example) and utility rooms (put the water heater in the garage, the furnace in the attic....) That's another reason why garages are also tiny now.
Excellent point!
Lol, no. MLS is finished sq.ft which includes closets.
@@johannajohnson4069 includes closets, but not garages right? so he is correct that mls would drive garage sizes down because you sell based on sq ft that does not count garage size.
I'm renting a place with a 6ft wide x 20' hallway, and a garage opening of 76". Not many cars will fit. The stairs from the garage and up to the second floor are nearly impossible to bring assembled furniture in.
garages dont count in the square footage of a home
When we built our house I purposefully made a 27’ wide 42’ deep garage with an oversized 20’x9’ garage door. It’s so nice to actually have a garage that’s actually usable unlike all the other homes in my neighborhood.
When I put a deck on the second story, I decided to make it 14' and have a car port under it where I could work on the car. Made the shed at the end 54" wide so I could park the mower in it if I ever bought another one bigger than my 42". Now my 26x 36 garage is empty. :(
You guys are gonna make me build my home before I buy one man
That is great but in the age of 30 foot wide 250,000 dollar lots that is not an option for some.
@@danhunik7949 No one forces you to buy the house. Do away with the 4th bathroom.
HaHa, that's just an attached pole barn. I have a 28' x 28' with an 18" door. I can park 2 of the largest pick ups available and store my 67 Firebird with plenty of room to spare.
I'm glad you put this topic in a video. I noticed a consistent downsizing of garages back in 1999, and wondered why. Most of us get upset when we find a scratch on our car from a parking lot encounter, but it can happen in your own garage, even if you're careful.
Grew up with Chicago winters - a 2 car was a must and we have always had 2 cars inside for every house we’ve owned.
I spent 6 years as an electrical inspector in the Eastern suburbs of Seattle. I was in and out of 4-6 houses on average each day. In all that time, I saw less than a dozen garages that had 2 cars in them. The vast majority were crammed full of stuff that wasn't worth 2 payments on the cars sitting outside in the rain.
So... I should buy new tools every few months because that cost is less than a few truck payments? Good plan!🤣
@@JonathanMurray Since I have as much in tools as I do two new(ish) cars, might just as well keep the tools and buy a new car when I need to go somewhere. 😁
To those who commented earlier, I suspect our inspector is talking about random boxes of junk that so many people hold on to forever and ever. My elderly neighbor recently passed away and his family has had a terrible time going through all of his junk. He was a first-class hoarder, and he had no room at all in the garage, attic, living room, bathroom, or any bedroom, apparently.
@@TheRealScooterGuy the conclusion I draw from that is that the vast majority of people do not actually want bigger garages. That's why. The few people who want gigantic garages because they want to rotate their car around inside the garage is a very loud minority.
People just want more living space or storage space for their junk. I don't get why a garage needs to be 24x24. Do you have a car lift in there so that you can work under it safely? If it's purpose is to shelter the car and prevent thefts, then 16x24 is more than sufficient and takes up 4% less space than 20x20.
PS: I don't have a garage. Car's in the driveway. It has a roof, and that is enough shelter. The car will not be damaged from a little bit of heavy rain when it is windy, because it isn't a cybertruck. I actually drive the thing OUTSIDE, in the weather! 😁
@@JonathanMurray Get a tool shed for that stuff and put in the back yard with the lawn mower. No need to keep that junk in the garage.
In California this problem is being solved in the worst way possible. Houses are now so expensive that it's normal for multiple families or multiple generations of the same formerly independent family to move into the same house. When that happens there is always excess furniture that won't fit inside, so the garage is used purely for storage, a couple of cars are parked in the driveway, and a few more on the street.
Or even get converted into living space, keeping the door, but inside covering with sheetrock, and having a window on the side. Outside looks the same, but now an extra bedroom is there, or even split it in half and build a tinier bedroom and shower toilet into it as well.
@@SeanBZA What I see a lot where I live (Nebraska) is that people build large detached garages in their backyards. (Often two story.) If they are lucky it can be accessed from an ally. In my neighborhood, all the houses were originally duplexes that were built in the 1950s with a carport in front of a storage shed. Most lots are still duplexes but a lot of them the carport and the storage shed have been removed and a 24' x 24' garage or 24' x 48' garage is in the back yard. Occasionally you see a one-car garage. (12' x 22' ?) My duplex still has the storage shed but no carport.
This is me. My MiL moved in a few years ago after her husband passed away, and my garage was used as a storage unit. Then once we got it all taken care of, my daughter moved back in after losing her apartment due to circumstances beyond her control, so once again, garage is storage. Along with the additional furniture, I also have a motorcycle, lawn mower, deep freeze, and a 2nd refrigerator in the garage. Maybe one day I can use it for my car and I won't have to deal with hail damage, or trying to uncover it after 6 inches of snow.
That new normal is actually pretty old-school. It used to be perfectly normal to find multiple generations living in one house. Their horses all lived in the same stable as well.
You guys have TOO much illegal/legal migration 😂 plus internal migration when whites from different states move to CALIFORNIA 😂
90's home owner here. My garage is 26x22. We park two suv's in it. Have 2 storage racks, refrigerator, deep freezer, tool box chest, wall cabinets with work bench, air compressor, hot water heater and just enough space to open both car doors (one vehicle at a time).
Urban homesteader here. I built my garage 28x26 with an 18’ door in 2005. With a compact pickup and compact car with staircase and work bench I find it tight. I took a hard pass on many houses at the time due to garage size being too small. Opting for a fixer upper with no garage that had space to attach one and reserved the money to build it immediately after taking possession.
My house was built during peak boomer opulence in 1997. True 3 car garage at 26X34, with a 9X26 tool room, so 26X43 all combined. The luxury of being able to fully open the car doors and trunk with the garage doors closed is another level. Its quite a contrast to our first house which had a car port where I did my own oil changes during the dead of winter in Indiana.
I'm generally disgusted at people's unusable garages being filled with junk they hardly use. I have a one car garage with tools/workbench , can work with a car parked in there. If I don't touch something for 1-2 years it always goes in the dumpster gonzo.
@@FieldBoy111 me too. I cannot figure it out when I see there is a wall of junk in their garage; their cars getting destroyed by the weather outside. I am thankful for the little garage that I have as a nice clean place to keep the cars from getting weathered; but I don't get to choose for other people what they believe is important. I don't even get to choose what I think is important; I can only witness what I think is important after the fact.
There’s a neighborhood in my town that was built during that time period that was started in 1997 that has mostly 3 car garages like that. I want one so bad 😂
@@FieldBoy111 we moved a year ago and I left a few things in the garage that the old owner left. I just did the first annual garage cleaning and tossed out anything I did not even touch in a year. I did keep a few pieces of scrap wood because one day......
