# Garages being used to actually park cars **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2019, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808 "2019-09-25T16:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/61 "2019-09-26T17:55:04Z")
2-person household, rural housing addition, 2000 sq.ft. house, 2-car garage, auto openers. Both cars go in the garage. I wouldn’t have it any other way in the winter time especially. I saw a neighbor’s open garage the other day, and one-half was filled with stuff. The other had her car. But she’s a 1-person household, same size house. I’ve parked outside a few times. Once when I bought a new car because the old one plain gave out and couldn’t even stay running long enough to get it out of the garage. Once when the garage door broke and we had to wait three weeks to have it replaced. And a couple of times when we’ve rented a dumpster to get rid of our stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/62 "2019-09-26T18:20:34Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It’s also convenient for bringing things in. Open the door as we roll in, close the door, unload the groceries. Saves some wear and tear on the furnace/AC. > > Also, when it’s time to work on a car it’s already in the garage, away from the weather. No fussing with moving crap out of the way. > > We have a place for a ton (or two) of junk. It’s called a basement. Interestingly, your first two quoted paragraphs are reasons I find the garage more convenient for storage than the basement. (This actually came up about 10 years ago when we were deciding whether to finish either the garage or the basement, and I thought it was a no-brainer, for this and other reasons.) As alluded in the OP, we shop in Costco about once in 5 weeks or so, and when we do we load up on much more stuff than we want lying around the house. It’s a lot more convenient to bring the stuff from the car (even when parked in the driveway) into the garage for storage and then gradually bring in to the house as needed than to bring it in from the garage through the house to the basement and then back up to the house as needed. Same goes for any number of other bulky things that we don’t buy at Costco but stock up on when on big sales elsewhere (e.g. 2 liter bottles of soda, paper towel rolls etc.). Ditto for working on your car. You want your ramps and other tools and car parts etc in the garage where you can easily bring them out to the car in the driveway a few feet away rather than having them in the basement. In general, anything which is geared primarily for outdoor use makes more sense in a garage. E.g. a lawnmower, weedwacker, seedspreader, and any other outdoor-type tools (e.g. chainsaw), kids’ bikes, roller blades, baseball bats, inflatable boats etc. etc. You don’t want to be dragging these stuff up from the basement and through the house to get outside. (The only alternative for these would be to get a shed.) ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/63 "2019-09-26T18:33:16Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > But constant vigilance is required. Truth! I am constantly on alert for encroachment by seasonal storage items. We have a two car detached garage and park two cars in it daily. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/64 "2019-09-26T20:02:39Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > It’s also convenient for bringing things in. Open the door as we roll in, close the door, unload the groceries. Saves some wear and tear on the furnace/AC. Meh. Opening a large door once vs. a smaller door multiple times is probably a negligible effect on HVAC system. > [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > Ditto for working on your car. You want your ramps and other tools and car parts etc in the garage where you can easily bring them out to the car in the driveway a few feet away rather than having them in the basement. > > In general, anything which is geared primarily for outdoor use makes more sense in a garage. E.g. a lawnmower, weedwacker, seedspreader, and any other outdoor-type tools (e.g. chainsaw), kids’ bikes, roller blades, baseball bats, inflatable boats etc. etc. You don’t want to be dragging these stuff up from the basement and through the house to get outside. (The only alternative for these would be to get a shed.) This area has lots of rolling hills, it’s not uncommon to have the basement underground but the other side of that same level being the garage. That’s the way my house is. Yes, it’s easier to just carry stuff in/out thru a large door but at least there are no stairs to manipulate to get things into/out of the basement. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/65 "2019-09-26T20:17:43Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Regarding #1, you would think so but it doesn’t work out that way in San Francisco. Living space is at such a premium that many folks would rather fight in the parking wars than give up that extra 300 sq ft (or whatever it is) of space or give up the accumulation of junk that seems to fill a lot of them. Out here in the Sunset, there are also a lot of garages serving as (illegal) living spaces. My wife and I, though, have a 2-car tandem in which we actually store 2 cars. I wouldn’t want to have to rely on street parking every day. Back when we lived in the 'burbs of Chicago, we garage-parked both our cars as well. It would have been unfathomable not to do so during the winter. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/66 "2019-09-26T20:48:45Z")
