Let me think back in time, to reminisce about garages that I’ve known. In fact, I think I need a reminder… yes, let me check the dictionary for a moment.
Garage: a shelter or repair shop for automotive vehicles. Merriam-Webster says that it’s from the French word garrer – to dock, and maybe even from the Old Norse vara – to take care, and similar to the Old High German biwarōn – to protect.
Yeah – I remember what a garage is supposed to be used for. Oh how I long for the day when I can actually park my car in one.
This old house
Clearly, if you’re going to invest your money in an old house, you run the risk of owning a home with a garage that is not fit for your vehicle.
Our old home in Houston had a nice big detached 2-car storage locker garage with a 2-car covered carport tacked on to the front of it. The house was built in 1930, but I’m sure that the garage was not the same vintage. The concrete in front of the garage was stamped with ~1957, so that’s probably when it was built.
So why didn’t we park our cars in the garage? There are many reasons, and the reasons are many.
- Our house did not have a basement, ie needed additional storage
- The garage doors were just barely wide enough to fit a car through
- The carport was handy enough
- The garage functioned as a wood shop
- The garage functioned as a shed
- There was, ikidyounot, bamboo growing through the concrete floor of the garage
Our current home, built in 1940, and has a one-car garage. I’m not sure when this garage was built either, but it was certainly added on at a later date. The garage has a flat roof with a ‘railing’ around it. The previous owners used to let their kids up there to play on it. We’ve opted to make it off limits. The roof is getting pretty squishy… it’s water damaged and I’m afraid that someone will fall through it someday, and the ‘railing’ is completely decorative.
Here’s what the back of the garage looks like, complete with baby gate to thwart curious visitors.
Here’s the top of the garage. Cheapy adirondack chair storage…
So, why don’t we park our car in it? For many of the same reasons that we didn’t park in our old garage.
- The garage is petite
- We have no other place to keep the table saw etc…
- The garage is our shed – all of the lawn & garden tools are stashed in there
- Our bikes and bike trailer are in there
- While we are bamboo-free here in Madison, the cement block walls are bowed in from the roots of an old tree
Recycling can, garbage can, bike trailer, bikes, travel car seat, stroller, ladder, rock (that’s the Gowganda), garden hose, pet carriers, table saw, other small power tools, saw horses, kid wagon, storage shelving in the back… the old chimney… definitely no room for a automotive vehicle in there.
One could argue that if we really wanted to, we could clean up this mess, organize a bit, and fit the car in. Pull the garbage cans out, shove the bikes in the basement… The biggest problem that we run into is the table saw. It doesn’t fit in the house, it’s garage bound until we build a better room for it. So, it’s the table saw or the car – and the table saw wins.
Dream scenario
Our long term plan is to add on to this house. Part of this plan includes taking down the old garage, excavating it down to the level of the basement, excavating back to build a workshop, and actually using it to park-dock-take-care-of-protect the car.
Here’s what the basement will look like, someday.
I’m not a fan of attached garages – particularly if the garage faces the front of the house. So many newer houses are all garage in the front (garage, sweet garage!), and they have 2 or 3-car garages facing the street. We have to work with what we’ve got – there’s no changing our front facing garage. We’ll add some architectural detail to fancy it up, make it look loved, welcome, useful.
Anyone else have a love-hate relationship with their garage?