3 car garages take up way to much space in a home, with that space you can add an entire bedroom.
When I was building my house in 2013 the floor plan we chose had an option to extend the 2 car portion of the 3 car garage. I opted to do so and today I have in my garage 3 cars, and at the front about 3-4' of shelving, cabinetry, tool chests, welder, air compressor, shop press, a fridge, workbench, etc. That still leaves about 6' between the front of my wife's Honda Pilot (our longest vehicle) and the workbench. There is so much room for activities.
Heck, you can still put in a hot tub! 👍
Sounds like our 3 car garage. We built in 2012 with extra large 3 car garage. We have had 3 cars in there, including a pick up truck. We now have 2 cars in there. We hung all our extra paintings in the garage. The work bench is big. Plenty of room for our bikes and shelving for storage and a full fridge. Never skimp on garage space. You’ll always use it.
My house was built in 1997 and has a two stall garage. With my 1997 Ford Ranger (compact pickup) and 1999 Mercedes E320 (4-door car) it’s a tight fit. Can’t really do anything in the garage except park and uncomfortably retrieve tools etc. I plan to have a pole barn built to be what a garage should be.
I'm from SoCal. I noticed that once overall property price per sq/ft went over ~$1000 (and this is 5 years BEFORE the pandemic) people started using their garages as gyms, work space, etc. To the point that in zip 90272 people were parking $300k McLarens ON THE STREET under a car cover!
Currently I live in south central Idaho... there's a house on the market - 12,000 sq/ft for $18m+ that has a two car garage. Deal breaker.
I love that you're looking at this a factor in property values - I think it says a lot about residential real estate.
In Colorado, 1970's houses are my sweet spot. Two car garages that hold two cars, a big lot, and by now large trees. I just have to update everything.
I grew up, was a teenager during the 1970s when they were building the worst houses to that time. Just horrible floor plans. Super cheap-o construction, I’m out here in California and never a basement or attic storage or living. Built my house in 2002, designed it myself, nice large basement and plenty of attic living space.
Yep that was the house where I grew up in Colorado
@@steveperreira5850 To be fair though, California houses don't have basements because you're close to a fault line (and yes, it pretty much doesn't matter where in the state you are, you're close on the scale of the fault line involved). Texas houses have no real excuse other than "eh, we have land so we'll just make it bigger topside instead" though.
The last home I owned was built in 85. That was the newest home I could get with a similar size to those in the 70’s.
@@StarlightNightflametexas especially south and west texas soil has way too much of rock to build basements in mass.
This explains why I'm seeing homes with single car garages and no garages being built.
One of my grandparents' garages was quite narrow. It has two separate doors and not much room between the vehicle and walls. But it was also built in '48. I'm sad to hear garages are going back to a smaller size.
My parents still can get both their vehicles in the garage. Mine is in the driveway because it isn't a three care garage. But most of the people in the neighborhood don't park in the garages. Too much stuff. Unlike when my parents moved here.
I'm really happy to finally know the answer to this question lol. I've also been noticing over the years that people tend to put their cars in the driveway or street instead of the garage and never understood why. My garage is big enough for two cars but I can barely fit it in and I still need space for tools and lawn equipment. I don't have a shed and barely have space on my property for one so I doubt I'll get there but it has seriously led me to consider building a third car garage on my property
I have the misfortune to live in a HOA Nazi subdivision... They will not approve any modification to your house that the original builder did not put on it... Doesn't matter if all your neighbors have 3-car garages and you have enough room to even put in a *5* car garage with the required setbacks, they won't approve the 3 car garage... Now, if the builder had put in a 5 car garage, that would have been perfectly acceptable... I hate the HOA Nazis... If I'm ever on a jury of a homeowner that "goes postal" at an HOA meeting and kills the board, I'm going to have a very difficult time voting to convict...
And the storage problem is even worse where there are no basements. My garage can fit two small cars but nothing else. I fit one car, a golfcart, and some shelves in my "two" car garage.
Lucky you, my garage is only big enough to fit a beetle and that's it. It's nothing more but a storage area.
@@wolfpackflt670an Old School single-car garage seemingly designed to fit a Volkswagen or a model t? What's the single family homes that were built in the 50s and early 60s around here seem to be in that boat if the house had a single car garage. I find that quite ironic as American coops at that time period were huge and would not fit in the garage is on most of these houses. That probably explains why most of these houses have converted the garage into more living space. For most people their garages could not fulfill it's purpose as a garage.
Everybody has "junk" to store - mowers, bicycles, trash bins, tools. They plan for huge walk-in pantry's these days but neglect the other necessities of modern life.
And your garage might have your furnace, hot-water heater, and washer and dryer. We ended up parking our minivan in our last garage and my '06 Corolla ended up sitting outside. Just not worth the hassle to get it parked and work around utility installments.
Almost as if the people that build the storage buildings where you pay a monthly rent could be the same ones that design garage sizes for homes.
I realized years ago that it wasn't so much that I wanted a house, but that I wanted a garage (after having lived in a townhouse with a one-car garage). While shopping for my current house, I asked for a three-car garage and quarter-acre lot. Since I insist on parking my vehicles in the garage, I don't store so much in my garage that I can't park inside. So I have two vehicles in the garage, an evolving shop, and shelving on the walls. I don't have ATVs, golf carts, Harleys, etc. If I can't fit other things in the garage with the vehicles there, I do without. My vehicles being out of the weather and less susceptible to break ins is my top priority. I wish more people had this approach.
Your video is very informative and I know that if I ever have to move, I'm definitely taking a tape measure into the garage.
... problem one is the part where you, as a single individual, have multiple vehicles (unless your 'I' is encompassing your whole family).
I'm the opposite. My 2.5 car garage has the motorcycle and a workshop. My cars get parked outside most of the time. I'm thinking about a canopy to keep the bird poo and sun off them.
Why do you wish more people would take this approach?
Yes, a big garage is the best thing in the world if you're someone who enjoys your outdoor hobbies. It's such a terrible shame what developers are doing to this beautiful part of the American(or in my case Australian) dream.
I’m glad we did a custom build 3 years ago! I had no idea this was happening 😮
Great information, I appreciate you compiling the data into an easy to consume and concise video. I wish more content was like this. You earned a sub! I look forward to watching more of your content. Thanks!
Excellent analysis. Very thorough. I'm impressed.
