Why do you (or others!) value garages?

[Anonymous]

In nearly 19 years of marriage, we've lived in an apartment, military housing, and a townhome, none of which had a garage. We've had our fill of digging cars out after major snowstorms, getting into cars in 100+ degree weather, and unloading groceries in the pouring rain. When we purchased our new home three years ago, a garage was a non-negotiable. As God is my witness, I'll never be garage-less again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a big car guy and happy to have a 1 car detached for the sports car and to work on the other cars. Would love to have a large sport, but space is a premium close in.

OP here, I think if I still had a classic car, especially an older/better maintained one or needed a place to work on it, that would be one of the first reasons for thinking garages to be important. I had some relatives who were car dealers from the 30s to the 70s and they feel that the better finishes on newer cars make the garage less important, so I'm not quite as impressed by folks with later model cars making the case for garages, but for the older models the difference really is night and day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a six car garage out in Sterling. Love it. Besides parking cars and storing things in the garage, during winter, my plants and pets live in the garage. On some days, we hang out more in the garage than the house. Garage is a must for us.

What kind of pets live in a garage?

Chickens and quails

[Anonymous]

Ice. Snow. Hot sun.
Carrying groceries inside in the rain. P
utting DC in car in any of these conditions.

Car break-ins way down if car is in your garage. (Don't have to worry about removing loose change etc., from view)

Way better curbside view (and back yard view) when one's bikes, shovels, garbage cans etc. all inside the garage.

Never had a garage until current house; did not know what I was missing! (inside beltway if that matters)

[Anonymous]

I would love to have a garage so I can just unload stuff into the house without hauling it over steps. And I could try to actually get cymbidiums to bloom here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a six car garage out in Sterling. Love it. Besides parking cars and storing things in the garage, during winter, my plants and pets live in the garage. On some days, we hang out more in the garage than the house. Garage is a must for us.

What kind of pets live in a garage?

Chickens and quails

Pets or...livestock?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a six car garage out in Sterling. Love it. Besides parking cars and storing things in the garage, during winter, my plants and pets live in the garage. On some days, we hang out more in the garage than the house. Garage is a must for us.

What kind of pets live in a garage?

Chickens and quails

Pets or...livestock?

I think this whole post is a joke. Especially since they mentioned Sterling

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a six car garage out in Sterling. Love it. Besides parking cars and storing things in the garage, during winter, my plants and pets live in the garage. On some days, we hang out more in the garage than the house. Garage is a must for us.

What kind of pets live in a garage?

Chickens and quails

Pets or...livestock?

I think this whole post is a joke. Especially since they mentioned Sterling

Do you think this is Patton Oswalt dropping by at DCUM?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In nearly 19 years of marriage, we've lived in an apartment, military housing, and a townhome, none of which had a garage. We've had our fill of digging cars out after major snowstorms, getting into cars in 100+ degree weather, and unloading groceries in the pouring rain. When we purchased our new home three years ago, a garage was a non-negotiable. As God is my witness, I'll never be garage-less again!

Yes this.

We had to buy a garage free home, only one in our price range we could get in the dc area. As soon as we get some extra money, we will have a garage!

Protection from the elements, you usually don't need a shed to store all the lawn and garden stuff, and it's safer than coming home in the dark and fumbling with keys outside your house. Just getting the groceries in protected from the elements is worth it.

[Anonymous]

I long for a garage, though I doubt that I'll ever park my car in it - just seems like kind of a hassle. But to have that space to store bikes, kayaks, garden supplies, and all that - well, that sounds just heavenly!

In a small townhouse now, but thinking about upgrading - the next house will definitely have a garage.

[Anonymous]

Storage, but we have a lot of outdoorsy type shit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I long for a garage, though I doubt that I'll ever park my car in it - just seems like kind of a hassle. But to have that space to store bikes, kayaks, garden supplies, and all that - well, that sounds just heavenly!

In a small townhouse now, but thinking about upgrading - the next house will definitely have a garage.

What part of it sounds like a hassle?

I pull into my driveway, press a button that is in my car, and the garage door opens. I drive a bit further until I am in the garage, put my car in park, and turn off the ignition. I press the same button again and the garage door closes behind me.

No hassle at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I long for a garage, though I doubt that I'll ever park my car in it - just seems like kind of a hassle. But to have that space to store bikes, kayaks, garden supplies, and all that - well, that sounds just heavenly!

In a small townhouse now, but thinking about upgrading - the next house will definitely have a garage.

What part of it sounds like a hassle?

I pull into my driveway, press a button that is in my car, and the garage door opens. I drive a bit further until I am in the garage, put my car in park, and turn off the ignition. I press the same button again and the garage door closes behind me.

No hassle at all.

Yea no clue what the PP is saying...parking in a garage is a hassle? How do you manage driving?

We have a 2 car Garage. My wife parks her car inside, the other half is for storage and my tools/DIY gear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I long for a garage, though I doubt that I'll ever park my car in it - just seems like kind of a hassle. But to have that space to store bikes, kayaks, garden supplies, and all that - well, that sounds just heavenly!

In a small townhouse now, but thinking about upgrading - the next house will definitely have a garage.

What part of it sounds like a hassle?

I pull into my driveway, press a button that is in my car, and the garage door opens. I drive a bit further until I am in the garage, put my car in park, and turn off the ignition. I press the same button again and the garage door closes behind me.

No hassle at all.

Yea no clue what the PP is saying...parking in a garage is a hassle? How do you manage driving?

We have a 2 car Garage. My wife parks her car inside, the other half is for storage and my tools/DIY gear.

I don't mind that you park your car in the garage....I just don't think that I'm likely to take the extra steps of opening the garage door and pulling in and parking. Garages just seem kind a squishy to me. I grew up in a house with a garage and no one in the family ever parked in it (much colder climate than DC). In that house, the garage was moderately sized (though actually larger than many garages that I see around, except in newer builds), so there just wasn't a lot of clearance to open the car doors without hitting into something. Maybe I'd feel differently if we end up with a really wide garage with tons of storage space AND clearance, but I'm also perfectly happy parking my car in the driveway

Also, unless we somehow end up with a three car garage, I'm not going to have space to park my car inside because my husband will definitely want to park His car in the garage, and I'd much rather use the other side for storing bikes and other outdoor gear. So, it's really pretty much a moot point, from my point of view.

[Anonymous]

We don't have a garage and don't really miss it. Both DH and I grew up in houses where our parents just kept junk in the garage and cars in the driveway. We have a shed to store outdoor stuff and a garage. Don't understand the shoveling logic people put forward - you may not have to dig the car out but you still need to shovel your driveway, right? Hope it's short - our curb and short driveway are at least close to the road.