As more and more Americans find themselves living in suburban, detached homes so the garage has grown in importance as a useful additional storage space.

 

At the same time, US cars have gotten bigger, as sedans are displaced more and more by bulky vehicles like SUVs.

This has meant that many homes are being retrofitted with new and larger garages that can accommodate these vehicles. Meanwhile many homes originally built without garages are now having them installed.

Building a garage is not a particularly expensive construction project. By and large, they do not have the extensive wiring or plumbing required to hook up newer rooms of a different type – a new bathroom for example.

They are however not as completely straightforward as they may seem so it’s a good idea to produce a comprehensive plan before you start building. Part of the planning process should also include asking certain questions such as:

 

Do you want it to be attached?

If you look at modern homes with garages already constructed, by and large the garage will be attached to the home. This of course offers certain advantages – particularly in terms of access to the garage.

Attached garages do however limit your design options to a certain extent. A stand-alone garage, whilst more difficult to access in the wind and rain of winter, does allow you a freer hand in the design.

 

What is the Placement?

Traditional garage placement does of course see the garage placed so the doors face to the road. However, don’t just assume this is the best place to put your own garage – it all depends on the size and shape of your plot and where the access points are.

If your plot is wider than longer, it could for example be more prudent to have a garage facing to one side instead of straight outwards.

In the past, I’ve used local Hampton Roads Builders to build a detached garage for our family and they did an awesome job while teaching us the process they go through for every customer. The placement was a tough decision for me, and their guys definitely helped, so I gotta give credit where it’s due.

Be sure to visit their Chesapeake page where they outline the whole process from A to Z.

 

Is it Big Enough for Now?

Is the garage big enough for everything you want to put inside? On the one hand, it obviously needs to be big enough for your vehicle to comfortably fit inside.

But how much additional storage is required? Do you want to keep your yard tools in there? How about a ride on mower or large equipment like a jet ski?

If you have the space, frankly you should consider making it as big as you can – you can never have enough storage space.

 

Is it Big Enough for the Future?

Future proof your garage, today!

Cars are probably not going to get much bigger that’s true, but perhaps your personal fleet of cars will? If you’re building a garage for a family home, how many kids do you have/plan on having – and do you intend on having them park their cars in the garage in the future?

It’s cheaper to build big now rather than to try to enlarge it in the future.

 

So there you have it, just a few simple questions to ask yourself now that could save a lot of headaches in the future.