My house was built in 1976. 2200 sq ft colonial on a 100’x150’ lot. The 2-car side turn garage measures 32W x 24’ Deep. The garage door is 18’ long. After watching this video, I understand completely how lucky I am to have what I have. I parked my GMC Sierra pick up and my wife’s GMC terrain in the garage every single day.
32x24 = 768. Your garage is a third of the 2200 sq ft house!
@@danielch6662Usually calculated square footage of a house only includes the living areas, not the garage, out buildings, or decks.
My old house that I bought when I was single was built in 1985 and is a 910 sq ft 2bd/1bath with a 2 car 22x26 ft garage 😂 We were able to park my buddies Grand Prix GTP in there and pull the motor with an engine hoist during the winter without opening the garage door. It was fabulous.
@@danielch6662 700sq ft, that size IS my entire house. 😂
Well researched and presented, especially all the historical data! I have often wondered why guys with trucks are building structures where the trucks don't fit! Thanks.
Awesome video- I’m sad that I’m just now discovering your channel. I love deep dives like these! Instant subscribe 😊
I keep my 2007 vehicle and it fits great in my 1960 built home. My car runs great
I do a lot of walking, and I walk through a lot of developments. I noticed many people use a garage for storing "junk," not their vehicles. My house was built in 1960 and has a 24×24 garage.
That's infuriating lol it shouldn't be but my house doesn't have a garage and seeing bonheads with heaps of junk in their garage just bugs me to no end..
The neighbor behind me has a two-port garage, but they have never ever driven a car out of it; they had a broken down car sitting in the driveway for about two years, though.
That’s because homes in Texas don’t have basements to store stuff
It's crazy how much junk Americans have. Most people went into debt and are broke because they spent their money on useless crap
Attics and basements are hard to access, and fairly rare.
My wife and I both park in the garage. I back in and park as close to her as possible to get the most door space on either side of the garage. It means we can't get to the passenger door, but if we need to we can pull out of the garage and let the passenger in after. We drive a Subaru Forester and a Hyundai Elantra. So many people in our development park in their driveway or in the street and this video really clears up why for me.
i'm betting youre in an hoa...
Took me a while but i figured out i needed to build a really nice looking 'carport' for my cars (and er.. plane) and use my garage as a workshop
Have an outback and Forester and we do the same. I back in and my wife is front forward. Gives us extra space,I just can't use my passenger side which is fine. My wife's vehicle we can still use all sides even if limited.
Yep, we do the same. She pulls in and I back in super close to her. It works. And I still have room on the sides to house tool benches and cabinets on the walls for storage. Cars are too expensive to leave them out in the driveway to get hailed on.
NY wife and I both park in the garage. The only house in the entire development to do so. If I am home, both get backed in. Easy exit.
We have a 3 car garage with 2 cars and a riding mower parked inside. The third bay would hold a prius at best because of the steps into the house, but it does function nicely as a "storage" area and parking for the mower. The depth is tight for the whole thing - my minivan barely fits with only about 2 ft to spare (1ft behind and slightly less than 1ft in front). At our old house we had an extra deep garage with 8 feet of "extra" space - that was heavenly!
I've never watched your channel before this video, and I'm not sure how it popped up for me; I'm happy about it. This was a fascinating and informative video. Thanks!
i didn’t realize garages were that small. im probably not buying a house for years, but it’ll be something in the back of my mind to go for a big garage
Smaller cars are another solution. A little EV won't take up a whole lot of space that could have been living space, and you won't have to pour fuel down its throat either.
Don't buy in a cookie cutter subdivision if you can help it.
Buy an older house
@@tealkerberus748 im not really a big car guy tbh. but ideally being able to park a car or two and have some space for tools and what not
@@UserName-ts3spyou can if the cars aren't huge truck / SUVs Just get a couple hatchbacks or something
One way that might work to handle the F150 and Camry in a too small garage is to first give up on the passenger doors. Just worry about the driver getting in and out. The passengers can get in and out in the driveway. Then we just need room in the garage for the driver door to open.
If that's still not sufficient, try parking the F150 by driving forward into the right side of the garage and the Camry by backing into the left side of the garage. Park both as close to the wall as you can.
That's what I would do: think outside of the box .. so I can fit my behemoth in it.
The alternative. Park the 2 vehicles as close as possible and you can park them without angling. Left side vehicle is nose-in, right side is tail-in. You can access the driver doors through the space along the wall. Yes, you are using 2 corridors for door access, but if the space between garage door and wall is significant, angling would still be wasting space anyways.
Or, you could get rid of the Ford F150, because it’s too big and unless you run a contracting business or a dairy farm, you don’t need it.
This is such a great solution -- backing one vehicle in on the left side to keep both drivers' doors swinging into a shared central clear space. Well done, @timsmith8489!
I fit my F-350 into my garage in a kinda similar way. I can’t fit it at all if I back in because it’s 83.5” tall with the Tremor package, but if I pull in forwards then I get about 1/2 inch of clearance.
I then have my corvette back in next to it. This gives me 3-4 feet of drivers side space for both vehicles.
This is an astoundingly thorough overview of garage minimums, and will help in a future build!
Great video, really well researched. My house was built in 1994 and it's a huge challenge getting 2 cars in it. We would need to have nothing stored inside the garage to make 2 cars realistic. It's also tight because the location for the washer/dryer and HVAC is in the front of the garage. Since I'm in Florida, we have no basement. The garage must be used for storage. So our 2 car garage only has room for 1 car. I park my mid-size truck in there, no chance a full size would ever fit.
Many builders include minimal garage depths as a standard feature but offer extensions of various lengths as extra cost options. It’s a profit center for them, just like upgraded countertops or floor coverings.
I wish mine had done that. They didn't even have the size on the floor plan they showed me. It just said 2 car garage.
Indeed I noticed that in New development near us houses have a minimal 1.5 car garage but they'll sell you a full size extra garage as a bump out for additional $$$$$
Garages are the cheapest square footage you can add to a house with the second being basements.
I actually wonder if this is how my house was designed. Garage is really small, but directly behind the garage was a big concrete deck. This deck could have held a tank. Maybe they would spec that out so that if the owner wants they could extend the garage over the deck. Unfortunately I did have to tear that out when weeping tiles had to be redone.
"Can I park this car in my garage?" should be a part of any test drive, even if you have to annoy the salesman by ending up buying the car from another dealership to get the color and options you want. My neighbors in the same development just sold the first-generation Toyota Highlander they've had for 15 years and bought a Corolla Cross. I told them you know you've had a car a long time when you have to go "down" two nameplates just to get the same size again.
And verify garage size when buying a home. Good thing for the agent or the inspector to include in their write-ups.