I have relatives with a detached four car garage; the first spot is for a vintage sports car and the other three are occupied by my brother-in-law’s woodshop. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/67 "2019-09-26T20:49:55Z")
Our garage was carpeted carpet when we bought it. It’s the only house like it in our development, and we think nobody else chose this model. It’s possible that the carpet’s there so buyers would think of it as an extra room if they wanted. But I park my car in it, and the family who bought the house originally parked a car in it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/68 "2019-09-26T23:05:57Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Our garage was carpeted carpet when we bought it. It’s the only house like it in our development, and we think nobody else chose this model. It’s possible that the carpet’s there so buyers would think of it as an extra room if they wanted. > > But I park my car in it, and the family who bought the house originally parked a car in it, too. Please tell me it’s a white thick pile shag. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/69 "2019-09-26T23:53:39Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Please tell me it’s a white thick pile shag. Not any more, it’s not. I kid. It’s a dull gold. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/70 "2019-09-27T00:18:54Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > When we were house shopping 15+ years ago, I told my husband I wanted an attached 2-car garage, and my vehicle was going to be parked in it. Period. No discussion. And 15 years later, except for a few brief periods when we were staging remodeling supplies in the garage, it has housed both of our vehicles plus his motorcycle. And there are several sets of shelves and some other things stored in there, too… Same for me, except we have two kayaks and no motorcycles in the garage with the cars. I had a checklist of "must have"s for the house, and one of them was an attached 2-car garage. Well, I considered some houses with a covered walkway from the garage to the house. But I wanted to be able to park and bring in groceries without being rained on. But the big thing is snow. Shovelling out your car is a drag. A much bigger drag than just shoveling the driveway. And scraping the ice off the car, and waiting for it to warm up… All my neighbors park in their garages, too. Especially in the winter. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/71 "2019-09-27T00:31:49Z")
I have a two car garage. 9 months of the year my yard tractor and trailer get parked in the garage. It’s probably worth more than both my other vehicles combined. When it gets cold enough to frost or snow or have freezing rain, the yard trailer goes to the shed and everything gets rearranged to allow one vehicle in the garage. I have a bunch of other stuff that’s always in the garage including a motorcycle, three kayaks, bicycle, push mower, tools, yard equipment, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/72 "2019-09-27T00:57:07Z")
Until I moved to New England I never lived in a house with a garage at all, in all the places on the west coast I lived. I mainly lived in quite rural areas and people just don’t garage their cars out there much, except perhaps in suburbia, a land I strenuously avoid. Now I have a two car garage and it houses our car and pickup. Boy do I appreciate it especially in winter. There’s a bit of room for the trash and recycling bins but not really much else fits in there. We have lots of things we could store in there, not miscellaneous hoarded junk but rather a tractor, brush hog, manure spreader, chipper, log splitter, etc etc. We just are finishing a trailer garage for the horse trailer (this has to be an unusually tall building) and after that we will start working on the machine shed. There’s a shit ton of weather out here. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/73 "2019-09-27T04:08:10Z")
I think to some extent it’s > [@](#): > > It’s likely that people who live in big cities or other areas which have parking shortages are more likely to park in garages if they have them, while those who live in areas where parking is plentiful, e.g. suburbs, are more likely to just park in their driveways or on the street. although I wouldn’t say it’s strictly a city/suburb split. I think it has to do with parking availability near a particular house \* and whether that individual driveway can be used for parking. Few houses in my neighborhood have garages. And nearly all of the garages don’t have driveways you can park in - either it’s a shared driveway, so if you parked in the driveway , your neighbor can’t get into their garage. Or the garage is too close to the street, so you don’t have room to park in the driveway without blocking the sidewalk (which is illegal and might get you a ticket). I don’t know anyone who can park on the driveway who parks in the garage. - Not every suburban house has plentiful street parking close by. There are older suburbs with a downtownish area where street parking is not so plentiful. The houses may be far enough apart to park two or maybe three cars in front of each house - but that’s not enough if a lot of the households have four or even five cars. And there are area where street parking isn’t allowed - not necessarily for the whole neighborhood, but just on certain streets. People I know who live on streets like that don’t park a block or tow away to leave their garage for storage. Conversely, one of my city neighbors has a double lot with four garages and a driveway that fits at least 6 cars - he never parks in his garages- they were used for storage. