Garage (residential)

In northern climates, temperatures inside an uninsulated attached residential garage can decrease to freezing levels during the winter. Temperatures inside an uninsulated attached garage in temperate climates can reach uncomfortable levels during summer months. Extreme temperatures can be a source of energy waste and discomfort in adjoining living areas, due to heat transfer between the garage and those areas. Homes with an attached garage often experience this "interface" problem. Insulating the outside of the building against the elements without extending the insulation to the wall separating the garage from the house, and/or the other garage walls and roof, can be a costly mistake.[3]

Australian homes typically have a two, one and a half or double car garage, with some newer houses having a triple garage, with one double door and one single door. Prior to the 1970s most of them were detached from the house, usually set further back with the driveway leading up past the side of the house, common with old fibreboard houses, but not uncommon with earlier brick houses. The most common doors on these garages were either two wooden barn style doors with a standard sized access door on the side of the garage or the B&D Rolla Door, which is described below.

The most common garage door to date in Australia is the B&D Rolla Door, having been around since 1956 and still in heavy use today. They are a corrugated flexible but strong sheet steel door, sliding up tracks and rolling around a drum mounted above the door opening on the inside of the garage. These come in manual and remote controlled electric (known as the Control-a-Door), with conversion kits available. Locking is provided by a key lock in the centre of the door moving two square sliding lock bars in and out of holes in the door tracks, locking and unlocking it, or by the solenoid lock in the automatic motor.

Newer homes feature more American styled tilting panel lift doors which slide up onto a track on the ceiling via a motor and chain drive. Since the late 1970s most if not all garages are attached, and throughout the 80's it became more common to have an access door into the home from the garage where design permitted, whereas it is commonplace now. Most older unit (apartment) blocks in Australia have garages on the ground floor accessible through a common hallway and access doors, all leading into a common driveway. Newer ones now have underground parking.

Australia has strict guidelines in place when building a home and the garage size must conform to the Australian Standards. The minimum size for a single garage is 3.0 m × 5.4 m (9.8 ft × 17.7 ft) and a double is 5.4 m × 5.4 m (17.7 ft × 17.7 ft). However, to comfortably fit two cars in a double garage it is typical to have a size of 6.0 m × 6.0 m (19.7 ft × 19.7 ft).[4]

Up-and-over garage door

Insulation of sectional garage door

British homes featuring a garage typically have a single or double garage either built into the main building, detached within the grounds (often in the back garden), or in a communal area.

Traditionally, garage doors were wooden, opening either as two leaves or sliding horizontally. Newer garages are fitted with metal up-and-over doors. Increasingly, in new homes, such doors are electrically operated.

Typically, a small British single garage is 8 by 16 feet (2.4 m × 4.9 m), a medium single garage is 9 by 18 feet (2.7 m × 5.5 m), and a large single garage is 10 by 20 feet (3.0 m × 6.1 m). Family sedans have become bigger than they were in the past, so the larger size has become a preferred option. A typical large family car like the Ford Mondeo is about 15 by 6 feet (4.6 m × 1.8 m), meaning that even with the larger size garage, it is necessary to park to one side to be able to open the driver's door wide enough to enter or exit the vehicle.

In the early days of the motor car, a garage played an important role in protecting the vehicle from the weather (particularly so as to reduce rust). It was also the case that early motor cars started more easily when they were warm,[5] so that keeping them in a garage rather than outside made it easier to get the engine going in the morning. Modern motor cars, however, are very well protected against rust, and modern engines start with no difficulty even in very cold conditions.

A modern one-car garage, in the United States

Circa 1955 detached residential garage seen in Toledo, Ohio

Many garage doors open upward using an electric chain drive, which can often be automatically controlled from inside the resident's vehicle with a small radio transmitter.[10] Garages are connected to the nearest road with a driveway. Interior space for one or two cars is normal, and garages built after 1950 usually have a door that connects the garage directly to the interior of the house (an "attached garage"). Earlier garages were often detached and located in the back yard of the house, accessed either via a long driveway or from an alley.