Yup. The smart buyer buys the thing, not the name.
It's wild! We've got a highlander about that age as well and when getting a replacement the new highlanders are massive! We ended up getting a rav4. I believe the cross might be slightly smaller than the old highlander. Idk how people drive things that massive. I've got a fairly new camry and even that thing is l o n g. That Honda pilot comparison was wild. I'd love a tiny car like that.
Subaru Outbacks have gotten so massive that the current Forester is about comparable to the older Outback that I have now! Huge size difference in these models. I like the size of my current older Sub much better.
The reverse can also be true. The current Impala, Grand Marquis, DeVille, etc. are all about one-half the size they used to be.
I own a home built in 1969, I t was a "builders' model" that included the widest garage available by that builder. It is 22 feet wide. I have made it my mission to park both vehicles in the garage no matter what (winters are nasty here in Michigan). This means I have a shed in the back, rent a storage unit, and carefully research our vehicles size to make sure that happens. My wife and I are currently looking to move, and one of the first things I look at is the garage to make sure it is large enough for 2 cars...it is a deal breaker if it isn't. This was a very informative video, thanks.
While I prefer the 24x24 I refuse to go less than 22x22. I had gotten to a point with my last agent when I was moving 3 years ago that I told them flat out "If there isn't a "true-2-car" garage that I can park both cars with doors open without touching anything, I WILL NOT BUY IT" .. I thought it was insane that I had to get that aggressive about such a simple topic. The garage (my cars) are equally as important as the entire rest of the house to me.
Real estate people should not call it a garage if not 24’ long and 12’ wide for each vehicle. They seem to think putting a garage door on a storage space makes a garage. And new construction buyers beware the location of furnace and water heater. Some builders will poach square footage in the garage making part of the garage too small.
If I were you, I would buy a house with a triple garage. My current house has a triple garage. It is so refreshing to see how many things you can store in that garage, in addition to my 2 vehicles.
Beware when the car pictured in the ad is a smart car.
Every realtor I talked to had the same attitude. They tended to ignore things that were important, and push what the were trying to unload.
@@simplereef4854 - once you go triple, its hard to go back to a 2 car. Like going from queen size bed to king... you arent going back to a queen...lol
Really enjoyed the breakdown with all the charts and hard numbers. I occasionally use my one-car garage to store my compact SUV or compact hatchback. It literally is 10' wide, so, not only do I park closer to the right, I park tail end first to make exiting quicker. For my next home, if it has a two-car garage, then I'll know that I would be able to comfortably fit one car and open the doors on both sides without banging them on the walls. Thanks!
I think the actual reason new-build garages in the U.S. are shrinking is because by and large people don’t use them for vehicles. They’ll fill the garage with $5,000 of junk they never use so their $60k vehicles can sit outside. It makes no sense, but drive though any typical suburban neighborhood and you’ll see house after house with 1- to 2-car garages and vehicles parked in the driveway (or even worse, on the street). One of the reasons we ended up building a (modest) custom home was to get a big (enough) garage for…vehicles.
Could not have said it better. Often it not even 5k of junk but useless crap they are too lazy to dispose of.
And that $60 - $100 plus thousand dollar pickup likely doesn't haul or tow anything either.
It may be different for your case, but in ours, there also isn't any storage area in the entire house, so any misc items such as tools, equipment, and infrequently needed items end up being put on shelving in the garage, further shrinking the useable space
@@bigbuffwolf1 Also many garages contain the hot water heater, three out of the four houses I have owned were set up the way.
Man that is the truth. Marketing guru's can make cul de sac's buy anything keeping up with the neighbors
I built my second new home last year. When the builder would not insulate the garage, I asked the builder NOT to finish the garage so that I could insulate it. They said they had to finish it because that was the approved build plan. Now I have to pull down the walls to insulate.
Aw, it's a new home, why would you want to insult it? (Typo joke).
why not just have the builder insulate it if you know they were going to drywall it? Also I insulated my already drywalled garage after the fact by blowing insulation into two 4" holes, 1 a few feet from top and second hole a few feet from the bottom
I ripped out my drywall in my garage and insulated the wall’s and door too. I still need to seal the door and then I’ll put in the mini split. Can’t wait to have it wrapped up!
I just put in the insulation before the drywall went up on mine, along with sprayfoaming all the seams and using fireblock sprayfoam where needed. It took less than a day to do that.
Is insulting a garage necessary? What did it do to you to deserve a criticism 😮😂
We have a newer single story Lennar built home in AZ. They had an option for making a 24x40 double deep garage. Best decision ever! After finishing the floor, AC, cabinets, working/desk, counter top area with TV at the back half its like another room to our house in a way. All while fitting 2 cars inside! Although, my truck is still stuck outside LOL Thanks Lennar! Our lot sizes are 60 wide, 120 deep.
Just measured out of curiosity. I've got a 19.5x19.5.
I can comfortably fit a 2015 rav 4, a 2019 Explorer, a large freezer, a smaller freezer, and a metal wire shelving unit.
I don't have to pull a car out to access the attic. I'm shocked at how small it is based on the analysis in the video. I'd definitely love to have a larger garage, but we don't have too many problems parking these in there. Just takes practice and knowing your space.
And my case isn't even addressed by the video. I'm on 3 acres, and when the house was built, the owners had 15.
I guess it's just becoming a standard with builders and architects.
I would like to give you 5 thumbs up simply for using imperial AND metric units throughout your entire video! Damn so few youtubers ever do this - thanks so so much! Cheers from Germany.
Just built a new garage replacing my old unattached one. The car garage part of it is 32 wide x 28 deep with 16’ and a 9’ doors. Love it. Perfect depth for full size pickup. Would be crowded if I actually tried to park 3 vehicles in it. But that was never the plan. Best part, there’s another 32x28 finished workshop behind the garage area. Mid-life accomplishment.
Metric conversion is off. 5662 sq ft should be 526 sq m.
That sounds pretty amazing!
Congrats man, made me happy just reading this.
This is gonna be on my list
Living. My. Dream
Very detailed analysis. Well done!
I drive a 2020 Subaru Impreza wagon, and my sister drives a 2017 Hyundai Elantra, so thankfully they both comfortably fit in our 20x19 garage. We don’t have stairs, but if we did, it would be quite tight😅
My house was built in 1980; garage is 30' wide and 25' deep. Love it!
@@SpacemanXC LOVE IT!