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/74 "2019-09-27T13:36:17Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Meh. Opening a large door once vs. a smaller door multiple times is probably a negligible effect on HVAC system. And going thru this smaller door multiple times (opening and closing it each time) while carrying things like groceries is easier in what way??? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/75 "2019-09-27T14:48:35Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > I think to some extent it’s although I wouldn’t say it’s strictly a city/suburb split. I think it has to do with parking availability near a particular house \* and whether that individual driveway can be used for parking… Well, it’s illegal to park overnight on the streets (and that’s enforced in the winter) but most every house near me has a driveway that could be parked on. We park in the garages because WEATHER, not because of need. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/76 "2019-09-27T14:53:02Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > …It’s also convenient for bringing things in. Open the door as we roll in, close the door, unload the groceries. Saves some wear and tear on the furnace/AC… > [@Spiderman](#): > > Meh. Opening a large door once vs. a smaller door multiple times is probably a negligible effect on HVAC system… > [@ftg](#): > > And going thru this smaller door multiple times (opening and closing it each time) while carrying things like groceries is easier in what way??? Dunno about ftg, but where I live it’s unusual for garages to be heated or chilled. They are more moderate that the great outdoors because they are protected and sit next to the house, but opening the garage door has negligible effect on the HVAC. Opening the door between the garage and the house does allow treated air to leak into the garage, but because the garage door (to outside) is closed, the effect is less than opening a door directly to outside would be. Basically, the garage is a big air lock. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/77 "2019-09-27T16:49:04Z")
I have the only attached garage on my street on a street with nothing but ranch style homes, about half of my neighbors have detached garages behind their homes and rest don’t have any garage. Most people only have a single car width wide driveway. It’s illegal to park on the street at night so everyone has to shuffle their cars around to account for this ridiculous local rule. That said I am about the only one that consistently parks in the garage all of the time. Comments I’ve heard from my neighbors are that they are jealous of me being able to park where I can just unload stuff from my car into the house. People with detached garages rarely park in the garage unless bad weather is forecast, they park as close to the door as they can in most cases. I keep a ton of stuff in my garage, but I make sure that the junk is arranged on shelves, in piles or hanging from the ceiling so that I have enough room to park in. One of my must haves when I was shopping for a home was an attached garage, but I see that a lot of people don’t think of this until after they move in. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/78 "2019-09-27T17:07:21Z")
How many people with garages also have basements? I grew up in Michigan, and we had a two-car garage and parked two cars in it. But we also had a basement for storage. Now I live in Florida and houses down here generally don’t have basements. Between the very high water table and the threat of storm flooding, they’re just not practical. We have a two-car garage, but we only park one car and a motorcycle and use the rest of the space for the sort of things I would put in a basement if we had one. A lot of people around me don’t park in their garage at all and use it in the way someone would use a finished basement up north. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/79 "2019-09-27T17:21:33Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > Dunno about ftg, but where I live it’s unusual for garages to be heated or chilled. They are more moderate that the great outdoors because they are protected and sit next to the house, but opening the garage door has negligible effect on the HVAC. > > Opening the door between the garage and the house does allow treated air to leak into the garage, but because the garage door (to outside) is closed, the effect is less than opening a door directly to outside would be. Basically, the garage is a big air lock. Ours is not on the HVAC system. But it is moderate-ish in temp. The ceiling and wall between it and the house is insulated but things aren’t perfect. So keeping the garage door closed as much as possible is good for energy savings while the door to the garage being open is only a small loss for the times it’s open. But leaving the garage door open while I, for example, mow the lawn, isn’t that big of a loss. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808/80 "2019-09-27T20:10:28Z")
We park our cars in the garage. Our driveway can’t be used to park cars and the street is crowded and unsafe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/garages-being-used-to-actually-park-cars/840808.md?page=5)