In the past, garages were often separate buildings from the house ("detached garage"). On occasion, a garage would be built with an apartment above it, which could be rented out. As automobiles became more popular, the concept of attaching the garage directly to the home grew into a common practice. While a person with a separate garage must walk outdoors in every type of weather, a person with an attached garage has a much shorter walk inside a building.

Around the start of the 21st century, companies began offering "portable garages" in the United States. Typically, these garages are made of metal, wood or vinyl and do not connect to the house or other structure, much like the garage built before 1950. This portable garages usually have a strongly reinforced floor to hold a heavy vehicle. Garages are also produced as composite fabric garages with metal frames that are lightweight and portable garage compared to traditional brick-and-mortar or metal garage structures.[11]

Over the past fifteen years, the portable garage has further evolved into a modular garage or a partially prefabricated structure. The modular garage comes from a factory that assembles the garage in two sections and combines the two sections on location. Partially prefabricated garages are often larger and might even include an attic space or a second floor. Sections of the garage are preassembled and then setup on site over a few days time.[12] The Amish have become popular builders of portable, modular and partially prefabricated garages.

Over the last decade, garage flooring products have become more readily available to the general public. In fact, the volume of garage flooring on the market today can serve as a source of frustration and confusion for homeowners. Generally speaking, these products can be broken into the following categories: garage floor mats, garage floor tiles, coatings (including epoxy, urethanes and hybrids), sealers and densifiers as well as garage floor containment systems.[13]

The first planned private garages appeared long before 1900. Early examples of planned public garages appeared at the same time. The first recorded public parking garage in the US (Electric Vehicle Company Garage,[14] Chicago) was built in 1898, in the UK (Christal Palace Garage,[15] London) in 1900 and in Germany (Großgarage der Automüller G.m.b.H.,[16] Berlin-Wilmersdorf) in 1901.

Possibly the oldest existing garage in the United Kingdom is in Southport Lancashire. It was the first motor house or garage to be depicted in an English motoring journal and was in The Autocar of 7 October 1899. It was owned by Dr W.W. Barratt, a local doctor and motoring pioneer and specially designed for his house at 29 Park Crescent Hesketh Park. A two-storey building that matched the style of the house; the ground floor garage having a concrete floor, heating, electric lighting, an engine pit and was fully equipped. The motor house is now in residential use.[17]</ref>

One of the oldest surviving private garages in Germany today is the 1903 finished Automobil-Remise (automobile carriage house) of Villa Esche by Henry van de Velde in Chemnitz. Carl Benz, the inventor of the automobile, had a tower built for himself in 1910, on the first floor a room for studying, on the ground floor car parking space. It still exists in Ladenburg, Germany.

The garage is not counted in the square footage of a house because the garage is not considered to be a finished living space. By code in most places, only finished living spaces such as the bedroom, living room, etc are considered as living space because they have a ceiling, wall, roof, accessible by the door without leaving the house, and heat and cooling source. Since the garage does have any of these features, it is not considered as a living space thereby not counted in the square footage of a house for an appraisal.[18]

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  Automobil-Remise, Villa Esche, Chemnitz (Germany), 1903
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  Dr.-Carl-Benz-Garage, Ladenburg (Germany), 1910

American technology company Hewlett-Packard was started in a garage. That garage, the HP Garage, is now a museum.[19]

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  1919
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  1938
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  Garage of Hôtel Brion (1904)
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  Garages in Nizhny Novgorod

Garages in the United States and Canada used to store streetcars and buses are often referred to as carhouses or car barns. These storage facilities are either metal or brick structures used to store streetcars or buses away from the elements. In Britain they are referred to as bus depots or depots.

• Carport
• Carriage house
• Parking
• Proof-of-parking

• Minnis, John (2010). "Practical yet Artistic: The Motor House 1895–1914". In Brandwood, Geoffrey K. (ed.). Living Leisure and Law: Eight Building Types in England 1800–1914. Reading: Spire Books in association with the Victorian Society. ISBN 9781904965-27-5. OCLC 835667261.

• The dictionary definition of garage at Wiktionary
• Media related to Garages at Wikimedia Commons