@@SpacemanXC they didn't use that stuff in the 80s LOL
Ironically enough, it's houses built close to before the automobile that have the most generous garages these days. Example: detached houses in the more suburban areas of NYC, generally built from the 1950-60s. Generously sized 1-2 car garages by modern standards. Doesn't help that these houses easily start at 1.5 mil but still
MY house was built in the 1980's in a walkable European city - I don't have a car and I save about €10,000 a year and I Love it
1981 for me. 2 doors. Love it
*Cries in single-motorcycle garage*
I bought my house in 2017, but it was built in 1984. The very first thing I did was back my 2005 Crown Victoria into the single-car garage with the passenger side mirror touching the wall, then squeezed out of the driver's door, stood on the roof of the car to change the light bulb in the garage, and parked my car on the driveway so I could get boxes out. Now three walls are lined with tool chests and shelves, and I keep my M109R and snowblower/lawnmower in the garage, and my car and minivan outside.
Sounds like my grandfather's house, built in 1940. The garage could maybe fit a 1920s car with adequate room to move around. It's essentially an unconditioned attached shed and that's what everyone in the neighborhood uses theirs for.
@@bwofficial1776 In a previous lifetime, I painted houses all around the greater L.A. area. Many, many of them had those size garages, especially in older neighborhoods. Okay, let's face it: most of the communities that make up Los Angeles are really old.
I own a condo in Boise from 1980 with a single car garage. The previous owners put in a huge shelving unit which narrowed it to 9 feet wide. My van barely fit, so I switched to a compact car and it’s wonderful. I can’t relate to pickup truck owners. Most of them just want to fit in with other dudes who want to feel big on the road. I’d rather be nimble and fit anywhere.
@@smileychessI love my cheap little Kia Rio! I read that bad drivers try to compensate by driving big vehicles. I drive a van professionally and can confirm! If you drive safely, you don’t NEED a big vehicle! Sick of losing my Rio next to trucks and SUV’s in parking lots… 😡
@@misspatvandriverlady7555my kid ask why I drive such a little car, Nissan LEAF, and I tell them it's so I can have a motorcycle and to bench in the same space as the car while my wife can't fit her expedition in the other side of the lawn mower isn't just right. And I totally agree about driving a small vehicle, it's all about perspective. The car feels huge compared to the motorcycle.
Terrific video! We recently moved to Northeast Florida and noticed an obvious and discernable difference in garage space, based on (as you indicated) lot space and floorplan cost. Our home has a three-car garage (two doubles, and a single door) plus a walled-off workshop just behind the garage. Though it's still tight, we manage to get our two cars and our double-PWC trailer inside with little room to spare. We only have an 8-foot easement between homes, so it feels very tight outside of our home as well. A front-load garage is truly our only option. The house we had in Virginia had the same size garage, but as a side-load, but the house sat on a 3/4-acre lot, with lots of room between homes, so our very lovely 85-foot driveway not only served as spill over space for when we had lots of guests, but also served as a visual barrier between homes. I miss our house in Virginia, but we managed to make this lay-out work for us.
Thanks for the video! I have a small car and a two car garage and it just doesn’t seem big enough and I was worried about getting something bigger and how it would fit in there.
My rule of thumb has always been n-1 cars in the garage compared to the stated capacity (2-car garage = 1 car inside). Our new place which was built in the late 90s has a very large 3-car (26 deep by 42 wide. It's the first time that I've been able to actually fit 3 cars into the garage and still have room for the fridges, workbench, lawn gear, and storage...
Yes I would agree with the n-1 sentiment; I have a 1 car garage, and no cars fit in the garage.
Life goals! I want that some day
That's larger than most homes today. 😂
It seems like they're generally sized on the basis of reasonably sized cars and no other objects being squeezed in at the same time.
Reasonably sized cars apparently no longer exist in the USA. Not new anyway.
@@laurencefraserthey exist, but a lot of people insist on larger vehicles. If you look, most of the cars on the best seller list are reasonably sized (RAV4, Honda Civic, etc.) but a considerable number of folks either “need” or want a large vehicle. In my anecdotal experience…most of the people buying the huge vehicles could do 99%+ of their driving needs with smaller vehicles.
Built my own garage about 15 years ago. The largest they would allow me to build was 640 square feet based on my lot size which was a little over a quarter acre.
Went with a 21x30 garage and a 12' ceiling, also the max they would let me go. - Built it myself after I paid to have the pad poured.
When I first built it, I was able to get 3 cars in it, but it was tight.
Over time, we ended up parking 2 cars in the driveway because it's just easier to park anyway, and I ended up using 20' of the garage as my workspace.
Luckily, there is no HOA to tell me that I can't park in my own driveway.
Building tip - When building a garage. Go as big as they will let you build.
Truth. They are never, ever, big enough.
@@flat6fever680 Absolutely correct.
If there’s no HOA, then who are you referring to when you say “they”?
@@watchman1982 The city where my property is located. A permit is required to build a structure. This is pretty common everywhere. Just because I'm not in a HOA, doesn't mean there aren't permits required and city building requirements to follow.
@@JohnD-JohnD Oh, so it’s one of those cities. Permitting has become nothing more than another govt. overreach of control and taxation. At least you got a nice garage but I’m sure the permitting is worse now than 15 years ago.
There’s a lot of information in this video, but it is easy to understand and straight to the point. Thanks for explaining this. I’ve always wondered why the current building trend is as it is and why builders don’t build the rancher type homes that I grew up with in the 60s and 70s.
Very well done! I am your average DIYer and check out your channel from time to time when I actively look for DIY tips and tricks. This was the first time your channel/video popped up in my feed and I watched it passively. So, FYI, you are probably increasingly views from your target audience. Great info and great explinations, as usual!
-Chicago Suburbs
I had to sign a disclaimer when I bought a townhouse in 2010 that stated that I was aware that the 20'x20' (minus wall thicknesses and a bump out for the utility room just inside) "two car garage" would not necessarily fit any random combination of two cars/trucks on the market. (It said something like "your two car garage will fit two average sized passenger cars" or something like that.) Which was fine, I had and still have one car.
I've since moved into a house built in 2004, and my 24'x20' (or thereabouts) garage feels luxurious by comparison. Still have the same single car...
LOL.. "average".. how do they not get that the "average" passenger car is enormous?
@@Turk380 They use the "average" passenger car from 1978, when the oil crisis made small cars the norm, because they used less fuel.
@@Turk380 while they’ve grown over the decades, the average _car_ in the US is ~14.5’, which will _easily_ fit in a 20’-deep garage. Which is probably why that disclaimer specified average _car,_ not average _vehicle._
As a developer I can tell you that it’s also getting more and more expensive to build. The garage being useful is often not an issue to the average urban buyer. So cutting the garage to minimum legal status is common now to save the profit margins that are very tight and easy to lose money on these days.
