Posted By: cl-thatyank on
from http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/taminggargantuangarages_03202002.xml The description "garage with attached house" is often used to poke fun at a home whose automobile storage space seems disproportionately large. But as owners continue to demand space for more and larger vehicles, the question of garage placement is no joke. It has become a serious design challenge because not only are garages growing, they're multiplying. Garages were once optional. In 1950, only 47 percent of new homes were built with one, according to garage industry figures. By 1970, that number grew to 60 percent. Today, 87 percent of new homes include a garage. Of those, 81 percent have two or more stalls, while 16 percent have three or more. In the newest higher-end subdivisions, four-car garages are becoming common. Not long ago, garages were usually small outbuildings placed discreetly beside or behind the main home. Owners drove around back and walked from the garage to the house. Today's homeowners expect a garage to be close to the street, attached to the house, and roomy enough for SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks. As a result, garages are more visible, accounting for 40 percent or more of a home's exterior face. In response to this trend's aesthetic impact, some cities have tried to curb garage growth. For example, Portland, Oregon, enacted an ordinance limiting the length of a street-facing garage wall to 50 percent of a home's facade. In the Chicago suburb of Glenview, new regulations allow only 10 feet of the garage to protrude from the main part of the house. Some homeowner associations ban street-facing garage doors on certain lots, while other communities simply encourage builders and developers to be sensitive to garages' visual impact. One solution is to "side load" the garage so the doors face the side yard, but that's sometimes impossible on narrow lots. Some new developments are bringing back the alley as a way to hide garages at the back of lots. Garage door manufacturers, meanwhile, are offering products that are more attractive and less obtrusive when viewed from the street. In many cases, fronting the same garage space with two or three smaller doors rather than one massive "uberdoor" helps reduce the visual scale. It's unrealistic to expect garages to get smaller anytime soon; the focus, instead, is now on finding better ways to design them. If relocating or expanding a garage is part of your remodeling plans, consider not only your practical storage needs, but also the aesthetic impact on your home's architecture and your neighborhood. Curb appeal, after all, should be about the house rather than the parking it offers.
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