We live in AZ and have a home built in 2000. The home has a 3 car carage and we use 2 of them for cars. We have an SUV and a sports car as our daily drivers. The third bay is my workshop and overflow area. We have added overhead storage to make up for all the stuff we used to store in a basement when we lived back East. We have enough room to comfortably open our doors and move around the vehicles. The length inside is tightere than I like because there are cabinets and physical plant equipment at the front of the garage. I miss oversized garages but will not complain after seeing your video.
The breakdown of the lot prices, lot sizes, room sizes and so on in this video does a great job of showing the space limitations of single-family detached housing and how it affects the overall cost of the housing unit. I wonder how a condo building with a parking garage would compare, on a bigger piece of land of course. Perhaps make the parking garage spaces into their own enclosed garages with doors.
The garage was a prime consideration when we built. We got a three car garage WITH the extra 4' length. Also, the driveway is as important. We changed our plans from a better looking side load garage to a front load. People thought we were nuts but now we have three "lanes" to park in while our neighbors have to play car roulette to get in or out of their side load.
I used to do real estate in TN, we always defined garage capacity based on door size. Every 9ft wide door adds 1 car to the capacity, every 16ft wide door adds 2. Even if you had a garage that's 30 ft wide, if you only have 1 16ft door (even though you could fit an additional 9ft door), then it's a 2 car garage (and usually we'd advertise it as X ft wide 2 car garage, plenty of room for a workshop, etc). Same thing if you have an 18ft wide garage with a single 9ft door, it's a 1 car garage even though it's wide enough for 2. Typically, you can divide your total door width by 7, round it down to the nearest whole number, and that's your capacity.
Neat math tip/trick.
Our township used to require 1/2 acre of land per each single family dwelling. Recently, I have been noticing new, larger houses being built on much smaller lots. Thanks for explaining the economics of it. I still much prefer my smaller house on a larger property - it gives me freedom and privacy.
Just discovered your channel. Very informative and well presented. Subscribed. This is totally something I was not aware of. regarding your question, our home is 100 years old in an urban area, so we never were able to fit more than one car in it and one in the driveway which is actually to the side of the garage. I would be pretty annoyed if I couldn't fit at least the family nice car in the garage and the truck in the drive given the size of trucks now.
As a Realtor, this is an excellent video! There is so much to consider when we talk about the correlation of home prices to home sizes. The garage is just one items that ultimately suffers. Thanks for all the amazing information!
Fake job
Lol this is why I've always loved smaller cars. My current car is 13' 8" long, 5' 8" wide. I can fit into most parking spots where the bigass truck is hanging over the front.
that truck can fit into any parking space or on any road in the US. parking spaces and roads are standardised. I can fit my semi into exactly 2 spaces (because it's long). I can fit my sports car into exactly the same space i can fit my pickup.
@@charlesreid9337- LOL this sounds a lot like the "I can still fit into the jeans I wore in college" claim. Yes, maybe possible, but no one wants to see (or get his doors dinged by) the guy who does it.
Subscribe, shared, and liked it.
Thanks for very educational and informative videos good luck with your millions of subscribers.
Im currently building a house, as a car guy. The garage is 37x50 with a 16ft wide by 9ft tall door and a 9ft wide by 9ft tall door. There is also a 15x25 workshop off the side of the garage and a mezzanine for stirage. The whole house is designed around having sufficient storage space such that that garage doesn't get filled up either to have comfortable room around my cars and the projects I'm working on.
Our home was built in 2002, we put some wire shelving racks on both sides and wire shelving on the back wall. We park two cars inside, a 2014 Chevy Malibu on the left side and a 2020 Chevy Traverse on the right side. We can open both doors on the Malibu but only those on the driver side on the Traverse. So, I think we would be in good shape if it wasn't for the storage we added. Great information, you put a lot of effort in researching this, thanks.
When I built my custom house in 2017, I specifically made my garage area wider with an 18' single insulated door for a finished width of 21'3". I have a tandem garage which means I can park two vehicles side by side and a third vehicle in front of the one of them. I dedicated that space instead for my work area/storage shelves, etc. Fortunately, my garage interior height is about 11' (no slab but on a crawl space). No basement but I do have a nice sized attic storage area as well. I also added a mini-split so I can cool/heat this garage separately from the house when I want to work out there. So glad I did this! I also added a 220VAC socket with a 40A dedicated breaker for an EV charger or welder someday and have a nice sized laundry sink as well for washing up after working on the car, etc.
In my neighborhood, I see many people who do park both cars in their garage (almost none on the street as the HOA has restrictions on doing so), but in other neighborhoods, I see lots of people parking one or both cars on their driveway and no room to park in their 2-car garage which is full of "stuff".
Your garage sounds awesome but also expensive 😭
Excellent video and explanation
I've had 3 homes in the last 3 years. As a Tesla Model X owner there is one more dimension not mentioned, Garage door height, and height in general. The rear doors open up at the ceiling. But a standard 7 foot garage door will hit the car doors when parked facing forward. Backing in solved that issue. Now I got a 8 foot garage door which makes this not an issue. The new thing is if I park the Tesla under the hanging bikes, on my wife's side, the doors open up and can hit the hanging bikes off their hooks. Everything is fine as long as I park in my spot. Garages sizes make a ton of difference.
our 2 car garage house purchased in 2021 is 18'4" by 20'8 and this is considered big in our community here in ontario
Our community is building "up". Strip malls now come with several floors of apartments overhead. Downtown buildings are underground parking, retail at ground level, commercial at mezzanine level with housing above. We haven't annexed new land in decades, but we're adding 4,000 beds a year.
Sounds horrible. I’m glad I’ll be dead before the whole world is like that.
5 over 1s are eyesores
@@headcas620If you want to conserve the land, buy it!
Otherwise if it’s not yours, stop the whining.
@@JollyGiant19 you know that's not feasible. People should be less greedy.
I’m very fortunate that the place I’m in right now threw that statistic out the window when building and have a garage that with storms last night could accommodate 3 cars wide. It was definitely a squeeze as everything was mirror to mirror, but I’ve played enough Tetris in my life that doing the old foot in front of the other measurement, I have a 21 x 23 foot garage with an 18 foot wide and 8 foot tall door.
Thank you for this informational video. Small things like designing the entrance to the garage to one side means stairs can be placed only on one side. This professional designing allows a truck and a car to fit even in these reduced“two car“ garage. Also don’t forget one of the vehicles can be backed in so the cars can be placed closer to the walls, allowing both drivers to access the car. Even if that means the car must be driven out for the remaining passengers to get in . Probably not ideal someplace where it snows.
Never go with one single garage door. Specing the garage with two 9 foot wide doors placed 3 feet apart gives you a very usable garage where cars won’t invariably get damaged. Just don’t buy any of todays “short cut” homes!
Good luck finding 9 foot wide doors!
@@halcyon1981 oops typo 😳 should be 8’
Good luck finding 8 ft doors. 7’6” is the new standard on new built homes. It’s not even option to get and 8ft door.
@@0DeadSoul0
My parents' garage door is easily 18' wide. I think it was custom? Maybe commercial?
@@0DeadSoul0 @arlenbell4376 I have 7'10" and my mini van has about 2" of clearance coming in and out, it sucks. A truck would have no chance at all.
When we built our current home (2013), my number 1 requirement was a 3 car garage. (My wife had other priorities which were also met.) The plans had the 2 car garage at 22' deep and 23' wide. The addition on the side to get the third bay was 12' x 26'. Because it is all open, we have 3 cars, a large motorcycle, and lots of storage for yard maintenance, etc. Our home looks big from the street, but that's only because we have such a large garage. We have the smallest amount of square footage overall.
How many garage doors?
@@markbajek2541 2 does in total.
It’s funny you mention this cause in New Jersey many people just have detached garage. Me and my family just got park in the driveway that goes along side our house to the back.
This is why when built our house I made it over 1200sq’, with 20’ and 16’ garage doors. It’s awesome to have plenty of room to work on things and also get in and out of vehicles with ease.
This is the most informative article that explains why most new American suburbs look the same way. Good job! I guess I'm fortunate to live on a 1.5 acre lot with a 3500sq ft house and side mounted attached 3 car garage. My garage fits my f150 and 2 other vehicles with space, but I do wish it was about 5ft longer and 10ft wider to add storage. It is just designed just to fit the vehicles.
Quite honestly, the developers could also bite the bullet and just build townhouses at those lot sizes. Thicken the walls and now you can market a slightly bigger house+garage. With lots that small, there's no point to building a detached house. Unless there's some zoning code that prohibits townhouses because with that sort of squeeze, only townhouses offer acceptable space
@@Demopans5990Where I live, the local code prohibits attached enclosed buildings for vehicle storage. It's to prevent carbon monoxide seeping into the living space.
Unenclosed carports, aka a roof without walls, is acceptable.
this isnt remotely true. Suburbs look the way they do because developers con people into buying cookie cutter houses in hoa nightmares for social status. Then they buy 70k trucks or cars made of tin foil that fall apart after 3 years to convince people theyre special.
I love parking my Toyota Yaris in my 2 1/2 car garage. I can drive in forward, make a few turns, and wind up with the car pointed outward so I can easily get into the street. It's my only vehicle.
The Yaris is the _best_ car! I wish they would keep making it in the US.
Parking Option for more open door space everyday, what i do to resolve the open door dilema is prioritize the drivers side where you always going to need to use anyway. so if you backup your truck, now you improve two issues you pointed, one easier to slot that truck close to the wall, parallel in fact, and you have a bigger space to open the doors on the driver side, forget the passages side doors. the other car park closer to the wall as well, now both drivers side match the center of the garage, allowing you to have a much better experience when exiting your car. i know is not ideal to forgo the passenger exiting inside he garage, but for the day to day hassle for drivers which is the majority of the car usage, works much better. great video and research.
I just bought my house and I’m glad they didn’t add that front room. They added a nice big closet right there, and a bathroom. By not adding that office room I got a full sized garage. They also shrunk the backyard sadly but that opened up the kitchen to be bigger and was able to add a walk in pantry with a huge dining area.
Great analysis. My garage is 19.5' square and I easily fit two vehicles only because I drive sports cars. Both my cars are approximately 177" long and 71" wide (not including mirrors). As a car enthusiast, the garage played a key role in my buying decision. It had to be a two car with one door because the dual 8' foot doors are just too tight and restrict your positioning. If I want to give one of my cars a little more buffer room from the wall, I can do that with a single door. With two doors, you are stuck!
Today's vehicles are too big and Americans in general have too much stuff. I can't imagine using my garage as a storage bin. It's my showroom!
Fantastically informative video! So often I see the tiny houses on tiny lots on television and wonder why they would do that - well, you just explained it perfectly. Not to mention explaining the size of the garage. Thanks for spending the time to research, record, edit and post your videos. They're great!
I'm a sprinkler installer in Vanouver and as far as our regulations go, any garage space over 400 sqft is treated as a commercial space for purposes of sprinkling, and must be done with steel or copper pipe, instead of the CPVC generally used residentially. I'm wondering if there are any other creeping regulations that might have been introduced over the last 20 years that might contribute to architects and designers opting for smaller and smaller spaces.
Per your request: My single family detached home was built in 1979, with a rather generous 2-car garage and a single 16ft wide overhead door. The garage measures 25 x 25 feet; there is a small (three-step) stairway going into the main house. I've been eternally grateful for the "oversized" garage just for storing items like landscaping equipment.
Fabulous video; thanks for preparing and posting this.
I think I figured out why most new homes also only have like 2 bedrooms 2 baths. It's that 0.13 acre thing. Makes sense now sadly.
my 60's house of 935 sq ft has 3 bedrooms and 1 bath no upstairs just a basement and separate 25 x 25 garage. but my driveway is 100 ft and my lot is 140ft x40
It is also that the average family is smaller these days. Many families are choosing to have one or even no children. So there is a market for homes with fewer bedrooms.
Where are you finding new homes that are only 2 beds and 2 baths? Most new construction these days are McMansions with 4+ bedrooms.
One of the fascinating things to me, is that even though may cities are putting row houses/town houses back into their codes, people don't want them, so builders aren't even trying to build them. People would rather have the useless three feet of space between their house and the fence that's all of three feet from the neighbor's house, than to simply share a wall.
West Texas. Here we seem to be having the 2 bedrooms 2 baths, not very many mcmansions. But when they do it is something like 6 rooms and a few bathrooms with like a 3 or 4 car Garage.
My garage has a 16' door, and the frame is the outside unfinished walls. You're right: if they were finished I couldn't open my doors. I regularly hit the other vehicle with my doors too. There is about a 16" walkway between the two cars and we push in our mirrors between our cars to make that more clear. Also, I have to research the length of cars when I am in the market to get a new one to make sure that it will fit. I also don't have a basement so use the front end of the garage to store things like holiday decorations and tools, and can only fit one tote deep and still park the cars. I've put lots of shelves and hooks on the walls above the cars and store what I can in the rafters. It truly is madness.
We have a "3" car garage with a 16' door and an 8' door, The garage is 27'-4" x 19'-6" and has a 3'x8' added space for a freezer and workbench. @13:00 the point is made about garages not being attractive. In the Dallas TX area around the 1950's garages were moved to the rear of the house accessed via alleys. This creates a front street appeal and the full width of the front of the house can be used. The cost and space required by alleys is also used for trash can locations and trash truck access. It's a pretty good model on paper and makes selling more attractive curb appeal houses easier. After living in a house at the end of the street, one side with garages in back, and the other side with garages in front we have noticed an interesting phenomenon. The neighbors with front garages all know each other and are seen hanging out and talking with each other. The rear garage neighbors are never seen and no one knows each other. As for the content of the video it's a lot of superfluous information. The bottom line is the cost of the garage does not add value to the Realtors method of calculating house value per SF. Garages are not included so they are not a profitable item. However when you get above the "Cheapest" threshold and look at more affluent houses, garages are actually growing in size not shrinking.
I live in a rear entry home. I love the look and feel of the main road - especially with the use of my alley (normal size road). I have PLENTY OF SPACE for guest parking and I don't ever feel congestion on my street. Now, phase 2 of my subdivision is garages on the front. And maaaan, it just looks bad. It's always tight and congested over there. And they have limited privacy and parking. They MUST get to know one another, because they're literally in each other's space. In my section, my neighbors across the street are so far away from me! We make time for connections, but I also do feel forced to get to know someone because we live on top of each other (like the phase 2 houses). All great trade outs, just depends on how one likes to live.
I have a house with a 25 ft garage built in the 1960s. It has an industrial 30 gal air compressor, a welder, metal work bench, wood work benches, tons of cabinet space, an 84" 3 bank tool box and still fits my 87 1 ton crew cab dually and my full size sedan comfortably. If I need to work in the garage I do have to pull out the car but I can live with that.
I didnt see you mention it, but also the water heater is located inside the garage, taking more space. In my case, the A/C / Furnace unit is ALSO located inside the garage, so our home is a 1.5 car garage at best! And yes, I park my Silverado outside, it wouldn't fit even if the garage was completely empty!
Some homes also put the washer and dryer in the garage as well if they don't have a dedicated laundry room.
@@Novusod A properly sized garage that is actually designed and built to acomodate such can handle space for the laundry area and still actually be big enough for a reasonably size car.
... of course, reasonably sized cars are apparently nearly extinct in the USA and badly designed houses are hardly a new problem.
Do you live in an area without basements?
One of the best videos I have ever seen on UA-cam. I am an architect and do mostly commercial, but have done some residential. You explain the problem extremely well! Thank you for all your research and you very clear and thorough explanation. Thank you for sharing. I enjoy your channel.
Very well explained!
My house was built in 1942 and the 2-car attached garage had been there since it was built (it was in the "bougie" part of town when it was built). It's 19x22 and has two garage doors. I don't park in it but I think that has to do with the fact that I grew up with my parents using their garage for storage. Plus my lot is 180 feet deep by 80 feet wide so my house is set further back so my driveway is super long. The garage is actually attached to the side of the home so it's not up front and center which is something I liked and didn't realize it until just now after watching this.
I miss the 5 car garage we had, it was my fun place to be in, fixing and building, not just cars.
.....a man needs space, tools and time. :/
....actually it could hold 6 cars, but the space for the sixth car was where the workbenches, tools, fridge, some worn out seating etc were.
I forgot to mention, we sold that house, moved locations,
...a few years later on sat imiging I checked that house, because I used to love the garage,
now there's 4 'houses' on the same plot with 'garages' for each. :/
Ugh I need that so bad. 3+ garage spaces and a 2 post lift is the dream for me.
I dream of a 3.5 car garage instead of my 1.75 car (1 car plus workbench). Last 2 houses I measured and used painters tape in a parking lot to check garage size. Location trumps over a real 2 car garage.
This was something my parents had to consider when they did a remodel. Now, they have a corner lot, the house is actually technically on two streets. When they purchased it, there was an RV gate on the side, with a large back yard, and a 20'x22' front garage that almost never had a car in it. Eventually me and my brother both had separate vehicles so we couldn't fit 4 cars on the driveway, and the HOA complained.
My dad, having a dad and brother who are architects, got together with them to design a new garage that would replace the RV gate and part of the back yard, while the old garage became part of the dining room. The garage they designed is nominally a 2-car, because the 18' door pointed at the street, but with a 34' wide driveway that allows parking for 2 trucks, my brother's jeep, and my dad's motorcycle without even opening the garage. But because of the setback requirements and the layout of the yard, the garage wound up being shaped like a trapezoid inside. It goes from 22' at the front wall to 30' at the back wall, with the back wall offset by 30 degrees from the front wall to meet the requirements set by the HOA (It had to be flush with the house wall). This resulted in a garage that, on one side, is 26' deep, and on the other side is 32' deep. He also made the decision to put a 10' door on the back of the garage, lined up with the long side, to allow trailers to be pushed all the way through the garage if necessary (A trick we later used to get a '64 Impala into the long side of the garage, which is also the shop-side). The garage install cost somewhere around $120k, and took approximately 6 months, but it doubled the value of the house simply because the garage can hold up to 4 cars with the doors closed.
Having to be a 4 vehicle household is a disturbing concept to begin with.
The HOA might genuinely contribute to disabling kids access to urban amenities and education (like they did (by blocking a bus route) where I was in Canada) but even though it should never be necessary
@@fionafiona1146 5 adults with 4 different places to be at the same time. My dad's job, my brother's job, my job, and my mom being a caretaker for her mom. And none of those jobs in the same direction.
@@NikkiTheOtter in your build environment, that is no surprise.
My point was, something has gone wrong with such built environment forcing that.
@@fionafiona1146 Yes, it is a societal failure when so many people are dependent on car travel. Her situation is not uncommon.
@@barryrobbins7694 Exactly this. I moved to a city that actually has public transportation and is semi-walkable. Now I, and my 6 roommates, get by with a handful of scooters and my single truck. (Which we currently can't use anyway because it's in the process of being repaired after a vandal decided to slam their truck into it in a parking lot twice to teach my roommate (who was borrowing it) a lesson.)
If we didn't have public transportation options, we'd be without a vehicle for the entire repair process.
Good breakdown. Makes sense. I’m sure variables vary lol. My wife and i… just back one car in and the other forward. Eliminates the awkward angles as backing in has more flexibility. And we use the same middle space to get in and out 🤷🏿♂️.
Good to know for when it comes time to market my house with it's massive garage with true closets and laundry area included.